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That's why I'll never buy a home in a cul de sac, a through street or uphill/downhill street is far better for quiet ... strange how people refer to a "quiet" cul de sac even though cul de sacs can likely be the noisiest streets in the area ...
The OP didn't say they were teenagers. She said "kids."
From the description of kickball (kind of a small-kid sport), the fathers sometimes being there, and the bikes, it sounds like they are maybe middle-schoolers or in junior high at most.
We actually are planning on finishing the fence, but in the meantime, isn't it my right to say, hey, I've got a protective dog, stay off my lawn & be respectful of my property?
If they come on your property( fence or no fence) it will be quite unpleasant to say the least if your dog bites one of them. I would suggest moving and doing a lot of research on HOA rules ,and driving the area at many different times. Buy a property with as little street front as possible.
This is one of the main reasons why I don't think I would ever own a home. You never know what kind of world you are getting yourself into until you move in and hang out for a while and see what life is really like in that neighborhood.
I used to live in a house next door to a family of 4 boys and what appeared to be a single father. Boys were ages 8 to about 12 or so. The house I live at was a corner property and those boys cut through my yard daily even though I had asked them not to and even put up signs. They regularly rode their noisy 4 wheeler and dirt bikes in their yard and sometimes over into my yard. I went over and tried to speak to the father but all he could say was that boys will be boys. After a year of that nonsense I moved away.
When I first moved there the neighbor across the street told me that my place had seen a lot of tenants and it seemed everyone stuck around for a year or less. The rent was VERY cheap so I wondered why anyone would want to leave such a nice and affordable home like that?
Now I know. I still drive by the house now and then and every now and then I see someone living there for a while and then I see the FOR RENT sign soon afterwards.
Wow, I did not expect this board to blow up like this. There seem to be a lot of assumptions & miscomunications here.
The 'kids' are about 8-12 years old. I may not know where they live but we have met most of the neighbors on our street and these kids do not live on our street, that I am sure of (i have passed them in my car, riding their bikes toward my street, coming from whatever street they live on). We did meet 1 kids father once. We did mention kindly to him & his girlfriend why we didn't want them in our yard, and they were shocked by it (they had just had theirs redone & did not want them on their own yard). I should have mentioned that in the original post. I honestly don't know if one of the kids this time was his son, though.
My dog is not completely vicious...he just doesn't like strangers on our property. He is only outside with one of us, and we put him on a rope so he can run around and play catch (until we get the fence finished). I think that's our right.
I don't care if they play in the street...that's their right and I don't mind. Even when we get the fence up, the front yard will be open, and honestly don't even care if they play in the FRONT yard, since the dog will be in the back & separated by the fence. But when you continuously kick a ball & hit my house, my car (garage is still full of boxes, so excuse me for parking my own car in my own driveway), not once, not twice, but several times, we have a right to say something. I don't recall saying my husband freaked & went out with a knife...you guys have crazy imaginations. He went out & loudly told them not to go on the property & hit our house (not screaming, not freaking, but sternly & loudly so they all could hear).
Anyway, they haven't been back since. I was actually kind of hoping parents would knock on our door so we could let them know exactly what the situation was. I figured if there is another day when the dads are out there with them, we can go out & have a talk with them.
No, this is not nearly enough to make me want to sell my house & move. It was frustrating at the time but wow I mostly wanted to vent & share my story. IF people started posing a threat to me & my family...that would be grounds for putting the house up for sale, but certainly not something like this. Geez people.
Since you can't simply just move out (the best option to relieve your stress):
1) fence
2) cameras with night vision (and make sure the kids can see them)
3) motion activated sprinkler (yes, for real)
I live next door to a skateboarder so I know how you feel. Thankfully he hasn't had friends over who'd compound the problem. For the most part I let it go because someday my kids will be playing outside too. The biggest thing is respecting borders and property. I'm only in my 30s, but even I can't stand when someone runs across my lawn (unless it's the mailman, etc.). It's not because of damage, it's because of lack of respect. Kids understandably may not be aware and that's why you talk to them at first. But once they're on notice, they better keep off.
Best response to the OP yet! I might have to try this.
I have a similar situation to the OP, only it is because we have a fence. We have a fence that stops on either side of the entrance/exit to our driveway. Because of the way things are situated, we wouldn't be able to install any kind of gate, not that it would help in our situation. For whatever reason the neighborhood boys insist on leaning their bikes and scooters and whatnot up against our fence and in doing so they end up blocking our driveway. They also stand there eating and drinking and drop trash around that area as well. When I see them out there I ask them to clean it up, and I've also asked them to stop blocking our driveway and stop leaning their stuff up against our fence because it is old and needs to be replaced anyway, and their bikes aren't going to help it last any longer. I've told them that we have a teenage son who is new to driving and if they aren't careful and leave their bikes and stuff there it might get run over. They don't care. They just have this "whatever" attitude.
Anyway - sometimes, there's no good solution. But - a sprinkler system... now that is a good idea and one I hadn't thought of!
Based on what I've read, I'm going to side with the kids on this one.
Surprised? Well that's fine, but I'm serious.
Kids to me, unless they're being very obnoxious or bratty, have the right to play outside and enjoy an outdoors-based childhood. If there's a little noise from it, so be it. They certainly have more of a right to do this than a dog does to bark all the time etc. It's good for them to get outdoors & play versus always being indoors under lock & key for their "safety" staring at an electronic screen all of the time.
Now, if they're throwing rocks at passing cars or such, or not respecting someone's living space, naturally that should be addressed. Otherwise, I say--let 'em play.
LRH
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I might have to try this. 
