Chronic problem with kids and balls.

spookwoman

I live at the end of an estate that boarders another estate. The kids on the other site of the wall are constantly kicking footballs or hitting slitters into the garden at high speed. Some have ended up 3 houses down from us. At one stage they were coming in over the wall and retrieving them but that has stopped since we had to get the guards involved. The parents don’t care and we don’t even talk to each other as they will not listen.

Now the problem is they are taking balls from the other kids, kicking them over, getting friends etc to knock on our door to get them back. Our neighbour has had the top of his conservatory broken and its getting to be like Beirut outside with the volume and speed these objects come in at. Some have hit windows, the house and last week the greenhouse which could only have been hit though a direct aim. Today 2 slitters, 1 football have come in and average we could get 5 in a week. I’m at my wits end with this as they don’t even stop when I’m in the garden. Someone is going to get hurt one of these days with a blow to the head from a slitter and I don’t think anything can be done. Does anyone have any advice?

The Recliner

Moved from PI

AvaKinder

The only advice I can give is if they do knock in to get stuff back, refuse to give it to them and insist their parents call for whatevers been knocked into the garden. When we were kids there were a few neighbours who would burst any balls that came into their garden or simply refuse to give them back until it suited them. The parents will soon get fed up having to call into you to get the kids stuff back.

If the children start hopping the walls themselves again then call the gards and report them for trespassing each time.

fayer

Had a similar issue, not a bad however. We just stopped answering the door / saying "sorry no ball in our garden" issue went away after a fee weeks of this.

dan_d

Don't give them back the balls. They've only got a limited supply, and I'm assuming not enough money to keep replacing them at the volume they're hitting them over at.

scorpioishere

I had the similar situation at my mother's house 2 years ago. One day when i was going there i saw few kids hitting the ball to the house. I just stare at them and they stopped. Then i told them if the ball land in the garden, don't bother come and take it as i will confiscate it. To get it back they had to come in with their parents which they didn't want to. I suggest you burst the ball everytime its in your property, call the guard to get rid of them. I did that and it works believe me. I don't care if they are kids, if they need to play or if they need freedom. All these things are bull****. There are specific areas to go and play and not in front of my house.

Cheshire Cat

God, I hate it! We have neighbours like that. Daughter keeps hitting tennis balls into our garden, when she comes calling for them I give her those that the dog has chewed already
Unfortunately the father and brother are worse. They practise their golfing in the garden, and it really hurts to be hit by a bloddy golf ball! Have talked to them about it, but they don't care at all.
I kind of understand when kids are doing it, they have the excuse of being young and all - but what can you do when it is grown men you are dealing with?!?

CC

scorpioishere

Report them to the guard. You can play Golf in your garden i dont care as long as the ball doesn't land in my garden or damage my flowers.:mad:

dee1dee2

i actually came on here today with the same problem we have up 2 10 or 15 knocks on the door every day and yesterday caught kids climbing on wall ready 2 come into garden and retrieve their own ball so i refused 2 give them the ball. few mins later i had the mammy at door demanding ball back. we live in end house aswell and all the gutters on end of house are broken from the balls hitting them we are at the end of our patience and have no idea what 2 do

donaghs

Growing a big thorny hedge, e.g. pyrocantha, maybe a good long term plan also.

Victor

OP, how about promoting trips to a local park or sports club so they aren't using balls around houses and so they might have a bit more skill and control over the balls?

scorpioishere wrote: »

I suggest you burst the ball everytime its in your property

I'm not sure if that is legal.

Cookie_Monster

Victor wrote: »

I'm not sure if that is legal.

you are hardly going to end up in court for a €5 ball now though.

You can always say it landed on something spiky in the garden an burst.

syklops

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

you are hardly going to end up in court for a €5 ball now though.

You can always say it landed on something spiky in the garden an burst.

That could lead to worse problems. Kids playing football is a nuisance. Kids with nothing to do can be a much bigger nuisance. And you dont want a group of bored kids, with time on their hands, bitter because you burst their balls.

The spiky bushes would be a good longterm solution. Maybe throw in a few nettles as well. That will act as a good dis-incentive, and might move them on to another area.

God, I hate it! We have neighbours like that. Daughter keeps hitting tennis balls into our garden, when she comes calling for them I give her those that the dog has chewed already

And people wonder why teenagers have no respect for adults in their neighborhood. Its years of taking sh1t like that.

To be honest i would rather kids playing football then just hanging around on street corner up to no good.
Our street had alot of kids playing football and the guards got involved. Kids were moved from the street.

Now there are gangs with break ins to houses and cars.

syklops

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest i would rather kids playing football then just hanging around on street corner up to no good.
Our street had alot of kids playing football and the guards got involved. Kids were moved from the street.

Now there are gangs with break ins to houses and cars.

Thats the point I was trying to make. Kids knocking on your door wanting their ball back may be annoying, but at least you get to know them a bit. Its better than feeling intimidated by a group of Hoodies sitting on your wall everytime you go in and out of the house. And hoodies dont just grow over night, they develop from the kids who were playing football/tennis on the road, so how you handle this situation may impact how they view and treat you in years to come.

Do you want to be "Theres Mrs Murphy, she was always very nice to us as kids, and didnt mind giving our ball back" or "Theres that aul b1tch who punctured my soccer ball when I was 11"?

Cookie_Monster

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest i would rather kids playing football then just hanging around on street corner up to no good.
Our street had alot of kids playing football and the guards got involved. Kids were moved from the street.

Now there are gangs with break ins to houses and cars.

but they are generally two different age groups anyway.
Those playing are younger and those hanging around are teenagers.

syklops

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

but they are generally two different age groups anyway.
Those playing are younger and those hanging around are teenagers.

They are 2 different age groups now, because not all kids in the world are the same age. But the ones hanging around now will grow up, go to college, and turn in to, well, us. The ones playing football, will turn into the ones hanging around, and when they do, do you want them carrying a grudge?

Tea drinker

It's totally inconsiderate to bang on anyones door ten times a day, break their property with balls etc. If you want to reinforce that behaviour, don't expect them to respect you for it. Imagine if you were working shift work with that racket? You would be driven from the area.

No problem with kids playing from time to time, but lack of facilities is a parents problem. Of course, no one though to have proper play areas included in some areas as it cost too much profit.
But I know a friend who had kids kicking balls on the street, with a park ADJOINING the street ;-)

helimachoptor

I'd say burst them Where i was growing up, there was a nice leafy estate with a big green in the middle, there would be many games of football going on. However one of the residents an 80 year old who had super pride in her flowers and garden got seriously pi$$ed off one day after one of the lads trample some of her flowers, from that day on once a ball went into her garden it was a race to see who could get it first, usually she'd come out with a knife burst it and throw it over her wall:D

bcirl03

By reading this thread I'm guessing 90% of the posters where never kids - let them play away and stop being moans. If they continue to knock for balls then ignore them, they'll get the message.

Calling the Gardai is useless as I've never heard of anyone being jailed for kicking a ball over a wall.

I can just imagine the local station now.

"999 call in for ball going over Mrs Murphy's wall, quick send up special branch this could be serious"

padi89

bcirl03 wrote: »

By reading this thread I'm guessing 90% of the posters where never kids - let them play away and stop being moans. If they continue to knock for balls then ignore them, they'll get the message.

Calling the Gardai is useless as I've never heard of anyone being jailed for kicking a ball over a wall.

I can just imagine the local station now.

"999 call in for ball going over Mrs Murphy's wall, quick send up special branch this could be serious"

What a load of bollox :rolleyes: Nobody has a problem with kids playing football in this thread. OP has a problem with kids constantly kicking/hitting balls in their garden and from whats is described it is deliberate. They don't care, neither do their parents, possibly an attitude similar to yours "let them play away". If OP had to call the guards that's fair enough, i presume they were at the end of their wits.

dee1dee2

bcirl03 wrote: »

By reading this thread I'm guessing 90% of the posters where never kids - let them play away and stop being moans. If they continue to knock for balls then ignore them, they'll get the message.

Calling the Gardai is useless as I've never heard of anyone being jailed for kicking a ball over a wall.

I can just imagine the local station now.

"999 call in for ball going over Mrs Murphy's wall, quick send up special branch this could be serious"

i have no problem with the kids playing football but i do have serious problem with gutters and tiles on side roof being broken i am not a millionair and i cant afford 2 be fixing other peoples kids damage. i was only looking for suggestions as 2 what i could do to save on damage. and 90% of us as u say would have been halled inside for harrassing people.


was wondering where i could get the netting that u c at pitches so i could put it up on end wall

spookwoman

Just after I posted got another ball into the garden. Not to mention a knock at the door. We don't give the balls back they go to the local charity shop and we don’t answer the door. Anyways I didn’t answer the door, the cat was watching the side window and by his behaviour I knew someone was in the garden. Went to look out back one kid hanging over the wall and then another darts into the back and grabs it. Scared the cr*p out of him when I let a roar and chased him. His father was at the front door giving out about his son was in hysterics and how dare I shout at him and he was going to do something about it. Told the father to talk to the family who stole the ball and also I didn’t give him permission to enter the garden. That was the end of that.

It’s just over 2 weeks from our last trip and we have 14 balls They need to bring some law in where if the kids do something the parents are also punished. Christ if I behaved like that growing up my ar*e would have been reddened, not to mention grounded and my allowance taken off me!

Victor

If they are climbing into the back garden, get some anti-climbing paint and put it on the walls. Make sure you put up notices.

http://www.google.ie/#hl=en&source=hp&q=anti-climbing+paint&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=77ba61dc249d6849

Diddler82

I love the high and mighty here who go on about kids are better off playing football than hanging around the streets. Please be quiet all of you a discuss the issue in hand. Because I know for a fact this person does not care about kids in hoodies on street corners its kids with footballs etc. The bullsh*t on this forum really annoys me sometimes

spookwoman

Looks like something's after happening. No balls all week and I've heard the mother telling the son off for hitting the ball against the wall. Must have been a bad telling off because I heard the last time a Garda went to their door the mother threatened him.

coffee_cake

Victor wrote: »

If they are climbing into the back garden, get some anti-climbing paint and put it on the walls. Make sure you put up notices.

http://www.google.ie/#hl=en&source=hp&q=anti-climbing+paint&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=77ba61dc249d6849

I was going to suggest this as well, along the tops of the walls. It's mucky and will get all over you if you go near it, my grandparents used this on theirs.
Good luck OP

runswithascript

Did you ever manage to resolve this? Family member on their own is having the same problem.

spookwoman

Balls still coming in not as many but they are no longer climbing over the wall. The counsel payed them a visit. They were using the wheelie bins to get over the wall and the counsel basically told them if they damage the bins its damaging counsel property if they injure themselves its their own fault.

Jo King

dee1dee2 wrote: »

i actually came on here today with the same problem we have up 2 10 or 15 knocks on the door every day and yesterday caught kids climbing on wall ready 2 come into garden and retrieve their own ball so i refused 2 give them the ball. few mins later i had the mammy at door demanding ball back. we live in end house aswell and all the gutters on end of house are broken from the balls hitting them we are at the end of our patience and have no idea what 2 do

Demand to see proof of ownership of the ball before giving it back. Ask to see the receipt for it. Say someone else has been in looking for a ball and it will not be given back until you are satisfied as to who owns it.