How to Make a Community in Your Neighborhood
Today it’s all about how to make a community in your neighborhood. Do you live in a neighborhood where you couldn’t name a handful of your neighbors?
It seems like more and more people these days prefer to be left alone. Even the neighborhood kids are more timid to play with other kids just down the street.
This can be disheartening if you’ve recently moved into the neighborhood and you’re looking for friends. Here is how to make a community in your neighborhood.
How to Make a Community in Your Neighborhood
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to stay like this and you could be the family that breaks the ice. Not only is it nice to get to know your neighbors, but building a community in your neighborhood provides a number of other benefits as well. Here’s a look at some of those advantages and how you get a community started in your neighborhood.
Why Your Neighborhood Needs A Community
One of the major benefits of creating a community within your neighborhood is that it helps to keep the crime rate low. When you and your neighbors are more aware of what’s normal and what isn’t in your neighborhood, everyone can keep an eye out for suspicious people or illegal activity and quickly alert the authorities and also get in touch with you.
Community bonds everyone together and mostly everyone is willing to pitch in to make life easier for others. When you’re needing a babysitter, you know just the neighbor girl that will say yes.
The same goes for allowing a neighbor to borrow your hedger. (Just make sure to get it back.) The more neighbors you know, the more likely you’ll be invited over for a neighborhood barbecue.
It can be a breath of fresh air for you and your family to have closely knitted ties with several other families living around you. This provides not only a mental boost for everyone, but also a physical one because it gets you outside of your house and staying more active.
The last reason why a community is so important in your neighborhood is that it provides you and your neighbors with the perception of belonging.
In a sense, it’s a lot like a second family. It certainly makes it harder for you to ever want to move away because of the great friendships that you have developed.
Ways to Create a Community
Introduce Yourself
If you can’t name a majority of your neighbors living around you, it’s time that you just go up and introduce yourself. It doesn’t have to be awkward, even if you’ve been living there for a while. Just go up and say hi.
Nip It in the Bud
An escalating feud between you and a neighbor is only going to make things more uncomfortable. Instead of calling the police, child services, or the humane society, try talking it over with your neighbor so that the issue can be solved one-on-one.
Show Courtesy and Respect
Having to hear music played extremely loud next door or out in the street when it’s past 10 o’clock is rude to put it nicely. It’s also disrespectful not to clean up after your pet when you’re out walking. If you want courtesy and respect to be shown to you, it’s your job to show it first.
Hang Outside Your Home More
It’s amazing what hanging outside on your front porch can do for you to finally be able to have interaction with your neighbors. Conversations will start naturally with your neighbors as they’re walking by you.
It also lets them know that you wouldn’t mind if they stopped by every once in a while.
Allow Trustworthy Neighbors to Watch Your Home While Away
When you’re gone on vacation, it would be a smart idea to let one or a few of your neighbors know that you’re planning on heading out of town. That way they can keep an eye on your home for you, and make sure the mail doesn’t begin to pile up.
Have a Neighborhood Block Party
One of the best ways to get to know your neighbors is by throwing a neighborhood block party. Not only are they super fun, but you’ll be able to remember names faster by spending time with them.
You may even notice that future interactions are more likely to happen because you opened up your yard to your small community. In case you missed my post on Neighbors-It’s Critical We Get To Know Them
Welcome New Families
When a new family moves in down the street, be the first person to welcome them with a food dish, dessert, or house warming gift that gets you both started off on the right foot.
This doesn’t happen as often as the good ole’ days, but it’s your job to continue the tradition.
Help Your Elderly Neighbors
You probably have a few elderly neighbors who live close by who could sure use someone to mow their yard, shovel their driveway, or simply just visit and talk with them.
Backyard Movie Night
Do you have a decent-sized lawn and a projector and a big screen making it possible for you to have your very own outdoor neighborhood theatre? Have your neighbors bring a few soft drinks and popcorn and you’ll all have an evening to remember.
Remember to Slow Down Behind the Wheel
Sometimes we get distracted or are in a hurry to get away from work as fast as we can. Try to remember to slow down when you’re in the neighborhood because kids are running and playing and you’d hope that your neighbors would do the same for your children.
Please put your cell phones down when driving. I promise, no call or text is that important when driving. We all know people who have died from being hit by a drunk driver, a person texting, or someone talking on their cell phone. Life is never ever the same for the driver or the victim’s family.
Plant a Community Garden
A community garden is another fun and creative way to create a community in the neighborhood. Plus, you’ll have the convenience of being able to enjoy some of the veggies that are planted there.
Get Started On a Neighborhood Watch Program
Creating a neighborhood watch program is another way to create unity, while keeping watch over your neighborhood. Here are a few tips on how to get started.
Final Word
It’s a nice feeling to drive into the neighborhood and catch a wave from a neighbor as you drive by. If you don’t have that, hopefully, some of these ideas can get the ball rolling on building a community in your neighborhood.
What are some other ways you’ve gone out of your way to getting to know your neighbors? Walking a dog is a great way to meet a neighbor or two. Stay safe, stay well. May God bless this world, Linda
Copyright Images: Neighborhood Deposit photos_8073841_s-2019, Neighbors Block Party Deposit photos_183064420_s-2019
Linda – good post.
I do have an issue with the statement: “Instead of calling the police, child services, or the humane society…” If I were to see a criminal behavior, child abuse/neglect or animal abuse/neglect, I would not be discussing these things with my neighbor. I would call the authorities immediately. Of course, that being said, likely if someone was abusing/neglecting their child/children, neighbors are not going to see the actual incidents, only the aftermath. In the case of animals, the abused/neglected animal might be visible in the back yard.
I’ve seen people here in my apartment complex treat their dogs in ways that I would not – tugging hard on their leashes but not in an abusive manner – that I would take directly to the person and suggest easier handling but if I saw outright abuse, I would not hesitate to call animal control or the humane society.
Hi Leanne, great comment. I think I could have rephrased it by saying call the police, child services, or the humane services if in fact, you are absolutely sure unusual and vicious treatment has happened. I would not go to a crazy neighbor if I suspected they would hurt me as well. I had an incident with my next-door neighbor who has since moved. They had a tree that had been planted too close to our adjoining block wall fence. I went over and talked to them several times with no avail. The husband thought it would all work out. Well, it did not. It cost over $1000.00 to repair the wall. AND they asked us to split the cost. We did, but I was not happy about it. IF they had moved the tree earlier there wouldn’t have been any expense for either of us. We had a neighbor who had a dog that barked non stop because it was left out all day in the heat with no water. I went to their home and they did nothing. I then called animal control. We all have to live by each other whether we like it or not. We can’t choose our neighbors but we can try and keep the peace. Linda
I love the block party advice. We had planned to host a neighborhood wine and cheese party this winter to meet all of the our new neighbors (we moved into the neighborhood), but Covid ruined that idea. So as soon as the state lets us socialize again, we’ll find a way to get everyone over. I will give kudos to one of the neighbors, who came to visit and brought us a pint of grape jelly that was made from grapes on our own vines. How cool is that?
Hi Laura, oh my gosh, grape jelly made from your grapevines!!! How exciting! I love neighborhoods like your new one! Great move! Linda
Several months ago, when my husband was out in the garage and lab was hanging out in the garage with him, a dog from two doors down ran down, circled our dog, and tried to attack him. We debated what to do. When my husband watched our security video he was truly concerned. How should we handle this? He went down and talked to them, and they didn’t seem to be too offended. They came back in about a week and said they had taken their dog into the vet, it’s behavior including the situation with our dog was not like their dog. When the vet came in, he attacked the vet, several workers had to be called in to restrain him. It turned out he had a brain tumor that was causing strange behavior. They have two little children, one with disabilities. I was so thankful, as they were for the head’s up about this. I was glad we were honest with them instead of going to the HOA and complaining. My husband went down and simply explained that he was concerned. That was a situation where being a good neighbor perhaps saved those little children from trauma.
HI Gayle, thanks for sharing this story. I’m glad to hear that your dog and husband were not hurt. Thankfully, your neighbors were cordial and probably knew that was not the norm for their dog. Thankfully you had the video. Also, you were honest with them, it’s wonderful to hear good neighbor stories. Thanks again for sharing, Linda