Hanging out the front ? Why ?

[wolfinfoxesclothing]

So where I live there is a lot of parents with young children. All houses have back gardens, but they all seem to hang around out the front of there houses. We don't live on a cul-de-sac, it's a normal road with traffic and not that much pavement. So they are actually standing there with their toddlers and little children playing in the road. Why? I don't get it ? I know they are talking watching but it's not safe.

It's actually part of the tenancy agreement. A law was passed in the early 90s requiring council tenants to sit out the front. There was a big hit hah about it round my way. People who had merrily been sitting in the back garden weren't sure if they should buy second chairs or just move their chairs to the front.
The woman in 42 got the local Mp involved. He bought her a nice lounger for the front.
No one else got to that.

We suspect she shagged him.

We suspect she shagged him

Well at least he is dedicated to satisfying his voters.

Wondering if you live on my road wolfinfoxesclothing!!! Drives me mad. Kids are loud and play right outside my house until late and seem to have no consideration for the fact I have babies asleep upstairs.

I really do believe it is basically a working class thing.

I grew up on a council estate and it was nothing to sit on the front step eating your tea off your lap or drag an arm chair onto the front lawn on a sunny evening. When we pass through the same place today there is often someone standing at the front gate having a cup of tea or just sitting on the front wall watching the traffic. I sort of like it.

I spent 15yrs with horrific neighbours and never went out the front garden or back. Now my neighbours are wonderful and we often have a cup of tea out the front watching the children play. We sit out the front as back gardens have big brick walls and are north facing. Our Front gardens are huge and sunny!
I will never care what people think as I am grateful for such wonderful neighbours.

Children want to play with neighbour children. Parents have to watch them because of traffic.

I wouldn't let mine play in the road.

You wouldn’t?? Why the hell not? ‘Dodge the cyclists’ is my DCs favourite game.

Looking after small children is socially isolating. Having other people's kids round to play with yours in the back garden, only gives you extra kids to keep an eye on. Putting them out the front gives them other kids to play with, other adults to share the load with and chat to, and you can keep an eye on comings and goings in the area.

It is also great for older people who can't get out easily. Older people do get very lonely and can find themselves cut off from the community. On a street like this, they can still be part of it. I have a few older neighbours who regularly sit out the front for this reason. Unfortunately our street has become a really busy rat run, so most people tend to withdraw into their houses and children are rarely allowed out on their own.

@postcardsfrom play streets are great. We used to do them, until my children grew up/ moved away. It wasn't just the parents and children who benefitted; it was an excuse for everyone to come out with their cups of tea and have a natter.

Oh I did this as a child. It was so we could all play together. Is that working class? Playing in groups? Good to know.

My kids get sick of the back garden so like to play out the front while I'm gardening. It's nice, other kids come out in the street who they wouldn't usually see as they go to a school futher away. Iv gotten to know a few neighbours - proud to be working class

Meh. It's a 'where you live' thing.

Where we used to live (cul-de-sac) there were a lot of families. we could watch the dc play and socialise at the same time. No one's garden was big enough for 10+ children.

Where we live now, we're in the middle of a more elderly population, on a busier road but with a green across from the house. Everyone has adult children and visiting grandchildren.

Sometimes our dc play on the green as there is more space for their giddy games and sometimes we walk round the corner to the park, usually if they want to meet friends. Sometimes they play in the garden.

Other roads near us are a much younger population and play out/socialise out front like I used to.

My neighbours do this as there's a bit of green in front of the house that their DC play on. They can sit in the front garden and keep an eye on them. Back gardens are small and get very hot as south facing, so this makes total sense to me.

You've made me feel all nostalgic for the days when my DC were little and used to play out with all the neighbours children. It was lovely and gave me a nice feeling of community.

VogueVVague

Lol only people round here that do it are the non working no class people

I'm loving some of the assumptions and stereotyping going on on this great too. I love MN for giving me the opportunity to hear what actually goes on in people's heads.

I, too, hang out the front.

It is my cheap, working-class bra, sadly.

Zaphod

They don’t hang around the front where I live and some of those corpses are very animated and noisy during parties.

We live on a friendly road that has some of the most expensive housing in our town. DS was the youngest of all the dc of similar age in our area of the road and is now 17. There was a time when there were ten dc of primary school age that lived within a distance of six houses. So they all used to play together on the drives and along the pavement. I got them chalking on the pavements. They had water fights in the summer. It was a really lovely time. The oldest ones are now at University. There are two new families, one a small baby and the other has a little girl of six. They don't have a group like DS did, I miss hearing the dc playing out. An older lady who is a widow used to give them cakes she had baked. My house and my next door neighbours were the centre as we had four of the dc this age between us.

I hang out where the sun's best for drying. That can be front or back depending on the time of day and time of year. (Yes, I'm on of those lazy slobs who sometimes doesn't get the washing hung out until afternoon. So get me arrested now!) I also sometimes have this crazy urge to talk to my neighbours. I even did this when my kids were young - can you imagine? I had conversations with adults while my kids played with other kids. Both my DDs survivied despite having a mum who was clearly irresponsible and some kind of social deviant.

I genuinely believed this was going to be a thread about men with their zips not done up properly.

It's the meeting others in 'no man's' land that's the attraction, which is why people spend more going to the pub instead of drinking in someone's house. The ability to come and go when it suits and nobody having to host. Friendly.

Doesn't happen round here, everyone's front garden is a car park.

You are only middle class if your dinner parties include pombears. Otherwise it's Tesco value crisps in the front garden with the rest of the poor people 😉

I live in the most middle class area (think ‘leafy suburb’ in estate agents speak) and we do a lot of sitting out the front. It’s south facing, our front garden is lovely and the DCs can practice their cycling or scooting up and down the street. We often have a chat with neighbours and passers by. It’s nice.

Now I know though it’s obviously my working class roots breaking through :)

@EdiShowers what an unpleasant post.

I don't have any DCs to supervise so I sit where the sun is, which is the back in the morning and the front in the afternoon/evening.

Makes sense to me and I don't care what others think. In fact I probably invite further judging because if I have a little tipple in the evening it could well be lager from the can, because certain friends and relatives have a habit of bringing drinks round and leaving half of them. So I will use them up. If I was pouring a drink of my own choosing, it would be a G&T or glass of cava.

I suppose if I was middle class enough I would have thought of this dilemma when buying the house in the first place and discounted this one on the grounds that it would not be possible to sit in the sun in the back garden in the evening and carried on searching until I found one that faced the 'correct' way.