Mother demands that her neighbor close his curtains when watching TV so her kid won't see through them, instead of teaching her child not to spy on the neighbors

Author image for Giuliana Tiscioni
Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer
Oct 28, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

A kid from the neighborhood was looking inside a neighbor's window while he was watching American Horror Story, so the mother went and demanded that the neighbor watch kid-friendly shows or close his curtains instead of teaching her kid not to invade people's privacy. 

What is it lately with parents and blaming other people for their own kids misbehaving? 

Seems like parents are tired of parenting lately, and instead of actually raising their children to be respectful human beings ready to live among society, they let them run wild and then confront and antagonize other adults who try to set a boundary on the child. Because children need boundaries. They can't just be left to do whatever they want or cave to their every whim. That's when you get disrespectful kids who throw temper tantrums over nothing, and the parent just stands there, looking into the void while the kid makes a mess around them. 

I know a handful of people who are good neighbors and friends, but when it comes to parenting, they are not the best. Their kids do nothing other than nearly crawl up the walls and run around enclosed spaces while screaming and nearly making everyone around them trip and fall to the floor. They have almost made me fall a couple of times. And let's just say that they don't take it very well when you tell those kids to stop and behave correctly. 

Truth is, it's their job to raise them, not everybody else's. They can choose to ignore their parenting tasks if they want to, but they certainly have no moral authority to come to anyone else and tell them how to live their lives, especially because they're incapable of controlling their own kids. 

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  • AITA for not changing what im watching or closing the curtains?

    So i live in a small area wouldnt say its a lowerclass area but wouldnt say upperclass its just on the cozy side and its a mix of elderly and kids and a handful of childfree
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  • young adults like myself and partner. So i work 5 days a week 9- 5, so on my days off i like to relax and catch up with cleaning and my shows what any child free person does when not socialising.
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  • So the other day after i finshed cleaning up etc i sat down with my cuppa to watch american horror story and as we all know that is not a show for kids, i was watching it in
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  • Cheezburger Image 10673480448
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The man watching TV. 

    Still frame for contextual reference only.

  • the afternoon when the sun was still up and shining, and someones kid decided they wanted to watch along with me, not a clue what they saw but was enough to make them
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  • mention it to their parents. then the mum has come to my door shouting at me to either shut my curtains during the day or watch a kid friendly show.
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  • Id like to mention my tv isnt fully visable from the window as the tv is on the wall next to the window so youd have to really be looking in to even just see half to 3 quaters of
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  • the tv and i dont want to shut the curtains as i suffer with depre ion and like to have natural light in the room as it makes me feel better as i hate when curtains are pulled
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  • Elsworth Kelly
    via Deconovo for Unsplash+

    Curtains for a window.

    Photo is a representation of scenes.

  • during the day and i also feel i shouldnt have to adapt to what someone else wants in my own home when i dont even know them
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  • and their kids decided to be nosey, like cant they teach their kid not to be nosey or suffer the consenquences of what they may see?
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  • The key part of this story is that the TV isn't visible from the window; it's not like you can pass by the house and see everything. Nope, you actually have to stand there and try to find the right angle to see inside. And why exactly was that kid doing that in the first place? 

    When my brother and I were kids, some of our home's windows pointed right towards the neighbor's backyard. You couldn't even see inside; it was just the yard. My mom repeated over and over again to us that it was bad manners to spy on someone else's property, and the neighbors never had to worry about having nosy children sticking their noses into their windows. 

    The mom's job was to teach her kid that it's terrible manners to invade someone's privacy like that, not to mention that it's illegal in many places. Besides, every person has the right to whatever they want inside their own house, and if someone casually sees something suspicious, all they have to do is contact the authorities and nothing else. You never walk up to someone and tell them what they can or cannot do in the comfort of their own house. The mom's only responsibility was to educate her child and teach him not to be a peeping tom and to respect other people's private property. 

  • My partner just says to sk it up to keep the peace and do as they ask as we wouldnt want our future kids seeing that kind of stuff either. Like yeah i wouldnt but if they were
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  • noseying in someones house id deal with the fact my kids nosey first then tell them its ok and explain it if they have questions to let them know if what they saw is ok to do in real life.
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  • AITA for not wanting to change what i do, when and how for people i dont even know the names of?
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  • H
    via Lia Bekyan For Unsplash+

    A kid looking outside a window.

    Model representation. 

  • cassandrafallon NTA she should be teaching her kids about not peeping into other peoples' windows
    via cassandrafallon
  • Spiritual-Handle2983 NTA. They need to parent their kids not their neighbors.
    via Spiritual-Handle2983
  • Caspian4136 ΝΤΑ Tell the mom to teach her kids not to peer into someone else's home like that. It's their fault for seeing what they shouldn't.
    via Caspian4136
  • MsJennifer 18415 So Mum is upset about what's on the TV but NOT that their dear child is a peeping Tom? NTA...and next time remind Mum that peeping in someone's windows gets police attention. (I am not sure I would actually call, but I am not above the threat.)
    via MsJennifer18415
  • BananaJelloXlii NTA and the next time they do it, tell them you are going to report them for voyeurism which is illegal in most states. Or have a friend hide just under the window sill in a scary mask and then pop up and shout "I'm going to eat you!" at the kid.
    via BananaJelloXlii

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privacy neighbors kids private neighborhood mother windows reddit story parenting Reddit parents children
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