Kids playing in the front garden?

um7y1h83ge06nx

Hi,

Looking for some advice to solve an issue as cleanly as possible.

Recently we have had a problem with some of the kids in the estate running through and playing in our front garden. We've being here 7 years and never had the problem before.

To give some context we live in a semi-D. There are hedges between the neighbours at either side and a wall running along the front, so it's pretty enclosed. Now the hedges do not run right up against the houses, there is a little space presumably for the postman to walk through I think.

Anyway the kids have started to run from garden to garden using the space between the hedges and houses. They then started using their 2 wheeled push scooters through here and playing cops and robbers through there, sometimes coming in and out through the driveway too.

It's very annoying when we are sitting watching TV and have kids running across literally a foot outside the window and rumbling across on their scooters. I'm also anxious that they will run their scooters into my car which is parked in the driveway.

Friday evening I went out the front to hoover the car and cut the lawns so they would get the hint to get out. Eventually after a few more minutes of running through they got the hint. On Saturday I placed my wheelie bins in the corner between me and my non-attached neighbour. We went off for an hour or two and found the bins moved. Yesterday I placed them back again. This time my GF saw one of the kids moving the bins so they could come through. Now the bins were placed there so that parents and kids alike might get the hint that we don't want them running all over the garden. The GF came out of the house and made it obvious that she was putting the bins back. They seemed to get the hint after that.

So, we're trying to solve the problem as sensitively as possible without giving out to the kids or speaking to the parents. Normally they are nice kids so am surprised that they are cheeky enough to move the bins, which were fully in my property.

Should I get some large planting pots or troughs and grow a little hedge in them, placing them next to my house at either side? Or talk to the kids or the parents?

Any advice would be appreciated.

P. Breathnach

What's wrong with speaking nicely to the kids and telling them that they are not supposed to pass through your garden in the way they do? That's not giving out to them: it's explaining things to them.

If that doesn't work, then you can speak to their parents in a non-confrontational way, saying that the kids don't seem to understand your advice to them.

Dfmnoc

Put an electric fence around the garden

Eric Cartman

get a small offcut section of fence and put it in using L shaped brackets on to the wall of the house, should be cheap and effective.

djimi

Kids dont take hints; stop pussyfooting around the issue. If you dont want them in your garden then go out and tell them to get out of your garden (you can be nice about it, but be firm). If they dont listen then go talk to their parents (again, be nice but firm).

If it really bothers you that much then block up the gap.

fl4pj4ck

^^^ this

be blunt but be nice, always worked for me

Ray Palmer

Kids do this stuff in an urban environment but will eventually grow out of it. I would try to get used to it and it will end on it's own soon enough.

If it bothers you that much asking them to stop is the best approach. If that fails talk to the parents.

You will come across as grumpy one way or the other. I would try to not let it bother you. Kids playing is generally a nice sound I find and I don't like kids or want any.

gaius c

Eric Cartman wrote: »

get a small offcut section of fence and put it in using L shaped brackets on to the wall of the house, should be cheap and effective.

If you're not willing to catch them in the act and tell them to stop, do the above instead.

_Kaiser_

Just tell them (nicely at first) to get off your property and failing that go to the parents.

No offence to the OP but this softly-softly approach that is so prevalent in Irish society nowadays is ridiculous. Just because you tell a bunch of kids to stop trespassing on your property (aside from the nuisance factor, presumably the OP would also be liable if one of them injured him/herself during their antics as well) does not mean you're a paedophile FFS.

Just tell them to go play in their own garden - or yes, wall up the gap between them.

Victor

Dfmnoc wrote: »

Put an electric fence around the garden

Zaaaap! Banned for a week!

Constructive posts only please.

Moderator

_Kaiser_

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Kids do this stuff in an urban environment but will eventually grow out of it. I would try to get used to it and it will end on it's own soon enough.

If it bothers you that much asking them to stop is the best approach. If that fails talk to the parents.

You will come across as grumpy one way or the other. I would try to not let it bother you. Kids playing is generally a nice sound I find and I don't like kids or want any.

This is EXACTLY the attitude I'm talking about

Why should the OP just have to "put up with" kids trespassing on his property right up against his front window, worrying about them running into his car etc just so "kids can be kids"

When I was a kid I didn't have free reign to play in everyone's garden. Sure if I was playing with their kids, but I wouldn't have just wandered in making a nuisance of myself.

Are we really so far gone in this country that boundaries and effective discipline and rules of behaviour are a thing of the past?

djimi

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Kids do this stuff in an urban environment but will eventually grow out of it. I would try to get used to it and it will end on it's own soon enough.

If it bothers you that much asking them to stop is the best approach. If that fails talk to the parents.

You will come across as grumpy one way or the other. I would try to not let it bother you. Kids playing is generally a nice sound I find and I don't like kids or want any.

I would be worried about what might happen if one of the kids were to hurt themselves while in my garden. The OP also has a valid worry about a bike/trike etc damaging their car (this has happened to me before; albeit in the car park of my apartment complex rather than a private garden). Kids will be kids and all that but its not much comfort when one of them causes hundreds of Euro worth of damage to your car with their bike...

I also dont share your confidence that the problem will go away as they get older. Now it is young kids causing relatively little damage and annoyance; fast forward a few years and you have a group of teenagers who have no concept of boundaries using every garden on the row as a hangout as it what they have always been let to do. Personally Id prefer to put a stop to it now.

ronan45

Put in a railing from the house wall to the front garden wall. Gate also
No access anymore ! Problem solved Max height 2 meter, I dont think they will be interested in jumping that!

um7y1h83ge06nx

Thanks for the replies.

Here are pics of the paths I'm talking about.

Side1 should be handy enough to deal with, Side 2 is a bit more open, mainly due to me cutting back that tree a little and it was growing across the window (d'oh, could come in handy now) although there was always more access at that side anyway.

I don't want to come across as a grump but I think Djimi and Kaiser2000 make good points. I should say it to them in a nice, calm but firm manner.

Ray Palmer

djimi wrote: »

I would be worried about what might happen if one of the kids were to hurt themselves while in my garden. The OP also has a valid worry about a bike/trike etc damaging their car (this has happened to me before; albeit in the car park of my apartment complex rather than a private garden). Kids will be kids and all that but its not much comfort when one of them causes hundreds of Euro worth of damage to your car with their bike...

I also dont share your confidence that the problem will go away as they get older. Now it is young kids causing relatively little damage and annoyance; fast forward a few years and you have a group of teenagers who have no concept of boundaries using every garden on the row as a hangout as it what they have always been let to do. Personally Id prefer to put a stop to it now.

Having grown up and having free rein to run through the neighbours gardens I can tell you as a teenager I had stopped. We even had a route through the back gardens that didn't bother people.

If it worries the OP etc.. then do something about it. People will judge you as a result. Strangely I managed to grow up a well adjusted adult but you know the rest of my friends became deranged killers as a result of being allowed play in the neighbours gardens.

_Kaiser_

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Having grown up and having free rein to run through the neighbours gardens I can tell you as a teenager I had stopped. We even had a route through the back gardens that didn't bother people.

If it worries the OP etc.. then do something about it. People will judge you as a result. Strangely I managed to grow up a well adjusted adult but you know the rest of my friends became deranged killers as a result of being allowed play in the neighbours gardens.

You're not getting the point.. why should you have "free reign" of other people's property without consent by the owner?

Also, who's liable if you fall off a wall or otherwise injure yourself on that person's property?

What's so wrong with playing in your own/friends' garden or common areas?

fl4pj4ck

ahh the 21st Century.... where's the community spirit in forbidding kids to play?

_Kaiser_

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

ahh the 21st Century.... where's the community spirit in forbidding kids to play?

There's no-one saying kids are forbidden to play.. just not wherever they like!

Unfortunately in the 21st century people will sue their neighbours for damages should little Johnny or Mary hurt themselves while in that neighbour's garden, rather than telling them to watch where they're going next time!

Said parents of the 21st century will probably also be reluctant to hand over the cash to repair the neighbour's car because little Johnny or Mary ran into it on their bike. They'd probably be looking for the money to repair the bike instead!

There's nothing wrong with kids having limits and boundaries you know!

ncmc

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Kids do this stuff in an urban environment but will eventually grow out of it. I would try to get used to it and it will end on it's own soon enough.

If it bothers you that much asking them to stop is the best approach. If that fails talk to the parents.

You will come across as grumpy one way or the other. I would try to not let it bother you. Kids playing is generally a nice sound I find and I don't like kids or want any.

This current batch will grow out of it, but depending on the size of the estate, there is a seemingly never ending supply of kids who will watch and learn from the older ones and carry on doing the same thing. I am with the OP, I live in an estate and the front gardens are all open and I hate the fact that there are kids running by day and night.

Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about the front, but I am mid terrace and there is a path down the side of our neighbours that has a T junction at the end, one side leads to our back garden, the other leads to the mid terrace a few doors down. Our path is our property and we used to have kids playing hide and seek there, standing on our bins, looking over our fence etc. Unlike the OP, I don’t care what they think of me, so I told them off time and time again but it made no difference. So eventually, I fenced off the path with a gate. It cost a bit to put in, but it was worth it to have peace and privacy restored and as other people said, if one of those kids had fallen on my property, I could have been responsible.

It’s nothing to do with community spirit, everyone is entitled to privacy on their property.

TL/DR: Put up small bit of fencing.

OldNotWIse

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

You're not getting the point.. why should you have "free reign" of other people's property without consent by the owner?

Also, who's liable if you fall off a wall or otherwise injure yourself on that person's property?

What's so wrong with playing in your own/friends' garden or common areas?

A lot of people get a bit hysterical around this issue. As if those of us who dont wish to be put upon by other people's unsupervised progeny are all a pack of scrooges or something. It's too much to ask that we be allowed to enjoy our homes in relative peace and quiet. Children need to play and this seems to somehow translate into children should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want. I'd put up a fence and be done with it. Aside from anything else, under occupier's liability it'd be you in the firing line if something happened to them in your garden.

Uberbeamerman

Hi all,

I'm faced with a similar situation.
Renting in a family estate and what I have noticed is that a group of children use my garden, the road and their own garden opposite mine as a football pitch... I'd be working away at home during the weekends (postgrad) and I'd hear a football hit the window/porch/wall every now and again (in fairness its a light enough one but that's not the point)
It got to a climax yesterday when I came back from a walk to find scooters/bikes etc blocking my drive. I'm all for fun and games and giving a bit of leeway but A) what would happen if one of them tripped and injured themselves(say against the boundary fence or something) and what would happen if they broke a window?

spockety

Uberbeamerman wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm faced with a similar situation.
Renting in a family estate and what I have noticed is that a group of children use my garden, the road and their own garden opposite mine as a football pitch... I'd be working away at home during the weekends (postgrad) and I'd hear a football hit the window/porch/wall every now and again (in fairness its a light enough one but that's not the point)
It got to a climax yesterday when I came back from a walk to find scooters/bikes etc blocking my drive. I'm all for fun and games and giving a bit of leeway but A) what would happen if one of them tripped and injured themselves(say against the boundary fence or something) and what would happen if they broke a window?

The kids on my road use other people's driveways as goals even when there are cars parked in them. BANG!

and not a **** is given. Except by me, from what I can see.

foggy_lad

Regina Round Fatigues wrote: »

I don't want to come across as a grump but I think Djimi and Kaiser2000 make good points. I should say it to them in a nice, calm but firm manner.

Exactly, you don't need to negotiate anything, it is your property so you can tell them very clearly that they are not allowed into your garden.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Hmmm, I thought this thread might cause a difference of opinion alright.

I don't mind kids playing at all around the estate, makes the place seemed alive, it's only when they are on my property that I have a problem.

Firstly it's quite annoying to have kids literally a foot or two outside your front window, no privacy at all. Secondly, what happens if they accidentally damage my car for instance? I wouldn't be willing to absorb the cost so I would have to call to the parents which might get messy. Finally, what happens if one of them injures themselves on my property? It would be a serious kick in the teeth if someone tried to make a case out of it.

From the comments I think I will try the following:

* Mention it to the kids politely but firmly that I don't want them in the garden. I'll do this only if I happen to catch them in the act again

* Continue to use the bins at the first side to re-enforce the point.

* Think about putting some timber fencing on both sides. I noticed that a few of the houses further up the street have done this.

It's heading for the winter now with the days getting shorter and weather getting wetter and colder so it should quieten down. It's more about having something arranged for next spring now.

djimi

Having looked at the pictures could you possibly get a heavy planter pot to block the gaps instead of putting up a fence? Certainly for the smaller of the gaps; it might be a nicer way to "finish" the hedge so to speak. Something that cannot be moved.

um7y1h83ge06nx

djimi wrote: »

Having looked at the pictures could you possibly get a heavy planter pot to block the gaps instead of putting up a fence? Certainly for the smaller of the gaps; it might be a nicer way to "finish" the hedge so to speak. Something that cannot be moved.

That could be an idea alright as well, would work well for the side in the second picture. Might not work as well for the first side as it would block access to the side gate (around the corner past the wheelie bin you can see).

Thanks.

josip

Uberbeamerman wrote: »

Renting in a family estate ....
but A) what would happen if one of them tripped and injured themselves(say against the boundary fence or something) and what would happen if they broke a window?

Wouldn't the landlord have to cover the costs of both A and B?

Ray Palmer

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

You're not getting the point.. why should you have "free reign" of other people's property without consent by the owner?

Also, who's liable if you fall off a wall or otherwise injure yourself on that person's property?

What's so wrong with playing in your own/friends' garden or common areas?

I think you are not getting the point. In a suburban environment this was perfectly acceptable growing up. I don't believe that has changed. People have way over blown the dangers and what scumbags people will turn out like if they aren't stopped going into garden at a young age.

You might have a point on liability of injuries but that applies to anybody who ever steps on your property. In fact putting obstacles in their way that causes them to injure themselves increases your liability.

Lets be clear it is a minor annoyance everything else is an exaggeration.

OldNotWIse

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I think you are not getting the point. In a suburban environment this was perfectly acceptable growing up. I don't believe that has changed. People have way over blown the dangers and what scumbags people will turn out like if they aren't stopped going into garden at a young age.

You might have a point on liability of injuries but that applies to anybody who ever steps on your property. In fact putting obstacles in their way that causes them to injure themselves increases your liability.

Lets be clear it is a minor annoyance everything else is an exaggeration.

It is clearly you who does not get the point - you seem to be an expert on occupier's liability yet bizzarely you think something is ok becaeuse it was acceptable when you were growing up. What a weird legal system. These kids are trespassing on private property. Simple.

djimi

I dont see how anyone trespassing on your property is a minor annoyance; be it a child, teenager, adult or whoever. The kids have no right to be there, end of story, and its up to the OP to decide if they want to allow them there or not. Its not perfectly acceptable anywhere to have kids thinking that they have free reign to enter any garden that they so choose; if we tried that as kids we would have gotten a clip around the ear and we knew it. I would never have dreamed of entering a neighbours garden unless I had good reason to be there.

Ray Palmer

djimi wrote: »

I dont see how anyone trespassing on your property is a minor annoyance; be it a child, teenager, adult or whoever. The kids have no right to be there, end of story, and its up to the OP to decide if they want to allow them there or not. Its not perfectly acceptable anywhere to have kids thinking that they have free reign to enter any garden that they so choose; if we tried that as kids we would have gotten a clip around the ear and we knew it. I would never have dreamed of entering a neighbours garden unless I had good reason to be there.

It is up to the OP but it still remains a minor annoyance. It is not considered perfectly acceptable in polite society to ruin a child play time over a minor annoyance.

Never said they have no legal right but being social or not has it's own consequences and rules. If your parents saw violence as appropriate maybe they didn't teach you other social niceties