Hoodiquette

Growing up, we lived in a little farmhouse surrounded by 7000 acres of Wildlife Preservation area. And a Nuke plant, but I digress...

We had neighbors down the way, but they didn't have any kids. We played outside with each other, and the cats, and whatever imaginary people we conjured up. That was pretty much it.

I suppose growing up that way, I learned to rely on myself, to entertain myself, to expect certain privacies. Could somebody explain the rules of living near people?

We have 4 kindergarten age kids, a first grader, and a few younger ones in the neighborhood. Abby seems to expect when she goes outside that she has to have someone to play with. How do I explain the concept of "being invited" to someone's house rather than just charging up and knocking whenever she pleases? Is an invitation necessary around a neighborhood? How do you explain boundaries when backyards meld together?

And now that she is in love with her new little friend next door, and they want to spend every waking minute together...how do you explain "time apart" or if one is being punished and can't play? And how do you navigate with parents that seem somewhat fickle?

Case in point...all week long, Abby was begging to have Ana over to watch a movie/play. Either they were busy or we were busy all week, so we decided on Saturday, they would come for dinner and the kids could play and maybe we would play a game. So early Saturday, we plan out the menu, we go grocery shopping, I had quite the spread planned, and about an hour before time, they called and cancelled. Abby was crying with disappointment. They said Sunday (today) we would get together to make up for it. Well, we were out playing all day waiting for them to see us and come over. So finally, we made supper and it was so nice out, we spread a blanket and decided to have a picnic. I finally decided to let Abby go over and invite Ana to the picnic.

Abby comes back and says that Ana can't because she is in trouble for not cleaning her room. !!!??? OK, so we've been cancelled twice. Is it something I said? Do they really hate games that much? Is my deodorant not working? I'm just at a loss as to what happened. Not to mention that we basically spent the whole weekend tied to the house waiting for these people and all for nothing.

Oh and thanks Nana. She got us watching "It's me or the Dog" and the other day there was a dog who was in "love" with everybody. The lady kept saying he was the most obsessive Humper she'd ever seen. Abby turns to me and asks "What's humping mean?"