Neighborhood Nosy Rosy

That's me.

We live in townhouses that back up to another townhouse community. A wooden fence separates the two, but there are parts of the fence missing, making for easy access between the two.

There is a river on the west side of both communities. Being Indiana, it's reaching to call it a river. In Michigan, it would be considered a big creek. It's not very deep, but the drop off to the bank is treacherous.

Not too long after we moved in, Mia met two little girls named J and A. (Side note: I first thought J was a little boy because she was dressed very boyish, had short hair, and her name could work for either sex. She's sort of a Pat-ish child.) J is five and A is seven. Mia is six. Perfect age for playmates, right?

Well, it seems that J and A live in the other community behind us and regularly visit ours. Alone. Just a five and seven year old girl.

I didn't think much of it at first; whenever they came to play with Mia, I walked them home. At one point, on a Saturday morning, Dex was up earlier and Mia wasn't installed on the couch watching Sponge Bob. He figured that Mia was up in her room playing. She's always the first person awake. Martin and I always sleep in on week-ends, at least til ten. Dexter is drinking his coffee and watching something on TV when there is a knock on the door, and it's Mia. She had invited herself over to J and A's house. Not good. Not good at all and Little Miss Independent got grounded for a week. I guess she thought that since J and A had free run of the area, so did she.

I do not let Mia out to play or ride her bike or draw on the sidewalk alone. I don't let her walk 100 feet to the mailbox with watching her.

These kids are all over, riding their bikes, and not just on the sidewalk. They're out when it's almost dark. They roam way down to the front of our community, which is certainly not within yelling distance of where they live.

They're nice little girls, but I'm not real comfortable with their freedom.

Dexter has a friend named Mike who lives three doors down. Mike has a brother named Ryan who is 11. This afternoon, we saw Mike outside and said we were going down to the pool and Mike said he'd see us there, that he was taking Ryan. Mike didn't know that Ryan had told J and A where he was going, so they ran home and got their suits on. Mike is 17. He was watching his brother and I mentioned that it worries me. Mike was a little freaked out because apparently, J and A had indicated that Mike was watching them. Mike wanted no part of it, and I don't blame him.

Who let's their kids go not only to the pool, but a pool farthest away, and swim with somebodies seventeen year old brother, whom they've never met? Seriously, WFT? Mike is perfectly harmless and a good kid, but what if was someone else?

I'm not going to confront their parents, but I will call their community office, and ours. It concerns me. Actually, it scares the everlovin' shit out of me. We don't live in a high crime area. It's pretty quiet, mostly families. It still worries me. And if I am the neighborhood nosy rosy, so be it.

I have one child who is sixteen and another is six; other than them trying to escape the Mumma, they are whole and healthy and unmolested and I intend to keep it that way.