High School Pranks in Riverview, Fl?

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by algia

The spirit of community is gone, at least where we live up here, forget it, nobody ever comes out, all you see is a few babysitters around that are also not able to say "Good Morning" don't know why that is....but it is sad for sure that ppl are like this! You smile or say hi and thye wonder what do you want from them?

I know what you're saying Kash, but I don't see/think we can go back to being community oriented especially with the way ppl move around here non stop.

I disagree. Maybe it's different up in your isolated suburb, but my block isn't transient at all in terms of residents and it's so easy just to wave, say hi, and even talk with people, especially in the evening when people are out jogging or working in their yards.

[Maggi07]

Originally Posted by ferret111

I disagree. Maybe it's different up in your isolated suburb, but my block isn't transient at all in terms of residents and it's so easy just to wave, say hi, and even talk with people, especially in the evening when people are out jogging or working in their yards.

Mine is like this too. That's part of the reason I wanted to be in the city and not in the burbs. In my experience, community tends to be closer in the city neighborhoods.

[algia]

Do you think I can't wait to move out of here because people are "nice and friendly"?


I know what you mean about the "city" neighborhoods", total different story.

Originally Posted by ferret111

I disagree. Maybe it's different up in your isolated suburb, but my block isn't transient at all in terms of residents and it's so easy just to wave, say hi, and even talk with people, especially in the evening when people are out jogging or working in their yards.

[NALEXAND]

Oh you thought they were hoodlums from Progressive Village huh?! LOL Wow...... "these people" must have been _____.

Originally Posted by kaina01

I understand that this was mostly a harmless prank if that is what it was. The problem was that they looked liked 50 to 60 gang members and looked more intimidating than that kid who last shot a cop in St Pete. They certainly did not look like teens- but like they were in their early 20's. So I agree that all the "grown ups" here did not stand up and ask them to leave. They were fearful....we all thought these people had guns. Plus there were so many of them- it was overwhelming. The female manager who did ask them to leave felt so threatened by these "teens" that she called 911. It was the sheriff that told her the group was teens. I was just hoping that someone who is long time resident here would post and say "Oh this is nothing- the kids from Progress Village do this every year" to make me feel better. My lease is up soon and I am moving to a differnet part of Riverview as soon as I can.

[herronrk]

Hello,

What neighborhood do you live in? We moved from an area in NC that sounds like this and are looking for the same feeling. Help!

Originally Posted by num1baby

If kids taking over your pool is the big prank, I don't think it is too bad. Kids seem to be doing worse and worse things, so playing in a pool without permission seems pretty tame. At least they didn't do something that takes a lot of cleanup (TPing the neighborhood right before a rain storm), or caused damage to property.

About the sense of community some people are posting about. We live in a great neighborhood where kids play outside, parents and neighbors talk outside and will watch the other kids if one parent has to run to the store, etc. When my husband was out of town for a couple of weeks and I had a very busy schedule, one of my neighbors noticed our yard getting a bit tall and mowed it for us while I was at work. We are having a big Memorial Day BBQ and besides our other friends, we have at least 15 of our neighbors coming so far. We will discipline the neighbor kids if we see them doing something wrong. It is a great neighborhood with a great sense of community.

Also, I don't know if it was the way I was raised, but I have no problem telling random kids that they are doing something wrong. My mom never had a problem with confronting random kids in public. I was at a community center a few weeks ago and while my daughter was inside taking a class, I decided to sit on a bench near a playground and read. There were about 30 kids who all looked to be under 10 playing on the playgrounds. There were also a lot of parents around. Some young teens appeared and almost immediately I heard strings of profanity coming out of their mouths. My head snapped up in shock that I was hearing this on a playground with all of these kids around. One girl saw me looking at her and stopped talking all together. When the other continued, I walked over to them and politely asked them to stop by saying (with a small smile on my face) "I am not sure if you are aware, but there are a lot of impressionable young children that can hear your conversations. I don't think that is appropriate language for them to be hearing at a playground. Would you mind either changing the words you are using, or moving somewhere that there aren't children playing?" They all looked stunned and after a minute they stood up and left. As they passed, I looked up, smiled at them and said thank you. One of the dads came over and asked me what I said to them. When I told him, he was shocked that they responded to politeness and said he wouldn't have said anything and he was about to pack up his kids and leave before I talked to them.

I have learned over the years that kids and teens love choices. They all want to feel older and more responsible than they really are. If you can word things to give them a choice, they feel like they were in control and that they are doing what they want to do. Not what someone told them to do.
*Disclaimer: I am not saying this is the best parenting technique. I am just saying that most of the time this is the best way to go with kids you don't know since you don't know how they will react to confrontation.

[crazynip]

That sounds like something "diverse" people do.

Do a google search for "flash mobs" in Chicago where large groups of "diverse" youngsters go into stores and basically destroy them, cause mayhem, etc.

You should be lucky all they did was some swimming and blasting rap music.