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Children 4 & 2 should not be allowed to 'PLAY' in any area where vehicle traffic is present. Raleigh is blessed with many fantastic parks and family friendly areas. Any serious accident involving children would be devastating and life changing to everyone involved. Accidents do happen ! Most of us feel it could never happen to us BUT it can and does. Take the kids to a park.
It's a sad day when a 4 year old can't play basketball in a cul de sac with his parents in a lawn chair 5 feet away. Give me a break.
Thanks for the feedback. It's a positive to have neighbors concerned over the safety of our kids and others. I guess the fact that we were told it was always prohibited felt a bit unfair.
This is painting with a broad brush, I know, but in my opinion playing anywhere other than "your yard" seems to be a sticking point around here.
The town of Apex supposedly has an ordinance against kids playing on the street. The town of Holly Springs had hearings regarding the same because someone brought it to the council because she didn't like kids playing in her cul-de-sac. I am happy to say that the hearings was probably the best attended council meeting with the residents basically letting the town know that they won't be held hostage to one or two complainers.
Like I said, renter or not, you are still bound to the covenants and regardless of the landlord you need to know the rules to living in your community. The HOA wouldn't hesitate to throw a rule in your face, therefore you should waste no time throwing the lack of rules in their face. Of course as a renter you have no say in new rules or rule changes but fair is fair. Either there is a rule or there is not.
Again, there is no thru traffice. It's a dead end. There are 3 town homes between ours and the end of the cul de sac.
My wife and I sit on fold up lawn chairs in the street at our driveway level and the kids play in front of us to the end of the cul de sac. The only traffic is if a neighbor is leaving at which point my children are told to stand in the grass. Which, believe it or not, they actually do because we parent them. And if they don't I'm up in 2 seconds to rectify it.
I suppose I should put them in a 6x6 cage with an xbox and Wii like most parents do these days. Sorry...that isn't happening. There are times where requests are reasonable. This is not one of them. The only thing that makes me feel better is that these peoples' lives are so miserable that all they have for happiness is to gripe about something that isn't an issue.
Sorry you are dealing with that! Kids need to be able to get outside and being on a dead end street sounds ideal. I understand HOA's not wanting children playing in parking lots, but I think a little compromise in this situation could go a long way considering the parents are more than willing to sit outside and supervise them! Unfortunately "rules are rules" and it sounds like they aren't going to work with you. Personally I'd look for another place to live that is more accomodating for families.
Why can't they play in the area of the trees?
Personally I'm not huge on kids being in the street. Riding a bike is one thing, and even then I think that's appropriate when you're past the training wheels level if you're by yourself. You aren't just trusting your child for not dashing out but you're also trusting any potential driver. Toddlers are hard to see.
Again, there is no thru traffice. It's a dead end. There are 3 town homes between ours and the end of the cul de sac.
My wife and I sit on fold up lawn chairs in the street at our driveway level and the kids play in front of us to the end of the cul de sac. The only traffic is if a neighbor is leaving at which point my children are told to stand in the grass. Which, believe it or not, they actually do because we parent them. And if they don't I'm up in 2 seconds to rectify it.
I suppose I should put them in a 6x6 cage with an xbox and Wii like most parents do these days. Sorry...that isn't happening. There are times where requests are reasonable. This is not one of them. The only thing that makes me feel better is that these peoples' lives are so miserable that all they have for happiness is to gripe about something that isn't an issue.
There are a lot of options between caging your children up and letting them play in the neighbors' driveways.
Are there no parks or playgrounds in your area?
Do you have a backyard, deck, patio?
So what did the HOA say in terms of rules about little kids playing in the street?
Did you review the covenants, bylaws, and usage rules for use of common property before you moved in?
If not, this might be a good time to do that. Many HOA's have them right on their websites. If not, printed copies are generally available for the asking.
If there is nary a word about kids playing in the street, then by all means haul out your lawn chairs and stare down your neighbors who mistakenly believe that streets are for cars not kids.
On a related note. Our HOA has an ongoing problem with tenants who do not read the rules for living here before moving in. It has resulted in several unpleasant encounters. Some become downright belligerent when they find that alcohol is not allowed at the pool or they cannot invite all their friends to leave their cars in the visitors spaces for weeks at a time when they fly out of town.
Apparently, landlords like to buy townhouses for rentals as the HOA takes care of all the exterior maintenance, groundskeeping and handles all the problems with the neighbors.
By and large, homeowners are not thrilled by having renters move in and out. Many tire of the ongoing problems with people who are not invested in getting along with the neighbors and worry that as the number of rentals increase, it causes a corresponding decrease in the value of their homes.
KidsDentist, my sister had a similar issue in her neighborhood. She lives in on a cul-de-sac street about 3 or 4 houses from the circle. Her kids are older, but her next door neighbor had 4 elementary aged and younger kids. There was one kid-less neighbor in the circle who was just a witch about kids playing in the circle. The kids wanted to play roller hockey, etc, where they needed a paved surface. The witchy neighbor would call the police all the time, etc., and the cops would just kinda nod their heads at her and let her know that the kids weren't doing anything wrong, but she kept calling. Eventually my sister told the neighbor that they were welcome to play in front of her house and they just learned to steer clear of the witchy neighbor.
I think if you are directly supervising the kids and they're not in danger from cars (but please do be extra careful about that — I've heard some terrible stories) then as long as you keep them in the area of the street in front of your townhome it shouldn't be an issue. Go overboard with the kindness with the neighbors, though, and sincerely thank them for their concern and assure them that you or your wife will be directly supervising them.
Again, there is no thru traffice. It's a dead end. There are 3 town homes between ours and the end of the cul de sac.
My wife and I sit on fold up lawn chairs in the street at our driveway level and the kids play in front of us to the end of the cul de sac. The only traffic is if a neighbor is leaving at which point my children are told to stand in the grass. Which, believe it or not, they actually do because we parent them. And if they don't I'm up in 2 seconds to rectify it.
I suppose I should put them in a 6x6 cage with an xbox and Wii like most parents do these days. Sorry...that isn't happening. There are times where requests are reasonable. This is not one of them. The only thing that makes me feel better is that these peoples' lives are so miserable that all they have for happiness is to gripe about something that isn't an issue.
It seems to me you are focusing on this being a deadend street, and what your HOA is focusing on are the parked cars, as well as ingress and egress by your neighbors and the safety factors and liability that having children darting around makes for the other residents.
I think you need to stop with the "dead end street" argument and address the actual concern expressed to you, which is the safety of your children should someone decide to back out of a parking space or be driving home and suddenly encountered by a child popping up in front of their car. Truly, this is a concern and it seems to me you are more focused on making sure your kids are given free rein in the street/parking lot than you are about the terror your neighbors might feel about the possibility of hitting a toddler while behind the wheel.
Maybe you have never had someone else's child dart out in front of you in a condo parking lot or cul-de-sac. I HAVE. I have had it happen 2 times in my life (and I am probably your parents' age) and parents were close by each time! It is a traumatizing experience and you never forget the sickening feeling that you came "this close" to killing someone's child! I expect one of your neighbors has had that experience and they are trying to protect everyone from a tragedy, so they complained.
Perhaps you should come to terms with your feeling "inconvenienced" about your children's self-designated play area as opposed to someone else's terror about killing one of them -- and find some place else for your kids to play.
Thanks for the feedback. It's a positive to have neighbors concerned over the safety of our kids and others. I guess the fact that we were told it was always prohibited felt a bit unfair.
Stop letting someone tell you that your kids cant play outside, really is it a prison?
I would just have laughed at the guy and let it roll off my shoulders. Tell them that you are the parent and not the hoa.
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just stop
