A Different Kind of Neighborhood Watch
Yesterday, I'm sitting on the front porch with the kids playing in the front yard. There's no fence keeping them back from the street, so I need to watch them, but they do fine most of the time.
A little boy, probably about 3 or 4, was in his fenced yard across the street. He heard the kids, he started calling to them, and they started calling back.
"Heh rollerskate girl" he called to my daughter. She tells me, "Heh, he's calling me rollerskate girl." I tell her that's what he sees, so that's what he's calling you since he doesn't know your name. I waved to him. He waved back.
Even though it's a city street posted 25 MPH, it's a busy 4 lane road. Not really suitable for kickball or anything.
A few minutes later, the little boy calls out. Now he's standing, outside the gate, right at the edge of the street. I about freaked. There's a car in each lane on the other side coming. I ran to the edge of the street and told him to stay there and go back inside the yard. Almost ran across the street to stop him, but I was afraid my three would follow me. He went back inside his yard.
Dad then realized the boy was out the gate, and came outside to get him. He thanked me.
My 4 year old once escaped the back yard gate, and neighborhood kids pointed out which way he went. Another time, he went out the front porch gate, and got to a neighbor's house where my daughter's friend lives. The Mom showed up at our front door with him asking, "Is everything OK?"
As such, we now have small combo padlocks on the gates, but he may eventually start to climb over.
This is generally more what I think of when I hear Neighborhood Watch.
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Thanks for posting!
