I have a neighbor issue I need help with.
I live in a condo complex and all the units in our building open into the same courtyard. Virtually every family in the complex is wonderful .... except the one in the unit next to us.
They have a three year old who is inadequately supervised. The mom or dad will be doing their own thing (smoking, drinking, texting) on their porch while their daughter plays. Sometimes they are not even out with her.
If I go out with my kids, they'll go back inside so I'm left watching her, too. This would be fine if I trusted them to return the favor, or if they asked, or if it were infrequent. It leaves me in a bind when I need to take my kids inside. Leave the girl alone outside, go through the trouble of taking her back to her house? (My DD melts down when it is time to go in, which makes DS cry, so dealing with another three year old along with this is a PITB).
Also their daughter is sweet, but she's three. She does stuff that needs redirection, takes my kids toys and throws them, rams other kids with her tricycle, and the parents don't step in. We're playing on tar, so if anyone falls over while moving fast on a bike it's going to be ugly. And my DS has low muscle tone so he cannot stay balanced easily; she's much older and bigger and could really hurt him. It's not all the time, often she plays safely and respectfully, but it happens. I do redirect her, but don't really like doing so when the parents are RIGHT THERE. And I'm not a super mom, I have two hands and two kids, and I'm maxed out much of the time with that.
It's hard to avoid them because our units open out onto the one place to play outside. And when we stay inside she comes and rings out door bell every ten minutes. All.day.long. She is out from early morning until 9:30, sometimes 10 at night. Maybe later than 10 but that's when I go to sleep.
Recently they've been taking care of a five year old boy who is related somehow. This kid creeps me out. (And boy do I feel badly saying that about a five year old!!!) He always wants to hug my daughter, plays rough around my son, and uses language I'd rather not have my kids hear. He also rings the door bell constantly. DD once told me that he asked her to take her underpants off.
Yeah, there are huge red flags with this family and the other neighbors and I often talk about at what point we'd call CPS. I'm not looking for advice on that level, but on how to keep my sanity while also not barricading myself and my kids inside the house all day long. We do go out to playgrounds and such most mornings, but I can't be out all the time.
I live in a condo complex and all the units in our building open into the same courtyard. Virtually every family in the complex is wonderful .... except the one in the unit next to us.
They have a three year old who is inadequately supervised. The mom or dad will be doing their own thing (smoking, drinking, texting) on their porch while their daughter plays. Sometimes they are not even out with her.
If I go out with my kids, they'll go back inside so I'm left watching her, too. This would be fine if I trusted them to return the favor, or if they asked, or if it were infrequent. It leaves me in a bind when I need to take my kids inside. Leave the girl alone outside, go through the trouble of taking her back to her house? (My DD melts down when it is time to go in, which makes DS cry, so dealing with another three year old along with this is a PITB).
Also their daughter is sweet, but she's three. She does stuff that needs redirection, takes my kids toys and throws them, rams other kids with her tricycle, and the parents don't step in. We're playing on tar, so if anyone falls over while moving fast on a bike it's going to be ugly. And my DS has low muscle tone so he cannot stay balanced easily; she's much older and bigger and could really hurt him. It's not all the time, often she plays safely and respectfully, but it happens. I do redirect her, but don't really like doing so when the parents are RIGHT THERE. And I'm not a super mom, I have two hands and two kids, and I'm maxed out much of the time with that.
It's hard to avoid them because our units open out onto the one place to play outside. And when we stay inside she comes and rings out door bell every ten minutes. All.day.long. She is out from early morning until 9:30, sometimes 10 at night. Maybe later than 10 but that's when I go to sleep.
Recently they've been taking care of a five year old boy who is related somehow. This kid creeps me out. (And boy do I feel badly saying that about a five year old!!!) He always wants to hug my daughter, plays rough around my son, and uses language I'd rather not have my kids hear. He also rings the door bell constantly. DD once told me that he asked her to take her underpants off.
Yeah, there are huge red flags with this family and the other neighbors and I often talk about at what point we'd call CPS. I'm not looking for advice on that level, but on how to keep my sanity while also not barricading myself and my kids inside the house all day long. We do go out to playgrounds and such most mornings, but I can't be out all the time.
