Last month we moved into a lovely flat, which is next door to a residential thingy for patients discharged from the local mental hospital.
I have a good friend who works as an OT and told me it is fine - they carefully decide who to place there as it is in a residential area. Most of the patients are fairly stable as far as he knows, etc etc.
We've not had any trouble at all, I was feeling confident. But this morning, ds's 1&2 were out in our garden alone, while I emailed my mother back - ds1 was calling me in a silly way, 'maaar-my' over and over again, not loudly, because he wanted me to go out and play with him - I went to the window and said I would be out in 5 minutes.
He went back to the climbing frame and sat there calling some more. Not in distress, just repeatedly in a daft way.
I went to go out a minute later, to hear a low voice over the wall from next door - saying 'alright ds1?' (he knew his name )
Ds1 shyly smiled back and nodded.
Voice said 'what about the daughter, is she alright?'
Ds1 nodded again, glanced at me - I went out and the man said 'It's only me - I thought he might need help or something'. I said, 'No, thanks he's fine, I was just there (pointing to door)'
He said' what about your daughter, haven't you got a daughter over there?'
He obv meant ds2, who was perfectly alright and quiet.
I said 'No, that's my other son, he is fine'
The man was reluctant to let it drop but eventually wandered off.
I felt horrible, it was intrusive, unnecessary, and the worst thing (I shouldn't care probably) was that Ds1 was trouserless in every sense
I think he should be allowed to play in his own garden without worrying about this stuff but have now had to have a word, which makes me sad.
I can't help feeling upset that this person should be looking over our wall and speaking to my children unless they are friends and I have introduced them.
Especially as I was actually speaking to Ds1 loudly, asking him to come in and get his trousers on, at the same time as the man was insistently trying to have a conversation with him. He could obv hear me shouting but carried on acting as though I was not there and my children somehow warranted his attention.
Sorry to rant but am not sure how to prevent this happening again, unless the hedge we are putting in grows 10 times faster than it is likely to...there is already a decent wall but this doesn't appear to provide sufficient privacy.