NEED TO KNOW
A woman is questioning whether she would be in the wrong to stop giving her neighbor’s children their toys back after they keep ending up in her yardIn a post shared to the U.K.-based online forum Mumsnet, a woman writes, “Would I be unreasonable to not return the multitude of balls that end up in my garden?”Tons of online users advocated for working with the kids’ parents to find a happy medium
A woman is questioning whether she would be in the wrong to stop giving her neighbor’s children their toys back after they keep ending up in her yard.
In a post shared to the U.K.-based online forum Mumsnet, a woman writes about her “newish” neighbors, whose children have a basketball hoop and soccer net set up alongside their shared fence.
“We now have the joyful sound of the [soccer] or basketball hitting the fence from as early as 7:30 (welcoming the shorter days!) in the morning through the day in the weekends, from after school week days,” the woman wrote.
According to the post, everyone in her household works from home. They also maintain a neatly-kept backyard filled with “many lovely plants for all year round color” after her family spent years cultivating the garden.
“We have the best constant noise of the balls hitting the fence, the back of the basket ball hoop, balls in the garden breaking our plants, hitting our garden furniture etc. for all of the summer,” the woman shared.
Stock photo of a kid playing outside.
Getty
Although the woman wrote that she has politely texted her neighbors to ask their children to stop, but “clearly they don’t.”
“Am I being unreasonable?” the Mumsnet user questioned. “Would I be unreasonable to not return the multitude of balls that end up in my garden?”
She added, “Looking for solutions to at least stop the destruction of my garden plants (less noise would be ideal too). The noise gives me migraines!”
The Mumsnet community overall took take her side — with many responses arguing that while kids will be kids, the situation is not ideal.
“It’s really antisocial of them to have the goal and basketball against the side fence, they should have it at the back,” one response reads. “Have you discussed moving them with them?”
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“I’ve found that the best solution for this is to inconvenience the parents. Do not refuse to give the balls back. Do not insist that the children don’t play their ball games. This will make you out to be the ogre in this,” another person advised.
“Instead speak to the parents with understanding (unless you are able to back up being aggressive) and request that 1) No one goes into your garden to recover the balls. 2) Only the parents come around to ask for their balls back.”
Others defended the children’s behavior, stating that allowing the noise is a small price to pay for letting the kids play.
“I must be neighbor of the year reading this thread!” one response states. “Wee lad next door is forever popping over to get his ball. I’ve told him to go in himself but he lives in fear of my [dog] so he always knocks. Imagine being the neighbor of some of the joy squashers here.”
The majority of responses also advocated for a happy medium — where plants in the Mumsnet user’s backyard aren’t being smashed and the kids still get to play some ball.
“It must be annoying to have the ball constantly kicked up against the fence or into the garden,” another reply added. “They can be more careful or maybe go over the local park and have a kick around. Kids can still be kids without inconveniencing everyone around them.”
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