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Kindness gets complicated when it comes with a gravel driveway.
One homeowner spent years clearing his single-mother neighbor’s driveway while her four kids were small, and he considered it part of being a decent neighbor.
The kids are grown now, and they’re still home, but she still comes out alone to shovel, even when the snow piles up to two feet.
The problem was that he just bought a new snow blower, and gravel and a new machine famously don’t mix, since the rocks go flying and can damage it.
Now he’s bracing for the inevitable moment she asks him for help and he has to let her down.
Keep reading for the full story.
Neighbors snowblowing problem
My neighbor is a single mother with 4 kids. When the kids were younger and she was alone, I’d snow blow her driveway for her.
Unfortunately, now no one else in her household will take any responsibility.
Now her kids are grown up, finished college, living in her home, and when it snows, they don’t do anything.
She comes out of her home and shovels the snow herself, even if it’s like 2 feet of snow and she’s over 60 years old now. When it’s a light snow, I don’t help. She does it by herself.
This homeowner would help, but things recently got complicated.
I got a new snow blower this year, and her driveway is gravel. It’s always shooting rocks, and I don’t want to let them go in my new snow blower.
The old one I used to use was 30 years old, so I didn’t care.
Now he feels a nagging guilt, but isn’t sure what to do about it.
With the new snow season coming up, I feel like I have this obligation to help, but I don’t want to. She really needs to buy her own snow blower, and I suggested it a few times, but she won’t buy one.
How do I proceed? This old lady really shouldn’t be shoveling. I used to help because her daughters were younger, but now they don’t help her at all.
If she asks me to snow blow her driveway this year, how do I politely say no?
It’s time for the adult kids to step up and help.
What did Reddit have to say?
This user doesn’t think it’s this homeowner’s responsibility at all.
Sometimes sticking up for yourself means being a little mean.
This user gives the homeowner a needed snowblowing tip.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about neighborhood kids who built a master forest fort, only to find it looted by the bigger kids on the block.
This commenter has another idea.
This homeowner gave a young single mother years of free snow removal, and he’s allowed to hang up the blower without a whole big speech about it.
The favor made sense when four kids needed a hand, but it doesn’t carry over to a household of grown adults who are perfectly capable of picking up a shovel.
His machine is new, her gravel is rough, and a shop repair bill shouldn’t be a neighborly responsibility.