Hi all,

My husband and I would like to hear your advice on the subject of a 7 year old neighbor girl who we feel negatively influences our 4 year old son.  Here's the scoop...

This family began renting the house next to ours over 2 years ago. The father is an alcoholic who is also verbally abusive, the mom works and never seems to be around much.  There's also a 12 year old boy. Several times this school year, the parents "got up too late" to take the kids to school. The kids seem bored and tend to wander the neighborhood and bother the neighbor's for something to do. Very few friends come over to their house, and there are not many other kids in the neighborhood.  

Whenever they see us in the yard, front or back, they either come over or pop up over the privacy fence asking if our son can play or if they can come over. When we have allowed them, this is what we have observed...babytalk, whining, and violent play, esp. when the 12 yr.old boy is around.  She has lied to us,  comes in the house when uninvited, either asks for food/drink, or convinces our son to ask, litters in the yard and not listening when I ask her to do something like put toys away to name a few.  And when we tell them no, our son can't play, they continue to bother us by knocking 5 minutes later, peeking in the window, or remaining on the fence if we are in the back yard.

The answer seems clear as I write this, but is easier said than done.   With their close proximatey and the fact that our son loves to play with them, even asks the night before if he can and is very persistant.  With summer here and school out, we need some advice on how to avoid stress filled months.

Thanks for any thoughts, ideas, comments.