Share
Children spend less and less time outside as the years go by.
One of the reasons they dont is that parents fear neighbors complaining about it.
However, there are ways to deal with such prickly neighbors, as is evident inthis story.
The neighbor here decided to complain about a small soccer goal in a familys yard where the daughter played.
And after two visits from the police, the family had enough.
They decided to comply with the neighbors demandsmaliciouslyand opted to fight petty with pettiness.
Today, that number has shrunk three times.
Playing outside is important for kids for several reasons.
Physical health is perhaps the most pressing one.
Theres also the social aspect: playing outside is a great way forkids to socialize.
And thats how kids used to socialize back in the day while playing together in the street.
It essentially means we want kids to behave like adults: be calm, quiet, and well-behaved.
The truth is that this goes against a childs nature.
Children are supposed to be messy, loud, and playful.
So why are children spending less and less time outside?
Are screens the only ones to blame?
There are several different culprits: traffic, parents, and neighbors.
30% said an adult told them to stop making noise outside.
In fact, even parents face warnings from authorities or threats from neighbors.
We need to accept that children live in communities and have a right to be seen and heard.
Parents also might have become more fearful to let their children roam around in the street unsupervised.
But, in reality, there has never been a safer decade.
Living in communal spaces is the definition of shared space, meaning yours, mine, and ours.
Formal complaints and calling the police should be the last resort.
Its not entirely clear from this story what exactly was the neighbors problem with the kid soccer goal.
As the author mentions, it was basically a toy.
Having said that, respect is a two-way street.
People praised the family for handling the feud with the petty neighbor this way
Thanks!
Check out the results:
