Nowadays we're expected to get along with our neighbors, even if they are boring and their kids don't watch any of the good shows on cable. Here are some tips for warming up to the people in the house adjacent to yours:

Introduce Yourself: If your neighbors don't know who you and your kids are, they won't know to whom they should return the garbage and melted doll heads they find strewn across their lawn.

Build a Fence: This may not seem like a friendly gesture, but it's actually polite to shield the neighbor family's eyes from the kinds of things your kids do in the yard.

Exchange Keys: If you're ever locked out, just use the key the neighbors gave you to let yourself into their house. You can safely wait there until your children get home and beat the door down.

Invite Them Over for Dinner: It will be terrifying for the neighbors to watch you and your sharp-toothed children tear through meat and crusty breads, but once the trauma is done, you will all feel a close sense of connectedness. You might even forget which children are yours and which children are theirs that you are keeping to raise as yours for a while.