Neighbors and Neighborhoods that Care-Asset 4

Neighbors and Neighborhoods that Care

While this may not be the case in a close knit community like Lincoln, in many areas of the country children and families have lost a once treasured fact, namely that the neighbors and the neighborhood felt familiar, secure and safe. This is largely because it was once the custom that people living in close proximity got to know one another and developed friendships and bonds. Neighbors greeted newcomers with apple pies or jars of jam and invited them over for coffee or dinner to make them feel welcome. People felt it was important to become familiar with the people they would be living across the yard or road from. These traditions were good for the best of times and for the worst of times. Neighbors could celebrate each others’ joys and be there for each other in times of need, crisis or challenge.

In this article, I will suggest some ways you can build on this asset in your neighborhood or area of town. The first step in this process is to set your intention to do something to make a difference in your neighborhood. You could meet with the neighbors you already know and discuss doing something to establish neighborhood traditions. Things like a quarterly potluck, neighborhood yard sale, or an annual picnic. We did a neighborhood scavenger hunt and pot luck that was a great experience. We were broken up into teams of four, which included at least two adult and two children from different families. Each team was given photographs of relatively obscure details in the city that we had to locate and photograph ourselves on digital cameras. We had a set amount of time and we all met back at one person’s home to see how each team did and to share the pot luck.
This was an excellent event for getting to know entire families all at once.

Once you have gotten to know a little about your neighbors and their children, you will learn if your children have activities or sports in common. Then you can plan to attend their events together or have after parties to celebrate victories or great performances. You should also learn birthdates and other special occasions for the possibility of celebrating or at least sending cards or giving small gifts to acknowledge these types of milestones.

With your children, you can play “Name That Neighbor” when you walk or drive through your neighborhood. It’s also important as adult neighbors to treat all the children in the neighborhood with respect and courtesy. This will give them a feeling support, security and they will come to trust your integrity. Also, look for opportunities to engage the youth in the neighborhood. Offer to hire them to help with chores like lawn mowing, garden or grass watering, leaf raking, etc. One of my neighbors learned that a young man was a computer wiz, so he hired him to teach him to use his new computer. Over time the young man became a trusted employee in the man’s business as an IT specialist. Be this type of empowering neighbor.

While there are many more way to create caring neighborhoods, hopefully the above ideas will get you exploring many of the others. This is an important asset to build! If you want help, give me a call and I will share more ideas with you.