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WWYD: Neighboors
This is going to probably be a dumb rant also but bear with me.
My neighboors (middle aged couple with 3 kids in middleschool) constantly play in their front yard - it's their yard, I don't care. They also have a backyard and only play back there sometimes. They play lacrosse in the front yard and the ball often times comes over the fence into our backyard or has hit the side of my house. Not a big deal.
I'm always finding tennis balls, etc in my yard and I throw them back over the fence. Last summer the kids would come in our yard and forget to close the gate. I have a dog who will wander/run if the gate is open. I've talked to the mother plenty of times saying I don't care if they come get the ball but to close the fence. Problem solved.
Last week when we got a couple inches of snow the kids and mother were having a snow ball fight in their front yard (not a big deal) but they don't watch and managed to pelt my car a couple times. The mother aplogized.
Fast forward to Saturday. We have a TINY slope in our front yard. The kids took their sleds up to my flower bed and "sledded" down (6 different tracks). DH and I were not home but the footprints let back to their house. I'm ticked. Not only do I find that rude and disrespectful but I grew up where you just don't do that. Normally I wouldn't say anything but I'm kinda irrirated about it. DH and I have a patch of just mud where we're stuggling to grow the grass that they completed walked over and sledded over, they were in the flower bed by the front window etc.
I hate to be the "mean neighboor" but would you say anything? Not that it matters but they are tenants.
Re: WWYD: Neighboors
I would totally say something. It is not cool to hit your house or car or tear up your yard. And, if they don't listen I would have no problem contacting the landlord, HOA or police.
(My reaction comes from a ball breaking a light and putting a major dent in my car after I asked really nicely to not have kids play near my car. I stopped being nice after that point)
You're not being mean. People have no regard for others anymore.
Tell the mother every single time they come on your property.
Also, get a lock your fence. It's lame - but we had some issues with people going in our backyard and the cops told us to the lock the fence. So we did (we got the cord-type bike locks that go from the fence post and around a slat through the gate). No more problems!
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It sounds like the mother is responsive, so probably talking to her will do something. You need to decide what you want before talking to her though.
I might let her know that you aren't comfortable with the kids playing on your property... insurance and liability. Or say that you take great pride in your gardening and would appreciate their help in protecting it.
I think you need to say something and I think you need to set new boundaries. You've let them do more than others would and that's probably why they thought nothing of sledding, you let them come onto your property before so you wouldn't mind this. Say something and don't let them come onto your property again. And lock the gate.
This is what I would do since the mother seems responsive. My first thought was about the insurance and liability if one of them slipped on the ice and fell on your yard.
I do love that the family plays so well together btw. I would just let them know your yard isn't an extension of the playing field.
Ditto. I would talk to the mother but come up with a list of tangible reasons this irks you, as opposed to just a cranky "Get off my lawn!". You might also want to think about your options in terms of fencing or creating a more obvious boundary between the yards, like a small hedge.
Ditto on the liability, if one of the kids got hurt on your property. What if you left a rake on the ground and it was buried, and the kids didn't see it and rolled over it? Drama just waiting to happen.
Definitely say something. They need to ask permission first, and wait until you are home. It's YOUR property, not theirs. You can tell them they are fine to sled (IF you are fine!), but you needed to know ahead of time so you could have warned them about the area they chose. It's just simply disrespectful not to ask permission first!
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I think that pp have given you some good advice.
on the garden front, unless we're talking about woody plants here, the ground is frozen & the plants are dormant so there's a very good chance that no damage was done (soil can't compact, dormant herbaceous plants aren't going to get hurt by sledding over it, etc.)
Good memory... Close, I'm the one that when DH and i bought the house the old owners would check the mailbox about any non forwarded mail or wait for us in the driveway until we got home. We still can't figure out what was so important in the mail.
I'm more concerned about safety than anything. If one of the kids does get hurt yes, it's my fault regardless of if I gave them permission or not. We also have a pipe that sticks up about 6 inches from the ground and it's very easy to trip over (I have tripped a couple times). It has something to do with the sewer which is why we can't cut if flush to the ground (already asked the city and a couple of landscapers about it).
i would most DEFENITLY say something
our neighbors play soccer in their yard and the dad ALWAYS makes them knock on the door and ask us to go in the yard and get the ball. im like guys you don't have to do that. and he's like our dad tells us we have to. i find it REALLY sweet.
and if anyone was sledding on my lawn i'd be pissed (but this post made me realize we have a good front yard for sledding lol)
other kids in our neighborhood use our driveway when riding their bikes and it PISSES me and my dh off to no extent.
and they also like to put garbage in our garbage can. i can't WAIT to figure out who did that
bottom line SAY something