Being neighborly seems to be a lost art—a part of our heritage and social behavior that is fast disappearing in our modern world where we often don’t even know who our neighbors are! While some of us are blessed to live in established neighborhoods where we come to know and cherish our neighbors, others of us live in more transient areas or are so busy that we may live in a home for months or years before ever crossing paths with our neighbors! There are little things we can do, however, to give our children a taste of those neighborly values and teach them how to be aware, friendly, and involved neighbors…
We live in a rather diverse neighborhood that is fairly transient. There are some established homeowners and residents, but a fair portion of the population tends to shift and change with the seasons (we live in a University town and our neighborhood is definitely affected by that reality.) Since our neighborhood also attracts individuals from various backgrounds, there can be a language barrier to starting up a conversation at the mailboxes or the bus stop. Still, I think this is a valuable opportunity for our family to experience some diversity and learn how to be neighborly in a modern environment.
I encourage my kids to be aware and friendly toward our neighbors. I think just being aware of whom your neighbors are and willing to share the nod and the friendly wave is a good start. If one of the neighbor children leaves her bike lying on the sidewalk, encouraging your child to return it to the home can be the beginning of a neighborly relationship. Letting kids know that their own toys, mess and noise affect the neighbors can help them develop an understanding of how they fit into the bigger world and how their actions affect others.
If you have older neighbors or those who don’t get out very often, letting your children accompany you when you check in on them, offer to take their trash to the street, or offer a ride to the store, are all ways you can model neighborly behavior for your kids. Inviting the neighbors to dinner or a barbecue, or hosting the block or neighborhood party are other classic ways of increasing neighborly connections and teaching your children how to reach out and create a sense of community.
Some of us are very fortunate to live in strong community-oriented neighborhoods. But, even if you don’t, you can encourage your children to reach out and feel connected and attached to the individuals in your neighborhood—it just takes some effort and some parental modeling to teach your children some of the qualities of being neighborly!
See Also: Dealing With Difficult Neighbors and Location, Location, Location