Friendships in the Neighbourhood

In my last post, I mentioned what an awesome neighbourhood we live in (Victoria). For a number of our out-of-town guests, they've commented that being in our community is like a throwback to the 70's (think: everyone actually says hi to everyone, there's an annual block BBQ, neighbours come over to your house for a random chat...). For that, I am entirely grateful.

While it is my husband's dream to live on a farm (not mine yet, anyway) we're pretty happy with the location we've chosen, given the rising cost of real estate in the area. I'll never forget the day we went house hunting and finding our dream home during an open house (the last house to view for the day!). The house and neighbourhood is a little bit older than what we'd hoped for (1980's-esque). But what really struck my attention were the open gardens, trees, basketball hoops and kids bicycles/skateboards/scooters strewn across the lawns. While the house had great curb appeal, I found the appeal of the neighbourhood more enticing. 


You see, I grew up in the City of Coquitlam in a 'modern' suburban division. There were very few kids in my neighbourhood to begin with. In any case, there was always a sense of 'lock and key' mentality in the area. I didn't really see kids running across from yard to yard like they do in my current neighborhood. Mind you, this is just one neighbourhood, and is not reflective of all neighbourhoods in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Even Coquitlam's Mayor Richard Stewart (a former neighbour of mine!) would agree. He's a huge advocate for outdoor neighbourhood play.

Why am I bringing this up? For starters, my little girl is starting to develop friendships with her fellow neighbourhood kids. She's currently an only child (but not for long) and this is a great way for her to be exposed to other children before entering preschool. She keeps asking when she can go outside! I often go with her as she's still a bit too young to be left unsupervised. (even my husband will go out and play basketball with the teenage boys next door)

Playing a 'made' up game with the other kids!

Then a day later, the post below showed up on my news feed. It made me a little sad to know that I never really formed a relationship with anyone else in my neighbourhood. Fortunately, my little girl has this rare opportunity.

Photo credit from "I grew up in the 80's" Facebook page

As a mom, this makes my heart melt. As a HOH mommy, this poses a slight potential challenge for me. I know that there will come a day when my girl wants to play outside with her friends - she might or might not come and tell me where she is. Or she might tell me where she is, and I didn't catch what she said.

Thinking ahead, I'm hoping that our home becomes neighbourhood central because then it will be 1) easier for me to keep an eye (when you can't hear, seeing is the next best thing) on things; 2) we know she'll be safe; 3) we have the best driveway for chalk-art. It also helps that everyone in our neighbourhood knows we have a hearing loss, and they've been incredibly accommodating. For instance, they know to text us before knocking/ringing the doorbell! On the plus side, we have lots of kids willing to babysit when they are older!