Footballs & balls in garden

MrsE_2

This is going to sound a bit petty but here goes.

Neighbours me are semidetached to has a son who plays with balls, very ocasionally they ended up in our garden, I used to tell him not to even bother to knock but just nip around the back & help himself. Then we had a side gate put on & he would have had to knock, but not a problem only happens now & then.

New neighbours the other side. Virtually as soon as we moved in a load of balls appeared in our garden, hubby threw them back over. They all (about 6) came back again within a day. Hubby though, oh maybe they are not from new house but the boys next door, so he put them down the side of the shed for whichever child who owned them to collect.
The mother came around with the child to collect them. Very stange, quite curt, sort of avoid looking if you pull up in the drive. I waved to the mother one morning as I pulled in to let her go by first before I started reversing into my drive & she never even acknowleded me:rolleyes:

Anyway, balls & more balls keep coming. We weren't throwing them back often because in winter we are out at work till nearly dark & not in the garden.

Hubby threw a load back last weekend.

I just threw 6 back now.

Do we have to keep throwing them back.

If they were nice about collecting them (just a sorry to bother you, can I get the balls back) or if it was occasional I would have no problem. But its constant. Its like they don't care whether they come back or now, its almost like the kids just throw them over for the fun of it.

They have been here months now & only once ever came for the balls.

Hubby wants to stop throwing them back & just collect them & make them come & get them.

I know it sounds petty, but its constant & 6 or so at a time.

olly300

Throw them back as they are not yours but start throwing them back once a month rather than every week. The kids will soon learn that if they throw their balls into other people's gardens they won't get them back for a long time.

Jack's_mummy

Blimey how many balls must they have to not bother coming round for them. I'd throw them back but only when I happened to be outside. If they can't wait that long then they will have to come and ask for them

borntobefree

Hi

I have to tell you I know longer speak to my neighbour over exactly this problem.

When we moved into our house my boys were 6 and 8. They are lovely lads but like all boys that like to play football. One neighbour allowed our boys to go into their garden to retrieve balls. The other had 2 boys (already in the very late teens when we moved in) herself so I thought she wouldn't mind my boys in the garden. It never crossed my mind that she would be bothered. This is a family neighbourhood.

Well the view I took was that I didn't want my boys to be pestering the neighbour knocking on her door, so we bought them plenty of balls and duely she'd chuck them back at her leisure.

Anyway, one day she came with a plastic bag full of balls complaining. I was totally shocked I couldn't believe that anyone who'd had kids could mind my kids playing in the garden - which she obviously did.

We no longer speak to her and I've noticed that none of her kids visit anymore - they havn't been to see her once in the last 5 years. I can't say I'm surprised.:p

Sadly, however, my kids feel they can nolonger play in the garden - how horrible is that!

PS I'll happily throw balls back to other kids - I like the sound of kids playing in the garden.

~Chameleon~

Could it possibly be that the balls are causing damage to any plants in the neighbours garden? I know from experience that a large leather football can destroy plants if they land on them, so one way around this is to buy the kids the soft foam balls. They can still have as much fun but due to them being lightweight they won't go over the fence as often and are less likely to cause any damage if they do

MrsE_2

borntobefree wrote: »

Hi

I have to tell you I know longer speak to my neighbour over exactly this problem.

When we moved into our house my boys were 6 and 8. They are lovely lads but like all boys that like to play football. One neighbour allowed our boys to go into their garden to retrieve balls. The other had 2 boys (already in the very late teens when we moved in) herself so I thought she wouldn't mind my boys in the garden. It never crossed my mind that she would be bothered. This is a family neighbourhood.

Well the view I took was that I didn't want my boys to be pestering the neighbour knocking on her door, so we bought them plenty of balls and duely she'd chuck them back at her leisure.

Anyway, one day she came with a plastic bag full of balls complaining. I was totally shocked I couldn't believe that anyone who'd had kids could mind my kids playing in the garden - which she obviously did.

We no longer speak to her and I've noticed that none of her kids visit anymore - they havn't been to see her once in the last 5 years. I can't say I'm surprised.:p

Sadly, however, my kids feel they can nolonger play in the garden - how horrible is that!

PS I'll happily throw balls back to other kids - I like the sound of kids playing in the garden.

I have no issue at all with kids playing ball in their garden.
I have no problems with a ball coming over the fence.
The lad next door does it sometimes.

Because of the gate, he can't help himself anymore, no problem, its once in a blue moon.

But I threw six balls back in their garden & I will have 6 back in by the weekend. Its not one or two & its not occasionally, its as soon as I throw them back they are right back.

The first time it happened they come back over so quick DH though he had thrown them back into the wrong garden. He thought perhaps they were the lads next door & not even theirs.

If we keep throwing them back then we might throw one of his (boy on semi side) over by mistake as well.

Oh & the ONE time in nearly a year they did call to collect them, it might have been nice if they had just said, "sorry to bother you, but................."

I've just had my garden COVERED in moss from their roof, because they had their roof cleaned. The firm did come round & clean it up on the forth/last day.
They never warned me, they never said sorry, nothing. My patio & side of my house got covered in the muck off their roof.
Perhaps they are just plain old rude.

superscaper

Sounds like a really excessive amount of work. I think more than enough has been done. If they want them, they can come around and ask for them, otherwise just let them accumulate (over months) and dispose of them any way you wish (bin, charity, back into their garden). Putting yourselves through the process of throwing the balls back so frequently is over doing it and you shouldn't have to.

MrsE_2

superscaper wrote: »

Sounds like a really excessive amount of work. I think more than enough has been done. If they want them, they can come around and ask for them, otherwise just let them accumulate (over months) and dispose of them any way you wish (bin, charity, back into their garden). Putting yourselves through the process of throwing the balls back so frequently is over doing it and you shouldn't have to.

Wouldn't it be ilegal to get rid of them?

borntobefree

Hi

I'm just letting you know where you might be going if you start a feud. You are probably a nice person, your neighbour is probably a nice person but these situations can escalate. Recently we refused to take a parcel of the postman for our neighbour. Prior to the "balls" my husband used to help her out when ever needed...

.....if you don't throw the balls back where are you heading? Is it worth it?

superscaper

MrsE wrote: »

Wouldn't it be ilegal to get rid of them?

I don't actually know and I suppose it'd probably exacerbate the problem anyway. But I think I'd get fed up of it long before you seem to have. Can't believe how patient you've been from the sound of it. But my thoughts personally would be if they can't be bothered collecting them after a few months then they obviously didn't really need or want them. You can't expect people to "store" your stuff indefinitely without even asking them, which is essentially what it's amounting to. What would they do? Sue you for the cost of the balls? You could always counter sue for ball storage and disposal fees.

borntobefree

superscaper wrote: »

Sounds like a really excessive amount of work. I think more than enough has been done. If they want them, they can come around and ask for them, otherwise just let them accumulate (over months) and dispose of them any way you wish (bin, charity, back into their garden). Putting yourselves through the process of throwing the balls back so frequently is over doing it and you shouldn't have to.

This is crazy. It's a few balls! Throw them back. Are you going to start a feud over some balls? What if you ever need a favour?