...and will continue to let our child joyfully run through the sprinkler on 90 degree days like yesterday...
...despite what our neighbor to the north has to say about it...
...because if this is what bad parenting looks like on the face of a child...
...I like being a 'bad' parent.Okay, I think I must explain.
We have an older woman that is our neighbor to the north and for some reason, she has decided that she doesn't like us very much...including Kaitlin because she is a 'naughty child' and we are 'bad parents'.
Kaitlin dared to run through the spray (on the sidewalk...not even on her grass) of her automatic sprinklers once and actually yelled at her to "get off her property."
In the six years we've lived in this house, we've had only a handful of conversations with this woman and I've had only one personally. It was soon after we moved in and let's just say I had a cool response to my attempt to 'make friends' with our new neighbor.
Since then, our waves or neighborly 'hellos' have been either ignored or met with an upturned nose.
Usually, we're happy to mainly to let it slide off our backs and move on with our day...
However, Justin has been the unlucky recipient of her 'wrath' on more than one occasion.
One instance was a few winters ago and Justin thought he would try to be nice and shovel her sidewalk and she came out an yelled at him for shoveling the snow from her sidewalk onto her lawn...the nerve!
But most recent incident, and the fuel behind this post, happened last week when Justin was mowing our lawn.
This is usually my job, but since my leg is still healing, Justin has taken it over for now.
Anyway, she felt that Justin came over a few inches onto her lawn and proceeded to yell at him...evidently we mow our lawn too short and it 'looks bad' and of course we are too poor to afford professionals to take care of our lawn like she does.
Then, it was again pointed out that we are bad parents as we allow our child to run through sprinklers.
Justin is also a lazy bum because he hasn't 'bothered' to get a job since losing his job. (Nevermind that it was an involuntary lay-off and that the city we happen to live in currently has the highest unemployment rate in our entire state. There are many things I could call my hubby :-), but lazy is definitely not one of them!)
Despite this, clearly Justin believes that he is 'God's gift to everyone' (he said that a little spit actually came out on that one she was so worked up).
Also, there is a rather large tree in her yard that overhangs onto our yard and she said that if it happens to fall on our garage, her insurance company is not liable. She proceeded to say that she hopes it does.
Who says something like that?!?
The day that this happened, Justin had to call me at work to vent and I don't blame him. He commented that if it had been a man that had talked to him in that way, there probably would have been a little scuffle...but, since she is a women and an elder, he really tried to be respectful.
The whole thing just really aggravates me, but what can I do other than shake my head.
It just really makes me wonder what has happened to this women that has made her so amazingly bitter...
Okay...
I'm done now...
I'm going to go look at those pictures of Kaitlin in the sprinkler again so that I can smile and move on with my day!
12 comments:
Oh you evil evil people. I mean what ARE you thinking?!?! LOL!!
What the heck is WRONG with people? See I'm immature sometimes and I would probably at this point go out of my way to aggravate her. LOL I know not the right thing to do, but I would be irritated enough to do it!!!!
We have been lucky with the elders on our street as they are all great-grandparents and love their kids. Our problem is with neighbors that have kids the same age as we do, and tell us that we are bad parents. I am a bad mother because I don't let my kids play outside unless I can be out there to watch them! I am also a bad mother because I don't let my children join summer sports. Well, my kids don't want to, we leave it up to them. She lets her 3-year old out on her own, I know that some can argue, but this little girl is hell on wheels. Her big sis was adopted and is more mature than her parents and she is 6! She gets herself ready on time for school and she reminds them to feed her! Thanks needed that today! My cousin is a great dad and you are a wonderful mom. If our children are safely tucked in bed at night and dreaming peacefully, we did the best we could that day!
I'm so sorry you have a cranky neighbour. She must be tremendously unhappy to vent her ire on you. Poisonous bile to be sure.
We live in an area of town with plenty of elderly. The first time my son (12) came home after riding his bike in the neighbourhood he was shocked by the old man who gave him "the finger". We've now been here two years. He's getting used to many old men fingers and has learned plenty of colourful expressions. I've actually tailed him once or twice and watched them do it, and my son, though not perfect is very polite and gets "the finger" for his effort. We now laugh.
I hope you can keep laughing. Enjoy the sprinkler pictures. Your daughter is adorable .. and happy! What more can you want?
@Stephanie...my husband is with you, for sure! Even though I wouldn't do it, I totally understand the desire! :-)
@My Celestial Star (Hi, Jamie!)...wow, I know I get nervous if Kaitlin is outside unsupervised and she's nearly 7! I can't imagine letting a 3-year-old play outside alone!! Those other parents just know that you're 'showing them up', that's all!
@Lee...amazing! Too bad you can't pre-screen your neighbors! :-)
BTW - Checked out your blog! You have some amazing layouts!! You are very talented!
Cute pics. Beautiful smile. I don't think you are bad parents. I am sorry you had/have to deal with a neighbor like that. You are handling it with more grace than I ever could/would.
Bake her some cookies deliver them with all the kindness you can muster! That will show her who the bigger person is here. You don't have to say anything, just smile and hand her the cookies. It works every time.
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. Your daughter is beautiful by the way. We all need to run in the sprinklers once in a while! Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Storm...we are trying. Hope the next 'altercation' doesn't come for awhile though...
That's a great idea, Eileen, and I bet that would work in most cases. I really wonder about our neighbor though. The way she acts towards us she would probably assume that we had 'done something' to them or simply wouldn't be 'good enough' for her because I had made them...
You are right though...I think it would certainly take a grand gesture if anything were to work.
Oh, I feel so bad for you Jill. She must not have grandkids, or I think she would be more understanding about the sprinkler! I don't blame you for wanting to vent about it. Hope the situation gets better soon!
@Thanks, Sammie! Me, too!
Post a Comment