Senior Citizens, did you visit your neighbors when you were younger?

Sure did. We visited everyone up and down the block, both sides of the street. The families with kids generally, the kids went to the same school we did so they were in many of the same classes as us (my sibs and I). And the parents up and down the street kind of kept and eye out for all the kids on the block. One of the kids that lived right next door to us is still one of my closest and best friends, more like siblings because we spent so much time in each other's lives, and she still comes for Thanksgiving with my family every yeara (hers are too far away). The ladies who lived on the other side of us were two elderly ladies who died a long time ago, but everyone in the neighborhood had them over for coffee or supper, would always check on the ladies if they weren't seen for a day, made sure they were accounted for an didn't need errands done or anything. We would mow their postage-stamp lawn. I don't think people stood around gossiping much. I even remember there was a block party (don't remember if there were more than one and I've truncated the all down to just one, or if there actually was just one) when I was around 7--old enough for mom to let us run around without her supervision. They blocked off the street so no cars could go through The adult people dragged out their lawn chairs and bbqs and sat there socializing the eating; we kids just ran up and down in the middle of the street, I remember having all the kids lie down on the street and look at the sky because it's something I always wanted to do but there was usually too many cars. It was summer and warm and it was GREAT! Every Halloween the street would have a Halloween party in the vacant lot, we'd trick'n'treat first and then go to the lot for food and drink. In the summer, since it was the inner city, the city sent over a social worker to keep us juvenile delinquint kids busy doing arts'n'crafts, going on field trips, doing organized games/sports. It only worked because everyone did know everyone else on the block (and a whole lot of peole on the surrounding blocks too). Parents who were home during the daytime automatically watched kids just out of the school until their parent came home from work.

Now, I know my neighbors by sight but not by name, and we wave or say hi to each other but we don't socialize more than that. We don't exchange housekeys (as we did back in the day). For the past 2 years, we have had block parties but so far I haven't heard anything for this year--and the block parties are more limited then the ones from back in my childhood--there aren't that many families with kids anymore, it is often too cold to sit around outside for long. I do hope we have more block parties this summer, I think it's good for the kids and their parents to meet and greet. I think it gives the retired folks a chance to get out and meet their neighbors.

everyone visited each other, especially on sundays after church

Most of the fsathers worked two jobs and the wopmen and the young girls visited each other and talked about cooking, doing hair, and exchanging gossip.

everyone or rather the elderly was always at hopme preparing meals for the family and when the children came home which belongs to the neighbors, they were more than welcomed to come and to stay at the neighbor s house until the father or the mother arrived home from work.

there was always somerthing to eat and the elderly helped the kids with their homework after school.

The neighbors in the eveing was always borrowing or trading some sort of commodity to help to prepare dinner for the family- for instance; they would trade a cup of oil for a half cup of baking powder.

In the 1950's neighbors in my area would yell over the fence and then stand and talk but it was on a very rare occasion and only with one person would they visit in their home. There were women in the neighborhood that would go clean houses (I mean thoroughly clean, like scrubbing walls and such) throughout the neighborhood twice a year and then clean each others homes (all for cash) but they were busybodies, they would get to see what you own and what your house looks like inside and such but they weren't someone you wanted to spill the beans to of how you handled your home. There were a couple of neighbors you'd trust with your key or with looking out for an elder loved one when you weren't home. Seems though everything that was done though required money, and paying someone never did equate to being called a neighbor or neighborly. But we knew people from church, it was a small but tight community.

These days the only people who want neighbors are the elderly. Being a tad younger myself I tried friendships and they turned into their wanting money. I asked for a friendship from one person twice and both times they said no. Another one (a senior citizen) insists she's too busy to chat. Another one keyed my car. Seems apartment living isn't like (owning a) home living. Here they will talk only if something is going on in the complex or city.

I don't visit; they don't visit.

Nope. I grew up in the city in the second half of the twentieth century, and all of our neighbors placed a high value on their time and their privacy, just as we did on ours. If my family had turned up at the door of any of our neighbors for a "visit," they would have thought we were out of our frigging minds. And we would have thought the same of them if they had turned up at our door with the intention of sitting around in our living room for an hour or two eating cookies and sipping lemonade and jawboning with us about the hot weather or lumbago remedies or how to improve gas mileage.

And I still don't visit anybody. I can't stand my neighbors, and I'm not crazy about my relatives either. Life is much too short.

I remember my parents entertaining some neighbors at our home. Sometimes it was a BBQ or just a couple of beers for the men and some coffee for the ladies.

We would go to neighbors homes to swim in their pool.

My parents often went to the movies with other neighbor couples and we kids all played together and had sleepovers.

It all came to a crashing end when my father went too far with being a good neighbor and got one of the other wives pregnant.

Many years ago I did most of the visiting but now I let them visit me. I have very little family left and they live many hundreds of miles away so I don't see much of them. I have several neighbors that check in with me several times a week and for that I am grateful. Neighbors are not exactly right next door, I live in the country.

I live on a country estate and have done all my life. As a child all the cottages were occupied by estate workers and naturally the families of these workers mixed. We visited, they visited.

Now only one cottage as an estate worker living there, all the others are occupied by people who have moved out of the towns and keep themselves to themselves, and all I know of them is when their kids cause trouble trespassing in neighbours gardens, shooting wildlife in the woods with air rifles and fooling about riding trail bikes on the estate farms.

I have two couples in the village that I call friends and visit regularly.

I NEVER visit family, and, Praise be, they don't visit me.

We lived on a short, hilly country road and only had two neighbors at the end of the road, down the hill. Nowadays you would call it a cul de sac. They were both elderly ladies and I believe they were widowed sisters-in-law. I don't remember exactly visiting with them, but whenever they needed something fixed they always called my dad to do it for them. We shared a party line with them and I remember they were always ON IT, regular chatterboxes. One of them had a grandson/ward who lived with her. He was quite a bit older than we children were, so he wasn't a playmate. Today, we know most of our neighbors, but not on a visiting basis, at least not on my part. If one of our neighbors pulls into the drive, it is either to offer or ask for help with something. The men lend each other their tools and their expertise. It tends to even out; our neighbors have helped us just as much as we've helped them. We live in the country on a dirt road and the houses are pretty far apart, not conducive for over the fence chatting.

When I was very young we were allowed to visit a neighbor that had no children. They always had milk and cookies for us. Later when we moved we had a married couple nearby who also had no children that we could visit. Fortunately none of us kids were over there the day a man came and beat her up. I was too young then to know but assume now that she was also raped. Next move most of the neighbors had kids so we had plenty of playmates for football, biking, roller skating and horseback riding.....that last til we all went off to colleges and the rest of our lives.

The women, mostly stay at home mothers, would visit over the fence and share news of the neighborhood and etc. Real visiting in each others homes was mostly done on the weekends and with family members.