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August 2011 Moms
melissa0726
member
Speaking of visitors...
melissa0726
member
Does it bother you when people drop by your house unannounced?
AND
Do you always keep your doors locked when you are at home?
DH and I were hanging around during DD's nap a couple weeks ago, and the next thing we knew, his aunt was standing in our foyer. WTH??? And DH said to her, "Um, what are you doing, you just can't walk in someone's house." And her reply was "Sure I can, we're family." And then he set her straight.
Normally, DH always keeps the door locked (I am somewhat lax about this), but we have a contractor working in the basement who was going in and out with tools and materials. So she took it upon herself to wander on in. Anyway, we used this opportunity to tell both sets of our parents this funny story, which also served as a gentle reminder that we prefer them to call ahead and let us know if they are intending to stop over. We're not really fans of surprise guests at our house!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Speaking of visitors...
It depends on who stops by. If it's my mom, I usually don't mind. She'll sometimes stop by on her way home from work. But she also usually calls me before she leaves and asks if it's alright, and never lets herself in. Parentals and siblings I really don't mind. Except, sometimes, for MIL. But most of the time she's alright too.
I do hate it when my or DH's friends randomly stop by, though. (DH loves it - blaaah!) I just don't like being all settled into my at-home groove, only to have a random-@ss guest thrown at me and having to get into hostess mindset, and having my kids get all riled up because there's a different person in the house. And, as much as friends (at least, mine and DH's) may claim they're alright with us sitting on our butts while they're over, the truth is they want to know where the booze and movies are, and what the latest juicy lowdown is.
// I love you too. //
I only get annoyed by unannounced guests if they are "high matainence" guests. Like if I have to sit around make conversation and apologize that my house is a mess. We really don't have unannounced guests often. Even though my parents live a few houses away and my aunt lives right next door, they always call before coming over and vice versa. It is our way of keeping some boundries, because in a situation like this they can quickly and easily be lost. Even though the ILs come over often and MIL drops in after work, she always calls DH first to okay it with him. Now the issue is that DH doesn't always tell me, so I am surprised to see them at my house. My best friend is usually the person that stops by unannounced, but I love that. I rarely get to see her and I will take every opportunity I can get to spend time with her.
We only lock our doors at night and sometimes when we go to work. We probably should be better about it but we aren't. I know bad things can happen anywhere, but our house is surrounded by awesome and all retired neighbors. The retired couple across the street are literally outside all day long and we are very close with them, it makes me feel comfortable.
Most of our family is at least 30 minutes away (some is 12+ hours away), so they always call. My mom (who is 30 minutes away) called last weekend because she was already up in our area looking at cars and wanted to stop by with a car she was test driving. She apologized for not giving us more notice (she gave us 15 minutes) I looked her dead in the eye and said "I would have been pissed if you were up this way and didn't call!" She ended up bringing the test drive back and came back to hang out with us for the afternoon/day. SO and I were thrilled to have her there. I want her to have as much time with DS as she wants, and she wasn't intruding on anything.
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Oh and when she's on her way I will often unlock the door so that she can come in without waiting for us to get the door for her.
Now having said that - yes I do my best to keep the doors locked, the screen door especially. We have some whacko neighbors, and some pretty freaking cool neighbors. About a year ago when DS was a month or so old he was crying because he was hungry and it took me longer than normal to get his bottle of BM warmed and ready for him. Well, one of the cool neighbors decided to take it upon herself to walk into our house (without knocking) to make sure we were ok. While I appreciated the thought/gesture I was less than thrilled. I was an EPer at the time and would have been livid if she had walked in while I was pumping in the living room (my pumping spot). So now I do my best to lock the screen door if the front door is open. The same neighbor gave me the side eye the other day for having the screen locked. LOL I just gave her a sweet look and said "It's to keep L in"
That is so weird! The only way I would let myself into someone's house was if they were expecting me and either we were close enough for me not to knock (like my parents) or if they told me I could just come in without knocking.
The only people who will occasionally drop in on us are our neighbors, but that's only because I've told them that I don't always hear them knocking/ringing and to come in if I don't answer. But even when they do, they'll just call out for me from the door way - they won't just walk in and make themselves at home!
Yup, we have a 'must call' policy. Once we moved back to Florida our family wanted to come by unannounced all of the time.. We had to have a sit down talk with my in-laws and my mom.
Our doors are always locked with the exception of the backdoor sometimes. We have a screened in porch so if it's nice out I open the back door and let the dogs/cat hang out on the porch.