Annoying litte gits

djm1972

OP - Get a flasher-mac and stand in the window until you know their parents have definitely seen you. Then they'll make sure they don't play outside your house.

hotpot1000

Like your comments poppysarah
kids do need attention off their parents, people shouldnt breed if they can't be fully comitted to the resonsibility -it's a 7day job for many years.
Theyre not compulsory -so if u cant be bothered 100% then dont breed.

typeractive

djm1972 wrote: »

OP - Get a flasher-mac and stand in the window until you know their parents have definitely seen you. Then they'll make sure they don't play outside your house.

:rotfl:

On a serious note though - I agree with the OP. You shouldn't have to deal with kids - tell the parents to get a control of them (well you may wish to word it nicer than that initially). To those that suggest taking away their hobbies of playing footie outside in the street is a means to worse outcomes - rubbish. If the kids can not understand to respect their elders and do as they are told, whilst at the same point it is almost deemed 'ok' to act like that with the 'authentication' of their parents - that is the issue.

Kids are kids, look at the bigger picture here, asides from playing football to kill some boredom they are learning about social behaviour. They will push and push their luck, it's natural behaviour for them test the boundaries for example: kids that should be in by a set time, they will eventually want to expand this time to continue playing outside with their mates - how else do kids end up playing footie in the street until 11pm. Once they figure out their parents can't be bothered to keep a reign on their behaviour they begin to look for more 'interesting' activities.

Parents stipulating not to play outside other people's property where it can be wrecked should be the case. Therefore they should suggest an alternative outcome and if need be setup provision to allow such activities to happen (take them to the park, allow them to join a 5-a side club or something, which they could go to once a week.) if they break these boundaries and continue to act against the will of the parent then they should have such provisions taken away.

If the parents don't give a toss - I'd suggest contacting the police to sort this matter out...Either that or muster up all your pals to have a massive game of fottie outside their property (of course I'm joking there lol).

Good luck

mazza111

Think you are going to have problems with kids playing football no matter where you live. Some parents these days don't give a siht. I have a railway line at the back of my garden, am forever reporting the holes in the fence to them, kids go through my property to get to the railway, so i regularly tell them off. Heard a mother telling her daughter off for what i thought was going up the railway until i heard the last part, "I hope you are not going up that railway Jenny....not with those new shoes on!"

Sure keep yer shoes good love, at least we'll be able to bury you in them should the worse happen.

What is wrong with people?

In saying that, I do blame the parents to a certain extent. BUT what would you say if I told you that i have no idea where my 12 yr old son is atm? He should be at his father's house, but no doubt he will be out with friends playing football in the park over there, even though no ball games are allowed. Should I be held responsible for him when i don't have responsibility for him atm iyswim. Yes, I tell him not to go round there with his football, but how many 12 yr olds think they are going to get caught when they know their mother is miles away?

djm1972

"No Ball Games" signs make are normally installed at the perfect height to make good free-kick target practice!

Jesting aside, it's a serious issue - but I think it's something that can be massively alleviated by good design of housing developments - but sadly this doesn't happen.

When a big developer acquires a plot of land; they first establish the local authority zoning policy with regards to property spacing - frontage, back gardens etc. Computer software then designs a preliminary layout that maximises the number of units that can be "squeezed" into the plot under those parameters; which is then tweaked by a human "architect".

But in my experience, it would certainly be possible to architect an estate such that it could be pre-determined where kids would play football, where teenagers would congregate, and make sure that those activities in those locations would have minimal (if any) impact on residents of any unit.

There is no point saying that it is up to the parents. Kids play football. Teenagers congregate to smoke and drink. This should be taken account of at the design stage of housing developments; not brushed under the carpet as somebody elses problem.

London_Town

Just wanted to add my support to the OP and anyone who has to put up with this sort of thing.

I bought a coach house flat (over 3 garages) on a nice new Persimmon estate some years ago. The first Saturday I woke up to our courtyard looking like a school playground at lunchtime, the noise was horrendous. I remember feeling physically sick. There were footballs, skate boards and bikes everywhere. The kids weren't rude and whenever I asked them to keep the noise down or play elsewhere, they would apologise and move on. But in due course they'd be back.

I soon decided that I was going to gain a reputation as a moaner and that the courtyard I lived in would always be a tinder box of this sort of trouble. So I moved and now live in a first floor flat in a block, where I have no problem at all.

I will be buying a house in the future and my priority is to choose one that can't be plagued by this sort of anti social behaviour.

I do feel that modern estates need to be designed in a way that doesn't encourage petty vandalism or provide dark corners for kids to smoke and drink in. We used to get all this on my old estate and it looked so nice to the casual visitor. I know if I'd stayed there, my mental health would have suffered.

djm1972

Yes - once you've experienced the neighbours or kids from hell it really does open your eyes when property hunting!

Before I bought my first flat i'd never experienced parking issues, so I bought it without giving the potential for parking issues a second thought.

As it turns out; the residents and visitors parking areas were so incredibly poorly (i.e. not at all) thought out that it just induced social problems.

For starters, there were not enough parking spaces to go round; the flats were being sold to young professional couples who - by definition - all have 2 cars; yet there was only 1 parking space per flat. So people have to find somewhere else to park, and it just so happens that the layout of the estate, roads and car-parks actually guided people to park in-front of the communal bin area - so the bin men couldn't reach and empty the bins. Anyone who relates to this will know exactly where that leads.

ClareEmily

We are actually moving out after 6 years of renting in what was a lovely quiet area.

It is now full of children most not even living in our street.

The mums stand on the doorsteps fag in hand, shouting at each other, screaming at the children to stop playing in the road. They climb on top of our vechicles, bang on our windows, and their football is constantly hitting cars.

There is a fantastic play area with footy pitch just up the road, but the parents are too damn lazy to take them.

I love kids and I completely blame the parents for not teaching them to respect other people's property.

BTW I am only 32 so not over the hill yet, OP you have my sympathies, yes we were all kids once but if my neighbour had told me off years ago I would have taken notice, sad world we live in nowadays.

NoDebtForMe_2

London_Town wrote: »

Just wanted to add my support to the OP and anyone who has to put up with this sort of thing.

I bought a coach house flat (over 3 garages) on a nice new Persimmon estate some years ago. The first Saturday I woke up to our courtyard looking like a school playground at lunchtime, the noise was horrendous. I remember feeling physically sick. There were footballs, skate boards and bikes everywhere. The kids weren't rude and whenever I asked them to keep the noise down or play elsewhere, they would apologise and move on. But in due course they'd be back.

I soon decided that I was going to gain a reputation as a moaner and that the courtyard I lived in would always be a tinder box of this sort of trouble. So I moved and now live in a first floor flat in a block, where I have no problem at all.

I will be buying a house in the future and my priority is to choose one that can't be plagued by this sort of anti social behaviour.

I do feel that modern estates need to be designed in a way that doesn't encourage petty vandalism or provide dark corners for kids to smoke and drink in. We used to get all this on my old estate and it looked so nice to the casual visitor. I know if I'd stayed there, my mental health would have suffered.

Im a tad confused by your post tbh. You say the kids were never rude and always moved on when you asked. Then go on to say you wont put up with anti social behaviour. It appears to me they were the opposite and were in fact being very social.
You did what other "moaners" should do .....move. Good on you as the fact remains that these children have a right to a childhood and a right to play on the street.

My children have been moaned at sooooo many times on the "occasional" times they have played in the street. They have rules, have set bedtimes and get things taken off them if they misbehave wether it be naughty or rudeness to adults. Im a stickler for respect towards any adult from my children. However the people who live nearby have really tested this theory. My children get shouted and sworn at for things that they could do which irretates the life out of me. We dont live in a rough area and I have had to have the police out to one particular neighbur due to the abuse my kids recieve when they are playing out. They probably only ever play out on the street about once every 3/4 weeks anyway and I simply wont allow such behaviour from adults.
This whole thing works both ways, that is the point.
Sarah

Duncan_H

I've found that if you give a little, you'll get something back in life. Try offering to buy them a new football if they don't use you're hedge. Kids often respond better to the carrot rather than the stick and flipping logic on its head like this might do the trick