Are you friends with the other parents in your neighborhood?

[Anonymous]

Also, are your kids friends with the other kids in the neighborhood? If so, did the kids need to be the same ages for these friendships to form?

[Anonymous]

Yes. And yes. Similar ages but not necessarily the same age.

I’m also friends with parents whose kids are not friends with my kids, even if our kids are the same ages. I prefer that actually. I don’t want my adult friendships to have anything to do with my kids’ friendships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. And yes. Similar ages but not necessarily the same age.

I’m also friends with parents whose kids are not friends with my kids, even if our kids are the same ages. I prefer that actually. I don’t want my adult friendships to have anything to do with my kids’ friendships.

This and same.

[Anonymous]

My relationship with neighborhood parents has ranged from close friends to friendly to cordial. Close neighborhood friends are few and far between over the years. In most cases, relationships have been friendly so we can text about availability, trust each other, etc.

Age range of friendships for the kids is within 2 years. Definitely normal to have different aged kids play in the neighborhood. Often much younger siblings will play or shadow.

[Anonymous]

Friendly, not friends.

My friends are the same people I was friends with before having kids, none of whom live in my immediate neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

We are cordial but not buddy-buddy. That’s enough for me. I have my own circle of friends.

[Anonymous]

Toddler parent here; we have only one set of neighbor friends that we get together with regularly.

I’ve tried - inviting the moms for coffee, hosting potlucks and such - but no one has stuck as friends aside from this family.

It does feel like kids need to be within 1-2 years of each other, yes.

[Anonymous]

They are friends with some of the kids but not all.

Generally they are friends with kids within a few years of age.

[Anonymous]

Not many kids on our street and none same age as ours. The ones who do live here each have their own afterschool lessons, sports, and enrichments. No real play back and forth among families on our street. It is a very different childhood now from when we were kids.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes you can do well with girls 5-8 years apart. It's definitely a big cousin dynamic rather than a peer friendship, but my younger DD enjoys the chance to play mentor to our little neighbors, let them try on her dresses, etc.

[Anonymous]

Toddler parent in a condo- very much yes. I think it's because we have a shared playground space and use it a lot since no one has backyards. Even people from the area with bigger houses/yards use the playground and we have gotten to know more of them too. We often run into ppl at the larger community playground too. So friendly with a bunch of people but friends (picnic together, watch each others kids, coordinate plans, go on day trips) with 3-4 families. A lot of the kids will end up in elementary school together so i like that we can start investing in these relationships now.

[Anonymous]

Most of the kids are way younger (parents too). The few kids our child’s age are a boy gang and one of them is a bully. I wish we had more commonality with the other families.

[Anonymous]

We used to be friends and friendly with many people in our old neighborhood. All the kids used to play in the early elementary years.

We now live in an area where the houses are an acre apart. I’m not friends with our neighbors. We are friendly but it isn’t like we are standing outside waiting for someone to walk by.

My older kids are teens now and I’m glad we have no neighborhood drama. My friends who have lived in a super tight area almost always have drama whether it is the kids and/or parents. It is unlikely that the same kids who were all friends at age 6 will be friends at age 16.

In our old neighborhood, all the little boys used to play. One kid became a popular sport kid and the neighbor became a loner video gamer. Girls who were inseparable are now strangers in high school.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. Age of kids definitely matters. Even my very friendly youngest who is now 9 doesn’t just play with anyone. When kids are 3 or 4, they are happy to go down a slide together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used to be friends and friendly with many people in our old neighborhood. All the kids used to play in the early elementary years.

We now live in an area where the houses are an acre apart. I’m not friends with our neighbors. We are friendly but it isn’t like we are standing outside waiting for someone to walk by.

My older kids are teens now and I’m glad we have no neighborhood drama. My friends who have lived in a super tight area almost always have drama whether it is the kids and/or parents. It is unlikely that the same kids who were all friends at age 6 will be friends at age 16.

In our old neighborhood, all the little boys used to play. One kid became a popular sport kid and the neighbor became a loner video gamer. Girls who were inseparable are now strangers in high school.

I think it’s good to be friendly with neighbors, but my neighborhood is one of those super tight knit areas and it is constant kid and/or parent drama. I’ve lived there for close to 15 years and I’ve seen it all, and now I avoid getting to close to neighbors.