kids playing football-what do i do??

zaksmum

We had a family in our road who were a total nightmare.

Among many other things and daily police visits, the 5 adult sons (all in their 20s) would boot a ball around all day and night while their three pit bull dogs roamed the street off lead.

The windows were always being hit by the ball and they'd just swarm all over the gardens to retrieve it.

Christmas Day saw them out at 5am drunk out of their minds smoking cannabis kicking a leather ball onto surrounding rooftops.

We spoke to our councillor who said it's actually an offence to play football in the street - he arranged a meeting with the ASBO unit and the housing officer.

They were warned several times and finally evicted. We felt like a huge weight was lifted and peace was restored!

vicki488

It is indeed an offence to play on a road, but unfortunately not on my front lawn! I wouldn't mind if I was in a council house or renting but when people are paying a fortune for a mortgage I think it's a bit much. Reading some of these stories makes me think i'm actually one of the lucky ones. The best advice I can think of is always buy a house on a main road. That's my plan anyway. Or maybe on a dual carriageway :-)

Gigglepig

Random suggestion - what about buying some light foam balls and trying to convince the parents to limit the footy to balls that are unlikely to damage windows, cars etc... ?

thegirlintheattic

vicki488 wrote: »

It is indeed an offence to play on a road, but unfortunately not on my front lawn! I wouldn't mind if I was in a council house or renting but when people are paying a fortune for a mortgage I think it's a bit much.

So it's fine to have your peace disturbed or your right to privacy ignored if your are renting but not if you own the house?!

You sound like an old neighbour of mine who thought that having loud parties until 3am was perfectly fine as she owned her house and we rented ours. The council felt differently luckily.

vicki488

Thegirlintheattic - not at all. I've had this problem both when I rented off the council and a private landlord. At least then I felt I could move when it got too much. Now I've got a mortgage and would likely be in negative equity I'm kind of stuck!

zaksmum

Gigglepig wrote: »

Random suggestion - what about buying some light foam balls and trying to convince the parents to limit the footy to balls that are unlikely to damage windows, cars etc... ?

Not much chance of a positive response to that when the football players in question are mid 20s men awash with drugs and booze!

thegirlintheattic

vicki488 wrote: »

Thegirlintheattic - not at all. I've had this problem both when I rented off the council and a private landlord. At least then I felt I could move when it got too much. Now I've got a mortgage and would likely be in negative equity I'm kind of stuck!

Sorry got the wrong end of the stick.

themull1

I took my mams advice when i bought my house, never buy a house in a cul-de-sac, always buy one on a busy'ish road, no kids, and cars going past are less stressful than kids bouncing balls off your car.!!

barriejohn69

Jesus what a bunch of moaning gits. Didn't any of you ever play football in the street when you were younger or have any fun at all? Would you rather your kids sit behind a computer screen all day getting fat with no exercise or fresh air building up their posts on forums into the thousands?

I'm certain I'd rather my kids be out playing. If their ball goes into a neighbour's garden I'll lift them over the fence to get it. Nothing ever gets damaged and they don't cheel people. If they did they'd be marched round there to apologise.

The kids of today have got obesity and attitude problems, mainly caused by being forced to stay inside by stuffy parents.

vicki488

In a word.... Yes. I would much prefer them to sit indoors playing on their computers. But that rarely happens as their parents often don't want the hassle of them bringing their friends into their houses. You generally find that the parents of these children live in homes on parr with the ideal home exhibition and can't stand them in the house and send them out in the rain if need be. I played in street when I was a kid but when I was told to play elsewhere I did and I didn't dare mouth off to adults. My parents would not be marching down the street to argue the toss with people who told me to clear off. Instead they'd be ashamed that I was causing a nuisance to anyone. That's how things have changed, whereby kids are now equal to adults and can please themselves what they do. They are no longer threatened by authority.