Blog Fabulous

Resurrecting 1970s Neighborhoods

by Tracee Sioux on May 24th, 2008

Yesterday I told you how Zack Ran Away to visit his friend down the street.

What bothered me was the threat to call the police.

Is that what neighbors do now?

We resent looking out for each other’s kids to such a degree that we’d rather call the police than talk to a mother, maybe help her devise a way to fix a fence?

Americans are watching so much brain-polluting news that we believe there’s a gaggle of negligent mothers who let their babies wander the streets with no regard for their safety?

I’m sure that mother does exist, but most mothers simply didn’t think their baby could work the latch and security bungee cord.

I mourned the loss of the American Neighborhood for a few hours after that.

You know, the neighborhood you and I grew up in. Where there were block parties, you knew who lived in every house and you expected all the adults to look out for all the children. The neighborhood where one lady turned on a sprinkler and every kid in the neighborhood ran through it. You knew everyone’s names and where they worked and how many kids they had?

Then I said, forget mourning. I’m resurrecting.

Be the change you want to see in the world right?

That’s the neighborhood I want my kids to grow up in. I’m going to make this neighborhood the Norman Rockwell neighborhood of the New Millennium.

I need my kids to be safe so I need all the adults in the neighborhood to be invested in their safety.

I need for my kids to be allowed out of the house. A prison of our own making is no less a prison. There is nothing more depressing than driving through today’s neighborhoods and seeing no kids on their bikes, no kids playing basketball in the streets, no kids outside throwing a ball from one side of the street to the other.

I searched my brain for the difference in what our parents did and what we do now and I came up with the answer.

Banana Bread & Tuna Casserole.

My mother and my mother-in-law still bake banana bread or cookies for their neighbors. They go over and introduce themselves and bring baked goods when someone moves in. I tried this with some success and I believe it was effective. They also give small baked gifts or an inexpensive hand-made craft to their neighbors at Christmas. They take casseroles and desserts when neighbors have babies or suffer a death.

I figure anyone who saves my son’s life deserves a banana bread so I baked one for the man who threatened to call the police on me and the neighbor who called me on the phone.

I wrote them Thank You notes, “Thank you for helping my son find his way home. It’s a great comfort to know that we live in a neighborhood where people are willing to look out for each other’s children.”

I took them over in person. They were surprised. But, I can honestly say I believe their perception of the situation shifted. Where they might have been thinking, “how did the world get so screwed up that mommies let their babies roam the streets” they are now thinking, “I live in a neighborhood where the nice lady down the street makes banana bread and is grateful for my good deeds.”

On my way home I stopped and talked with everyone who happened to be outside, an elderly couple sitting on a swing, who sadly said “It’s so nice to meet you, no one ever talks to us anymore these days.” She let Zack and I go in and see her puppies.

I spoke to a man working on his car. He has a daughter only a year than my own daughter. We never see her. He’s afraid to let her play outside because the world has become so dangerous, he tells me.

“Look, you can see my backyard from your yard. You could let her come play sometime and you can watch to make sure she’s safe through the chain link fence. We need to create a neighborhood where it’s safe for the kids to play. We can look out for each other,“ I tell him.

“Yeah, I think that would be great,” he says.

A lady down the street just had a baby. I’m making her a casserole and going to introduce myself later today.

My husband and I have been talking about throwing a block party this summer. We figure we’ll leave a flier on the doors saying BYOChair and Pot Luck BBQ - come one come all and meet the neighbors.

I think we’ll host a National Night Out party too.

Blog Fabulous challenge: Bake something for a neighbor today.

Join the Free Range Kids Movement - by creating a safer neighborhood.

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