Could be worse. We have a neighbor (childless, who USED to work at a daycare, therefore knows more about kids than me, despite my not only having 4 kids, but I am also a former daycare worker, plus I took child development classes while I was at Penn State! Not that she knows any of that about me, other than the 4 kids part. Oh, and another strike against me is that I'm in my mid-30's, but I for real look like I'm in my early 20's. People really assume I was like 14 when I had my oldest even though I was WAY older than that! lol) She not only turned us in to our landlords for having chickens, she also called DSS to report me b/c my children--GASP!-- play outside unattended! She made a point of telling them my boys were out there ALL THE TIME with neighbor kids. My oldest son and the said neighbor kids are *TWELVE YEARS OLD!* My youngest boy is almost 6. They are definitely old enough to play outside without me! The woman from DSS (aka CPS) was really nice and after meeting our family, etc, told me the charges were ridiculous, but she had to investigate, talk to my references, and have at least 2 home visits with us. Talk about stress! We get notice that we have to get rid of our chickens or move out AND a visit from DSS in one week! Yay. I do have an almost 3 year old daughter who is not old enough to play outside without an adult or my 12yo, and she does sneak out sometimes, but it's not like I let her out free reign completely unattended!
My other neighbors think the chickens are neat/cool/etc and love my polite well-behaved children, including the autistic one who likes to unlock doors and gates, hence the escaping 2 year old.
