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Man Develops An Unlikely Friendship With 14 Y.O. Neighbor After Spraying Him With Water For Walking Across His Lawn Daily
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Man Develops An Unlikely Friendship With 14 Y.O. Neighbor After Spraying Him With Water For Walking Across His Lawn Daily

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Unexpected things await us around every corner. New acquaintances, relationships, business opportunities, treasures, and all of the losses that come with them.

A lot of people have crazy stories of how they met their friends and loved ones because of random coincidences or chance circumstances.

In today’s story, we’ve got the same motif. A dad just wanted to get a kid off his lawn and started hosing him down with water, but made an unexpected friend in the process.

More info: Reddit

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    It just goes to show that you can become friends with people in the most unexpected of ways

    Image credits: Ryan Scott (not the actual photo)

    The poster wanted to know if he’s a jerk for spraying down a neighbors’ kid for trampling his lawn with soccer cleats

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    Image credits: tway23421

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    Image credits: Brooke Raymond (not the actual photo)

    The kid, undeterred by the water, began coming over daily and even chatting with the dad

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    Image credits: tway23421

    The kid decreased his stomping across the lawn and the dad started to enjoy his company, talking for 15-20 minutes at a time

    After some peeps suggested that perhaps the original poster’s (OP) kids and the neighbor could hang out, OP amusingly said “he’s my friend, my kids have enough of their own,” with another commenter jokingly saying: “Dad called dibs hahaha.”

    In this wholesome story something like out of a ’90s sitcom, we’ve got a kid and a dad. He’d trespass in the dad’s yard with soccer cleats or on his bike, which would annoy the dad.

    Whenever this happened, the dad started spraying him down with the water hose, but the kid just enjoyed it, washing his hair or whatever he had with him. Eventually they started chatting for 15-20 minutes every day, having a seemingly wholesome and fun relationship.

    His wife said it’s making him look foolish and silly, but OP disagreed and took online to get some second opinions.

    Some people in the comments also thought that the neighbors’ kid is lacking attention and just looking for someone to connect with in some meaningful (if very unconventional) way.

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    You see a lot of people trying to force relationships when they’re feeling lonely and hoping they can aggressively “friend” someone, but the truth is that it happens when you don’t want it to happen, in an ironic twist of fate.

    And although OP’s story is unconventional, if you’re looking for friends, your best bet is work, studies, hobbies, things where you’re not actively meeting people, but rather doing things that are interesting to both of you.

    Of course, that’s often not enough, and you’ve got to put in some effort to present yourself and be nice to others if you want to get anywhere in this entire “friends” business, but if you put the work in and know a couple of tips, you’re certain to find your tribe.

    Image credits: onnola (not the actual photo)

    According to the Training magazine, there are certain things that you should do if you want to build positive relationships.

    A big thing is that you should accept and celebrate differences. It’s going to be difficult if you look for people who think exactly the same way as you do, hold all the same beliefs, and like the things as you do. For a start, you’re likely to not find identical people like that, and another thing is that you’ll be in a sort of echo chamber, exposed to the same ideas and experiences all the time.

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    If you open yourself to new experiences, you’re much more likely to find new things you like and people who you’ll get along with over those experiences.

    Another key skill is listening to people. In an age where you’re bombarded with audio ads whenever you’re watching something or are out in the mall, you learn to shut all of it off.

    But listening to people isn’t just a passive activity; you need to concentrate and actually hang on to every word the other person is saying to be a truly active listener.

    According to Co-Active, there are specific stages of listening and you should strive to achieve the higher ones.

    At the highest level, you’re not only listening to their voice, but also to their body language, inflection, and gestures. You’re taking it all in, to better understand them and what they want you to know. Truly active listening is a huge part of befriending anyone and everyone.

    The story collected nearly a whopping 21k upvotes in a matter of 3 days and almost 1.7k comments. When one commenter called him out for having too much time on his hands, OP replied with “true bros find a way to make the time,” cementing himself as a really cool guy.

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    Commenters shared the same sentiment, saying how wholesome and cute the whole thing is.

    The comments agreed that the poster wasn’t a jerk for spraying the kid, but that their relationship was cool and wholesome

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    Image credits: Seika (not the actual photo)

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    Larsas Jaseliūnas

    Larsas Jaseliūnas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

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    I started as a writer, but time came when I wanted more, so I learned how to do the visuals for my articles too, with the help of my wonderful colleagues. When I had the chance to become an editor, I jumped at the opportunity, because I know that it will be the best way for me to learn more and help out my wonderful colleagues in return.

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    Larsas Jaseliūnas

    Larsas Jaseliūnas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I started as a writer, but time came when I wanted more, so I learned how to do the visuals for my articles too, with the help of my wonderful colleagues. When I had the chance to become an editor, I jumped at the opportunity, because I know that it will be the best way for me to learn more and help out my wonderful colleagues in return.

    Saulė Tolstych

    Saulė Tolstych

    Author, Community member

    Read more »

    Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

    Read less »

    Saulė Tolstych

    Saulė Tolstych

    Author, Community member

    Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

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    SkyBlueandBlack
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hey, I don't know much about soccer cleats, but when I decided to try out for track & field in high school my dad (who had been a high jump champ back in the day, so was the voice of experience) made a point of emphasizing that cleats should absolutely not be worn off the field, as it ruins the cleats themselves along with whatever they walk on. Does this kid just not have sneakers, or something?

    Scooter Mcgavin
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So as a younger kid, most cleats are rubber and wont matter as much. track and field spikes, at least for me, were metal. walking with metal spikes anywhere but the track is a good way to ruing them

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    SkyBlueandBlack
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hey, I don't know much about soccer cleats, but when I decided to try out for track & field in high school my dad (who had been a high jump champ back in the day, so was the voice of experience) made a point of emphasizing that cleats should absolutely not be worn off the field, as it ruins the cleats themselves along with whatever they walk on. Does this kid just not have sneakers, or something?

    Scooter Mcgavin
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So as a younger kid, most cleats are rubber and wont matter as much. track and field spikes, at least for me, were metal. walking with metal spikes anywhere but the track is a good way to ruing them

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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