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Old 06-18-2009, 03:30 AM
 
Location: Camberville
15,789 posts, read 21,302,505 times
Reputation: 28004

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Quote:
Originally Posted by 33458 View Post
As I said before...you may have your own way of celebrating such an event, and if it is just between friends (which was NOT part of the original question) - I don't care one way or the other. But in case someone lets their kids do this or encourages such activities without absolute certainty the where, how, when...remember that not everybody is so keen on this particular activity.

I agree with this... though I think some families assume that just because a family seems laid back and friendly that it means that they'll be OK with TPing. The first time we got hit, it was one of my brother's friends whose parents have been friends with my parents since they were both in kindergarten. You'd think they'd know after 12odd years that my family would NOT be OK with this but apparently not.

But really, if you know without a doubt that the other family is OK with it, then whatever, that's your prerogative. Around here, TPing tends to be a bit more random. Generally the kids will know each other, but you wouldn't do it to your best friend (because it's considered rude) and it's not really an indicator of popularity. It isn't something the good kids typically do- more of a right of passage into the typical problems kids who aren't supervised fall into. Maybe it's just my area of the country... but as 33458 alluded to, I WAS the 4-H, and Girl Scouts, marching band, National Honors Society, and all the goody two shoes things that would absolutely make you sick. We absolutely did not do the TP thing because even between friends, it was considered poor judgment since, after all, it is illegal and all.

I don't care if I know the kids, if anyone comes onto my lawn in the middle of the night, they are not going to be treated as if they are just pulling some innocent prank. If their parents allowed them to do it because they thought it would be OK with my family, then the parents are just as guilty and with any luck will have a nice chat with the police about why their kids are out after curfew on someone else's property.
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Old 06-18-2009, 08:51 AM
 
13,975 posts, read 25,832,127 times
Reputation: 39851
Quote:
Originally Posted by locoenlacabeza View Post
LOL, I did't read all 51654657 pages but I'd like to chime in.
First, I tped when I was a kid. It was a blast!!
Second, I've let my oldest do it in good fun. Eggs nor water is ever allowed and its not allowed to be done out of spite. If she gets caught, she deals with the repercussions whatever they may be. If the parents want her to clean up, she better high tale it over there and clean up!

Last summer though, an all in fun prank went south and I got into a tisk with another parent.
Two boys were prank calling the house all night long and ding dong ditching the house. My daughter and her friend decided that they were going to water bomb the boys in return. They made arrangements with the boys to meet them outside the boys house and then we drove by and water bombed them. the girls each threw 2 water bombs and we went on our merry way.
Well apparently the boys then took it upon themselves to have a water fight inside their mothers house (which is completely beyond my control)....anyhow I guess the boys fight inside the house woke the mother who became irate that an hour before I drove my girls over there to bomb them OUTSIDE their house mind you. She then proceeded to pound on my door at midnight acting completely out of control and threatening violence if I didnt open the door.
I opened the door and verbally confronted her for her behavior. Explained my side, that the girls were simply retaliating and never did they throw water bombs inside her house. I told her that if she wanted to be angry that water was inside her house she needed to be angry with her sons. She then got in my face and basically said "lets go" and wanted to duke it out....And she thought I was the uncivilized one for allowing my kids to throw water balloons?????????
I think the potential for these things to get out of control rises greatly when parents get involved. Teen pranks are just that, pranks between kids. When a parent agrees to drive younger kids either to start a prank, or retaliate for one, the odds are that things can escalate. If I saw a parent dropping kids off to TP, or allowing kids to hurl things like water balloons out car windows, frankly, I would think the parent had lost their mind. Stay out of it.
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Old 06-18-2009, 07:36 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
220 posts, read 646,527 times
Reputation: 85
Ehh to each his own I suppose....We have a very involved neighborhood, given the situation that it was all done in fun she had no call to react the way that she did and especially to get upity with me because her kids were morons and took the balloons inside and had a fight inside.
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Old 06-18-2009, 09:37 PM
 
3,842 posts, read 10,480,273 times
Reputation: 3206
Quote:
Originally Posted by 33458 View Post
You misinterpreted, to an extent...

It isn't about rage or over-emphasis. It's about fear and loathing.

If I or my husband wake to hear someone or a number of persons running around my property in the middle of the night when NO ONE has any business legitimate here, I am going to grab something as I head out the door to investigate. Call me whatever you want, but I'm not stepping out in to the unknown without back-up.
Hence the CLICK CLICK on my front porch. (It might be a baseball bat instead.)

Am I going to actually shoot a few teenagers for stomping all over my garden? No. But I will be pissed, because I'm busting my ass trying to fix this place up.
Do I know immediately that this is what's going on outside? Can I tell from glancing out the window that this is all...doubtful.
Do I know why this is taking place? No, because to me this is not a happy thing, not a custom I am in any way familiar with. I am not the bad neighbor, I'm the nice one. Even asked my husband (who thinks it's nothing to get twisted about, so that's just a me thing...) if he remembers the motivation for such an act...and I'm not completely nuts because he remembers too that it was something done as a method of some harm, of perturbing - not this 'badge of honor' that some of you insist it is. That was not our way...maybe it's because we were the fringe and not the 4-H...
Do I know that something that should NOT be happening is in fact taking place? Yes.

I have experienced people trying to break in to my car (once) and then succeeding (twice), attempting my house (once), people walking around the house (more than one) and vandalism to my property before (never tp, but the local highschool dealer liked to hang on my street corner...they knew we and my next-door neighbors were the ones calling the cops...)
So, someone is at my house, on my lawn at 3 am? I am a little testy with all that. Maybe that's because I've dealt with intruders...and the law taking 45 minutes to respond to a call about a stranger at my windows, looking to find an open one, with me alone in the house (true story, welcome to West Palm Beach). I don't have much faith in anybody.

So, back to some clown running around my house. I am going to insist, in no uncertain words, that they are not welcome here now OR again unless it is to clean up the debris they've thought so much of me to leave behind.

Now, somehow, in some world, not my own, somebody thinks late night littering pranks are equal to the evening visits of a child Trick or Treating...at least that's what they tried to insinuate before the comment was deleted. Not the same. Hello to you, too.
And that solicitation to purchase a subscription from a door-to-door salesman is somehow right up there, too...
Well, actually, I don't much like salespeople but they tend to show up during daylight hours, when my mood is a bit better.

As I said before...you may have your own way of celebrating such an event, and if it is just between friends (which was NOT part of the original question) - I don't care one way or the other. But in case someone lets their kids do this or encourages such activities without absolute certainty the where, how, when...remember that not everybody is so keen on this particular activity.

If it were as simple as my daughter telling me that this sort of thing goes on, I would instruct her to make sure the kids knew it would not fly, not to do it...and that I do not want her partaking in such 'pranks' either.

Perhaps I answered sharply and louder than I normally do around here, but the more I read that this is "no big deal" the more I lose respect for anyone who thinks this is a one-size-fits-all situation. Does my attitude start to make a bit more sense?

We just aren't going to agree on this one.
My dh spent 12 months avoiding, and many times unsuccessfully, running over IEDs & seeing men run off the road to set a bomb off to kill him...and he is less paranoid & extreme than this post...

It's toilet paper. That's all it is. And for the uptenth time, how many said they were sitting by when their teenager was out at 3am?

To EVEN say "click click"...that says more than enough about YOUR attitude.

It's amazing from reading some of these posts and the incredibly involved & strict & perfectly run homes with angelic teenagers who would "never" do such as HORRID act like tp'ng that there are ANY issues with teenagers in this world
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Old 06-19-2009, 12:15 PM
LML
 
Location: Wisconsin
7,100 posts, read 9,082,701 times
Reputation: 5191
I read some of these over the top messages with people threatening those tping with the police or bodily harm and I keep thinking; "Hey, it's suppose to be us little old ladies who are cranky." When I see tping I just smile and think back on my younger days 50 years ago when we were doing the same thing....and having a lot of fun too. Glad some of you folks weren't around then.
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Old 06-19-2009, 01:24 PM
 
Location: (WNY)
5,384 posts, read 10,833,701 times
Reputation: 7663
Quote:
Originally Posted by 121804 View Post
It's amazing from reading some of these posts and the incredibly involved & strict & perfectly run homes with angelic teenagers who would "never" do such as HORRID act like tp'ng that there are ANY issues with teenagers in this world
I knew kids growing up with parents like this.... they turned into total HELLIONS in highschool and college (if they decided to go).... they were official trouble makers- the ones you knew had the beer or the drugs.. they totally rebelled against their parents strict ways.... The best part was thier parents were STILL insisting their ways were best and no way would their kids EVER do.... LOL
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