Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It sounds like the hubby might be the problem. Maybe, if you can make friends with the wife, that'll help diffuse the situation.
Right and I'm trying to do that but it's getting more difficult. I mean, I am friendly every time I see her and I'll keep doing that. My husband thinks the husband is the one with the problem. He said he thought that the minute he met him, which is unusual for him.
There might have been kids in both houses before and they just intermingled, without anyone bothering with which kids were theirs. Try a gentle nudge first. If that doesn't work, talk to the mother, directly, not in a text message.
No, good thought but the kids were very very small here (3 and 2) and they didn't play with these kids. In fact, the previous owners disconnected their doorbell because they were so sensitive to noise waking up their kids from naps. I can't imagine that they were OK with football games and constant yelling and screaming for hours in their front yard and down their driveway.
OK so I was all ready for action yesterday afternoon after school, and the weather was nice and cool and dry. And they didn't come into my yard one time. They DID stay in their yard and in the street, constantly yelling and screaming for at least two hours, but I'm actually OK with that because if my phone notifications aren't going off I can barely hear them outside from inside the house - and they're not on my property.
Their poor parents - no wonder they want to run them outside. I have four kids myself and I have never heard so much CONSTANT yelling for so many hours in a row! Hopefully they are sleeping well at night.
Today it's supposed to rain all day so maybe they will play inside and drive their own mother crazy. Tomorrow is Halloween and it's supposed to be a lot colder too. The real test will be in a few days because we've got days and days of cool, bright weather coming up - perfect play time and I bet they are outside in force. But like I said, as long as they aren't hanging out on my property I'm OK with it.
The dog is a whole other story but so far so good on that as well.
I never even see my neighbors' kids and grandkids. The front of the lot is planted with cacti and other plants with 1 inch long thorns. (Kathryn: hint, hint! )
In our nabe, if you're not out front at the crack of dawn to witness the parade of neighbors walking their dogs, you won't see them at all.
Thankfully, the neighbors came over to introduce themselves when we first bought the house. Or I wouldn't even know what they look like.
I have never lived in a neighborhood with an HOA and generally very happy about that. We looked hard for a neighborhood without an HOA. We have 28 houses in our neighborhood, each with at least 3 acres and some with 15-20 acres. Few houses have children, but the neighbors behind us have 4 young children who play outside frequently. Yes, they and their friends can be loud, but they are far enough away to not be bothersome.
When we got a new dog (not a puppy) the 4 kids decided to climb our board fence in the backyard every, single, day, ostensibly to play with the dog although they have 4 dogs of their own. This often led to the children knocking on our backdoor asking for our dogs to come out and then asking to come inside our house!
We tried telling their parents we were concerned about the children getting hurt climbing the fence. At times they would open our gates and leave them open. We were afraid of our dogs getting loose. We were also afraid of lawsuits if the children were injured in on our property. We told the parents in as nice a way as possible and they ignored us. They thought it was all quite humorous. Surprisingly, we've still friends with them.
My girlfriend offered the best advice, ignore the children, they'll get bored and stop. That's what we did and they eventually stopped when we stopped answering our door and ignoring their presence in our yard. We are thankful none of them were injured and we still have both of our dogs.
Some people are just weird and believe that everyone should think as they do.
OK for anyone fixated on the HOA thing - that's taken care of and no big deal, and in general I prefer living in a neighborhood with a "mild" sort of HOA so let's not go in that direction. This is not a thread about HOA activities - it's about neighbor activities.
I don't mind kids outside playing - in fact, I like it, just not in my yard for various reasons. Thankfully yesterday they didn't repeat their previous few days' activities - not in my yard anyway - so hopefully that's over with.
None of this is a big deal one thing at a time (other than the dog, who BETTER NOT get in my house again and sure as heck BETTER NOT PEE ON MY RUG AGAIN!) - it's just that cumulatively speaking I have been thinking, "OK, note to self - neighbors might be strange!" If kids very occasionally wander onto my yard, I don't care - I just don't want them choosing my yard as a regular play area. I don't mind the noise either - as long as they're not in my yard - I can't hear them much if they aren't in my yard. If they come back in my yard playing I plan to first say something to them and secondly say something to their parents. If that doesn't work, I'll plant something prickly and uncomfortable on my side of the property line, and if THAT doesn't work I'll turn on the sprinklers when I see them playing out there!
The trash can thing - well, I'll put it where I want on my own property or in front of my own property and if anyone moves it, I'll be able to figure out who by the security camera and take it from there. And in fact, if they move it I'll just go back out there and move it right back, since I'll get a notification - LOL. That should be fun.
It will all work out - it's just that I really hate bringing up children's behaviors with parents, who are so often SO unreasonable. Ugh. Throw dogs in there too - dog parents can be unreasonable too.
People love HOA's because we think it will screen our neighbors, then we regret that decision when we find out Molly Manners can be 10x worse than Redneck Randall.
OK for anyone fixated on the HOA thing - that's taken care of and no big deal, and in general I prefer living in a neighborhood with a "mild" sort of HOA so let's not go in that direction. This is not a thread about HOA activities - it's about neighbor activities.
I don't mind kids outside playing - in fact, I like it, just not in my yard for various reasons. Thankfully yesterday they didn't repeat their previous few days' activities - not in my yard anyway - so hopefully that's over with.
None of this is a big deal one thing at a time (other than the dog, who BETTER NOT get in my house again and sure as heck BETTER NOT PEE ON MY RUG AGAIN!) - it's just that cumulatively speaking I have been thinking, "OK, note to self - neighbors might be strange!" If kids very occasionally wander onto my yard, I don't care - I just don't want them choosing my yard as a regular play area. I don't mind the noise either - as long as they're not in my yard - I can't hear them much if they aren't in my yard. If they come back in my yard playing I plan to first say something to them and secondly say something to their parents. If that doesn't work, I'll plant something prickly and uncomfortable on my side of the property line, and if THAT doesn't work I'll turn on the sprinklers when I see them playing out there!
The trash can thing - well, I'll put it where I want on my own property or in front of my own property and if anyone moves it, I'll be able to figure out who by the security camera and take it from there. And in fact, if they move it I'll just go back out there and move it right back, since I'll get a notification - LOL. That should be fun.
It will all work out - it's just that I really hate bringing up children's behaviors with parents, who are so often SO unreasonable. Ugh. Throw dogs in there too - dog parents can be unreasonable too.
Kathryn, I know you from the Caregiving forum and I have said before to you that you're a smart cookie.
But as one poster asked didn't you see any of this when you were looking for houses to buy? With all you have been through in the last few years, you don't need this type of drama.
I remember even when I was younger and renting apartments to check the building and the area at different times, days, nights, weekends etc...see what the area is like.
Was the home you bought empty for awhile and these kids started using it for their own playground?
I believe it is just you and your husband, it sounds like it's a big house with mostly younger families. Not my idea when you're in your 50s of what most would want.
Kathryn, I know you from the Caregiving forum and I have said before to you that you're a smart cookie.
But as one poster asked didn't you see any of this when you were looking for houses to buy? With all you have been through in the last few years, you don't need this type of drama.
I remember even when I was younger and renting apartments to check the building and the area at different times, days, nights, weekends etc...see what the area is like.
Was the home you bought empty for awhile and these kids started using it for their own playground?
I believe it is just you and your husband, it sounds like it's a big house with mostly younger families. Not my idea when you're in your 50s of what most would want.
Aloha!
Y'all - it's ONE NEIGHBOR from what I can tell. Who just happens to live next door. And yes, we did drive around, talk to people, call the HOA president and talk with him, etc. before we bought the house. No - no one warned us about these oddities that seem to stem from one neighbor.
No, the home wasn't empty when we went under contract so I think this is a new development.
It's a youngish neighborhood, but we moved from an "oldish" neighborhood and we didn't particularly care to have so many older neighbors. We don't feel old - LOL. Oh and I did find out that yet another neighbor has moved in recently - they are both in their 50s too with no kids.
I'm ranting about it but I don't think it's that big of a deal actually - I just am surprised at the behavior. But believe me, I can get it under control - I think! Between the talks, sprinklers, and prickly plants (if necessary), I probably won't have to deal with kids in my driveway much longer. And I just am not going to put up with someone else's dog in my house, but I really don't care if it gets out and runs around the neighborhood.
The trash can thing - oh, I've got a plan for that. It might involve sprinklers too, now that I'm thinking about it! LOL
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
