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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to love looking in people’s windows!

239 replies

LittleRa · 14/06/2021 09:42

I’m on maternity leave and my baby loves the pram (was a surprise as older DD hated it!) and naps well it, but wakes up when I stop walking. I also do the school run twice a day for older DD. So I find myself wandering around the streets, exploring parts of the neighbourhood I haven’t been to before. I love looking into people’s front windows! It feels so nosy Blush What they have on their walls; art work, photos etc, how their furniture is arranged, where their TV is positioned (and how big it is!) have all become a source of fascination to me. Has my baby brain turned to mush and I need to get out (of the nearby streets) more? Is is terribly bad manners? Anyone else like a good nose into front windows?
Disclaimer- from the street! Not entering gardens/yards and pressing my nose up against the glass! And also not stopping and gawping- always moving along (aforementioned sleeping baby!)

OP posts:
fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:06

@Cookies2523

How would you feel if people were looking in your windows at your children?
why would they? When you are bothered, you do something so people can't look 🤷
Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:08

@Cookies2523

How would you feel if people were looking in your windows at your children?
I don’t really feel anything
OP posts:
Lockheart · 14/06/2021 14:08

I love how people think there's a material difference between seeing children in a park as you walk past and seeing the same children in the lounge as you walk past, with the oh-so-subtle yet still very obvious implication that anyone who looks at children is a wrong'un.

MN hyperbole at its finest.

UrAWizHarry · 14/06/2021 14:11

@fashionablefennel

UrAWizHarry

I don't care if you call it rude. It's on show for the world to see! It's up to you , if it was bothering you, you would ensure your privacy. I have.

Yeah, because having a windown that isn't blacked out is an invitation for passers by to stare into the room.

It is rude, but it's pretty obvious that you don't care so you didn't need to clarify that.

Lovewinemorethanhusband · 14/06/2021 14:12

I love doing this, if you can see in what do people expect ? I love the clutter free and you free front rooms

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:15

UrAWizHarry

your expectation that people have to pretend they can't see your home and actively avoid looking at it is bizarre at best!

Cookies2523 · 14/06/2021 14:18

You are all CF's! Can't believe you can't/won't respect other people's privacy. Why should people live in a house with blinds/curtains closed just so nosy CF's like you lot can't see in. Unbelievable!

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:18

@Cookies2523

You are all CF's! Can't believe you can't/won't respect other people's privacy. Why should people live in a house with blinds/curtains closed just so nosy CF's like you lot can't see in. Unbelievable!
Do you feel this way about people looking at the empty room?
OP posts:
UrAWizHarry · 14/06/2021 14:19

It's not bizarre to expect people not to stare into people's windows as they walk past them.

Look, it's really easy. Typically when you are walking past a house, the windows are perpendicular to the direction in which you are walking. So, what you can do is maintain your neck in a foward facing direction and the issue is averted. If you are looking into someone's window that means you are making a conscious effort to do it.

I can break out some crayons if required.

Bluntness100 · 14/06/2021 14:19

It really only takes 4-5 seconds to pass a house and is easy to notice furniture, decor and wall art in that time

Well yeah if your deliberately staring into peoples homes.

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:21

@Bluntness100

It really only takes 4-5 seconds to pass a house and is easy to notice furniture, decor and wall art in that time

Well yeah if your deliberately staring into peoples homes.

Well yeah, I am, that’s what this thread is about Grin If I wasn’t looking in the windows, there’d be no thread. But some people believe I am stopping and staring, staring for long periods of time, or staring when people are in the room- none of which are the case.
OP posts:
Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:23

I actually think it’s more of a conscious effort to keep your face stiffly facing forward and not naturally glance about you as you walk

OP posts:
Cookies2523 · 14/06/2021 14:23

Of course I do. I don't understand why people would be so disrespectful by looking into someone else's property - empty room or not.

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:24

UrAWizHarry

so people don't look at front gardens, are not allowed to look at street numbers, have to stare rigidly ahead and not look on the side at whoever they are walking with. Yeah right.

You are being ridiculous Smile

Just buy some damn blinds if you are that bothered.

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:25

I bet this thread is just going to encourage people to look at houses as they walk past, if only to check how much or how little they can see inside 😂

Some people spend hours to display a beautiful front garden which is their pride and joy, imagine how sad if everyone was pretending to ignore and be blind to them!

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:29

I am wondering if some of the posters don’t do much walking around their neighbourhoods and nearby streets. As I said in my OP I’m on maternity leave and doing a lot more walking around locally than I ever did before, which is how I’ve found myself doing this. Perhaps if I’d heard of someone doing this then I’d have imagined a weirdo taking the time to stop and stare but honestly when you walk around it really isn’t any kind of effort to happen to look into large front windows and is much more unnatural to not look around yourself.

OP posts:
slashlover · 14/06/2021 14:30

@LittleRa

I actually think it’s more of a conscious effort to keep your face stiffly facing forward and not naturally glance about you as you walk
You're not naturally glancing around though, you're deliberately looking in. I've glanced into people's houses when I see something in my peripheral vision, that's different to what you seem to be doing.
fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:32

I am wondering if some of the posters don’t do much walking around their neighbourhoods and nearby streets.

when you think that we just spent months in lockdown when there was literally nothing else to do. Must have been a few painful months for some...

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:32

I’m naturally glancing about and if the room is empty and there’s interesting furniture, wall art etc, taking a closer look as I pass, but if there’s a person in there turning away.

OP posts:
UrAWizHarry · 14/06/2021 14:33

@fashionablefennel

UrAWizHarry

so people don't look at front gardens, are not allowed to look at street numbers, have to stare rigidly ahead and not look on the side at whoever they are walking with. Yeah right.

You are being ridiculous Smile

Just buy some damn blinds if you are that bothered.

If you can't work out the difference between looking at someone's garden and staring into someone's front room there is another thread on the front page which describes you perfectly.
Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:34

@fashionablefennel

I am wondering if some of the posters don’t do much walking around their neighbourhoods and nearby streets.

when you think that we just spent months in lockdown when there was literally nothing else to do. Must have been a few painful months for some...

As mentioned by PP on this thread, in some areas (mine included) people displayed things in their front windows for walkers to spot, including rainbow pictures, teddy bears and Easter eggs.
OP posts:
Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 14:36

@UrAWizHarry What difference does it make if the room is empty and you aren’t in there? (I don’t mean that to sound arsey or confrontational at all, I am just wondering! I can totally understand in the instance of you being in the room, but if you aren’t home or aren’t in that room…?)

OP posts:
fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 14:37

If you can't work out the difference between looking at someone's garden and staring into someone's front room there is another thread on the front page which describes you perfectly.

but what difference does it make to YOU? People still see in your home!

It's a bit of curiosity, pretty sure your house is not that interesting that people walking pass give it that much head space Wink

HopingForOurRainbowBaby · 14/06/2021 14:38

@ToffeePennie

I love it! Especially when I’m on a train and I can have a nosey at their back gardens!!
I thought it was just me who did that Grin
GloriousMystery · 14/06/2021 15:43

Some people spend hours to display a beautiful front garden which is their pride and joy, imagine how sad if everyone was pretending to ignore and be blind to them!

That's interesting that you think people 'display' their front gardens for the eyes of others -- that genuinely hadn't occurred to me. All the garden, front back and side, is planted and laid out for our benefit, and to make pleasant sightlines when looking out from the house, and not with any thought to being on display to passersby.

Come to think of it, is it a UK cultural thing? I have a strong memory of having to tell at least two different guys sent by gardening firms (after we'd just bought a house and didn't yet have a lawnmower or any tools to maintain the garden) that they should concentrate their efforts on the back garden, as that was the one we used most -- they were both assuming I was thinking most about the 'look' of the front garden because it was the visible part.