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Tips For Meeting Your Neighbors
The safety of children, as well as adults in communities, is a concern in
everyone’s mind today. Knowing your neighbors can be a way of making your
neighborhood and community safer. There are some things to consider if you want to provide
a safe environment for people to come together in your neighborhood, housing complex or
community.
- Don’t go out by yourself from door to door to meet and introduce yourself to people
or even to invite them to an event. An overly friendly person may be perceived as a danger
if you don’t know them.
- Plan with a group to hold a neighborhood picnic or seasonal gathering. This offers a
safe place to meet when you don’t know the other people; as well as for the people
you are inviting who don’t know you.
- A neighborhood project you may want to get into would be to develop a safe neighborhood
program with designated safe homes. As a part of this program, families develop strategies
for problem situations together by designating safe homes within the neighborhood where
children/adults can go. Constant communication between neighbors needs to take place if
this is to happen, especially if children are to feel comfortable in going up to
neighbor’s home in an unsafe situation. For more information on starting a safe
neighborhood project, contact your local city public safety department.
Remember, the more contact you have with people, the better you’ll know them and
your community will be a safer place to live. Keep in touch.
Source: University of Minnesota
Extension Service, InfoU script Nancy E. Mense, MenseN@missouri.edu
Regional Specialist, 4-H Youth
Clay County, Missouri
University of Missouri Extension
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