Now we are constantly being reminded: please don’t be so loud, please lower the blinds, anyone can look in, please close the windows, we can hear you..
We understand that we should be quiet later in the evening because the bedrooms of the (teenage) children face the area where we sit – we are considerate about that, no question.
They’re not seriously telling you that YOU should lower your blinds so they "don’t have to" see you?? That’s cheeky. Having neighbors is completely normal; only very few people are lucky enough to have a detached, or better secluded, house where no one can see or hear anything from any side – especially not with today’s plot sizes. By the way, I would worry less about the teenage children. When I was a teenager, I was interested in everything except our neighbors and their noises. And I preferred to go to sleep very late, probably later than you would sit outside as a working person..