Neighbor Kids

We are fairly new to our neighborhood. We moved into our house in April. This is the first time my kids have lived in a house and the first time to have other kids live nearby. Before this house, we were in a downtown loft with not another kid to be seen for miles. Now we have a little girl living across the street, and several other children down the street. My 5-year-old loves to have friends over and play outside with them. She gets so desperate to go out and play if she sees them outside or if they come knocking on our door. My husband is very paranoid about our daughter's safety to the point where having neighbor kids come over severely stresses him out. She knows the rules about strangers, staying in our yard, and other things. These are nice kids and I'm not too worried about her. There is a little 8-year-old boy who thinks our family is tons of fun and always wants to play with my 5-year-old. She loves it, I don't mind too much, but my husband gets very annoyed, very easily. I just wonder what it will be like when she starts dating! Yikes!

So for the first time since I was a kid, we have neighbor kids running in and out, playing on the swing set, eating Popsicles, and watching cartoons at our house. I listen to their childish conversations when they think I'm busy and it reminds me of the little things my neighbor friends and I used to talk about: who's owie hurts more, funny saying from cartoons and commercials, pretending to fly on the swings, etc. It takes me back to my care-free summer days at my home in Texas. I can just hear my dad yelling "Quit slamming the door! Either come in or out; you're letting all of the cold air out!" "No, she can not come out and play - we're having dinner. She'll see you later." "Turn off the hose when you're done with it. You're wasting water!" Etc. Ah, those good summer days with all of the neighbor kids.