These photos show just three of the multitude of little boys we have on our cul-de-sac. Some days there can be as many as ten kids, all under the age of 9 (only two of which are girls- Ashton, the oldest of them all, is 8 and the other is just 5) out there running around like wild animals. They play ‘wild animals’ often, actually, and all kinds of other games I have no idea about. Often I see them screaming at each other and fighting, as shown in one photo above, and I have a hard time knowing what to do. Do I intervene or let them figure it out? It gets crazy, indeed, but it’s so very fun for Cedar. School will start soon for these kids and the summer playtime will calm down, and my nerves along with it. I’m grateful for this old-fashioned feeling neighborhood where kids run freely for hours upon hours, where ladies come out to chat with while our hubbies are away, where we gather for fishing trips and beach dates, and where, on a cul-de-sac, the kids can run and ride without fear of cars. The only thing I wish is that there were a girl for my Ashton, who tires of all this wild boy play and sometimes just wants a girl to play dolls with. But when she’s out with those boys, my girl is the leader of that pack.
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I absolutely LOVE that we live in a neighborhood full of kids. All summer my E’s have been out on their own playing with all of the kids. We also have a cup-de-sac right down the road from us and live on a dead end street so we don’t have to worry about much traffic. It’s been good for me as a mom to let go a bit and trust them after laying down ground rules at the beginning of the summer. It’s also been good for them, figuring out how to deal with issues as they come up themselves rather than always running to mom. And yes! Sometimes it’s hard not to intervene when the boys fight or there is girl drama. They will play for hours, imagining up a storm. It’s so so good for them and I’m so grateful for it.
That’s great that you have a neighborhood like that. I always wanted that. When we moved into our neighborhood we gave no thought to whether there were young families on our street. There aren’t. Max doesn’t have anyone to play with. Makes me wish I could just afford to pick-up and move to another younger hood. Most of the families here have kids in college or OUT of college.