Ask Eric: Neighbors’ car ruins view

Dear Eric: My husband and I live in a beautiful, gated community with wonderful neighbors. Recently new neighbors moved in next door. They are a very friendly couple, and my husband, and I welcomed them to the neighborhood with a small housewarming gift.

They have developed a daily routine that confuses us, and we are trying to figure out how to address the issue. Early every morning, they back their car out of their driveway and park it in front of our house. They have room to park their car in front of their own home but choose to park it in front of our home. This takes place seven days a week.

The new neighbors are retired, as are we. We have seen no visitors use their driveway. We understand that the street is public. The only reason this bothers us is because our kitchen faces the front of our house. We’d like to enjoy the view, but now all we see is a Ford.

Do we have too much time on our hands and should just ignore the parking routine, or do you think this would bother other homeowners, too?

Eric says: Kudos to you for being so even keeled about this. A simple and relatively conflict-free solution to your issue might be to ask if they’d park in a different spot on the street during the day, mentioning that you miss the unobstructed view.

Dear Eric: While my son and daughter-in-law are raising their children quite differently than how I parented, I feel they are loving and caring, and I have expressed my support to them. However, there is one behavior that I really struggle with. The children, 5 and 8, interrupt conversations between adults with questions or wishes (“Look at my Barbie,” “I want potato chips”) and the parents always drop the adult conversations and engage with the child, to the extent of leaving the room with the child and leaving the adult (me) sitting, waiting to see if or when we’ll return to our chat.

I feel disrespected and as if the exchange was not important. I have tried to redirect the children myself, saying, “Yes, I’d love to color with you. I am talking to your mom right now, but I will come to you in five minutes.“

Eric says: Though this practice wouldn’t be your choice and sets a precedent with the kids that could lead to entitled pre-teens, try to remove your feeling of being disrespected from the equation. Your son and daughter-in-law are managing hundreds of large and small decisions as they try to parent in a way that’s responsible and responsive to their children.

They’re not implying that conversations with Grandma aren’t important, but rather, in their view, every conversation has equal weight. So, in short, just let them.