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Strollerderby
Big Families Deemed Worst Neighbors
An online poll has found that Americans have picked the Obamas as the celebrities they would most like to live next door to. This is not exactly a shocking choice–an adorable, well-trained dog; two adorable, sweet little girls; parents who are responsible citizens.
Nor are winners of the title of least desirable neighbor too surprising: Jon and Kate Gosselin and Nadya “Octomom” Suleman. Publicity whores with huge broods? That wouldn’t exactly make for
But second place is an interesting tie, with Sarah Palin and Ellen DeGeneres squarely matched. One thing you can say for Americans, we sure have diversity in our values. True to form, Palin also won the place of third least desirable neighbor.
Since she has five kids, these means that all of the least desirable neighbors are large families. According to Reuters, “As in life, families with large broods were deemed the worst likely neighbors.”
Really? Is it common knowledge that no one wants to live next to a large family, just as no one wants next to a house with motorcycles parked on the lawn?
Living in a large, anonymous building in the city, my basic criterion for neighbors is that they don’t run brothels or music studios out of their apartments. But even if I lived in the suburbs, I don’t think I’d have any problem living next to a family of eight–so long as that eight was not headed by Nadya Suleman or Kate Gosselin.
Photo: Annie Liebovitz/White House handout via AP
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2 Comments
PlumbLucky commented on Dec 30 09 at 9:05 pmI’m pretty sure that it has more to do with the fame-whore-ishness of the parental unit(s) than the large brood. We knew we were moving in across the street from a family of nine kidlings. They’re a wonderful bunch. One of my sisters lives next door to a singleton who she has less-than-affectionately dubbed “Damian” because he is so unparented!
Kayt commented on Jan 01 10 at 7:42 pmI live a few doors up from a family with eight kids, and I don’t like it. They aren’t well parented. They let all of their walking children, down to the one that has to be under 18 months, wander our busy street barefoot, no matter what the weather, they put firecrackers in our mailbox, ding dong ditch us, throw rocks at our dog, and play on our driveway at six in the morning. We live across the street from a park! I feel so old and cranky when I say it, but I just want those darn kids off my lawn!
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