Speak to the parents

Yes I agree with disco dancer. It's the same principle as spending Amoney on primary health care to save huge amounts of money being needed for acute care later on.

I do sympathise with over stretched police officers on the ground. But allowing children to behave anti socially with impunity, just causes huge problems later on when these kids become the self entitled adults of the future who think the rules and laws don't apply to them.

If parents won't teach their children right from wrong somebody needs to step in. Too often now neighbours just get a mouthful of abuse, or indignant denial if they try to intervene.

If they had a police officer on their doorstep it might give some of them the kick up the arse they need in order to start parenting properly.

That’s assault Gill. Not in the same league as a smack. I can understand how it can be taken too far though.

Many years ago, we came back from a short break to find our car back window had been smashed with a stone. Our neighbours had covered it, and also knew who had one it. When I spoke to the police ( we then had a local officer), and said I was minded to speak to the boy's parents, he advised me against it as it was highly likely that the boy's Mother would beat him black and blue, this being her well known way. I decided not to. Conversation with a colleague who worked with challenging children at the primary school confirmed this was well known, with the children being locked out of their home overnight for 'being cheeky', and being walloped hard for misdemeanours. Does rather make the 'a smack never did any harm' brigade look a bit silly.

tickingbird

I was just about to post and then saw grannyactivists post. I’ve sat here with a rueful smile when reading the “ring social services” or “call the police” comments. In the real world people are driven to despair by this type of behaviour and police and social services really don’t have time for this type of stuff. I really sympathise with anyone having to contend with anti social behaviour.

Maybe if they had time for this sort of stuff it wouldn’t escalate into something much bigger and harder to deal with when the children are bigger and older.

Children are in charge, and they’re not very good at it. So we get anarchy.

A couple of years ago I had a grandchild of my neighbour throwing stone at my car. His mother and Grandmother were standing watching and smirking. When I reported it to the local authority I was told I should have phoned the police. The child was 5 . I can't report a 5 year old to the police. I reported the parent and Grandparent .

I was just about to post and then saw grannyactivists post. I’ve sat here with a rueful smile when reading the “ring social services” or “call the police” comments. In the real world people are driven to despair by this type of behaviour and police and social services really don’t have time for this type of stuff. I really sympathise with anyone having to contend with anti social behaviour.

The vast majority*

I worked as a teacher for almost 30 years and, yes, I've met some horrendous kids - they are almost always egged on by even more horrendous parents.
Several years ago, I estimated that the number of students I'd taught was well over 10,000.
I can honestly say that within this, there have only been a very small number of out-and-out wrong doers.
The vast amount are pleasant, kind kids, seeking to do the right thing for themselves and others.

inishowen

Reminds me of the time my daughter and I were at the theatre. A school group were very badly behaved, climbing over the seats, and shouting to each other. My daughter asked in a friendly way what school they were from. They told her. The next day she rang the school and told the head teacher how they'd behaved. He was horrified and said he would deal with them. They were pretty stupid to tell us the name of their school.

What makes you think they gave the name of their own school? If they recognised a rival local school there, a 50-50 chance they were truthful?

NemosMum

If you can afford it (about £80), and you have WiFi, get a RING doorbell camera, or similar. It is activated by motion and will record anything in your immediate vicinity. You will have video and audio recordings to show police/parents etc. The recording is available on your device (smart phone/tablet/laptop) for 30 days, or you can store it permanently. Alternatively, use your smart phone to video. I realise this is no good to anyone who doesn't have the technology, but it is a great help if you have.

You have to be careful with video doorbells as if they record outwit your property you can be fined. In our town FB group they have been useful for recording thefts etc but I read very recently about someone being fined as it recorded a neighbours path/door.

I am sick of them running all over my garden and yelling outside until its pitch black outside and they are out there with phone torches, when they eat or do homework goodness only knows, a neighbour said something and got a mouthful from one of the fathers.
I have had my car windscreen smashed and dents to my car.
No point telling PCSO, don't do a thing neither does the HA, they are just allowed to make everyone's life a misery and you can't say or do to much because still have to live here.
Have a ring doorbell and could see on of the boys urinating in one of the bushes in my garden.

granyactivist
Your post @15. 20.
I couldn’t agree more. These posters are obviously totally unaware of the savage financial cuts both these institutions have had to deal with.
La la land.

Dickens

In my small town we have problems with teens and older youth riding motor bikes at speed along narrow streets... also vandalism in the local park - where flower beds, park furniture and play areas have been smashed up.
I once made a complaint on Facebook - live - in our local FB group, about the noise from the 'bikes, but mostly about the danger to other road users and pedestrians.
My comment attracted quite a few replies - most were derogatory, telling me I was a 'spoil sport' and to 'get over myself'. Other said that there was nothing for the young people to do and nowhere for them to go, so what did I expect - it was only a bit of harmless fun.
With that kind of mentality - you're stuffed. I don't mind kids being rowdy or 'larking around', it's what they do... but when they are being deliberately obnoxious or doing something dangerous...
When it happened again, I called the Police (some of the kids were riding on pavements). They did come, and have occasionally patrolled the estate where these kids live.
I didn't want to bother the Police - but why should we be forced to put up with this kind of yobbish behaviour by a minority, encouraged by stupid adults?
Some of these youths are repeat offenders and it is known that their parents don't give a damn where they are or what they are doing when they are out of the house... I think they just want a quiet life for themselves and everyone else can go hang.
TBH I don't think it's ever been any different, I remember as a kid in the late 40s early 50s being chastised by my grandmother for hanging around with a gang of youngsters who were always making a nuisance of themselves. The only difference is that, in those days, the Police were visible on the streets and would visit the parents of troublesome kids, which did have an effect.
I haven't seen an officer 'on the beat' in my town for nearly 15 years, apart from one occasion.

Yes a lot of those neighbourhood forums and Facebook pages just give irresponsible parents and stupid adults an opportunity to belittle and sneer at anyone objecting to annoying or anti social behaviour from local children.

I’m smiling ruefully at the expectation that police and social services have the resources to deal with the sorts of problems outlined on this thread. They really don’t.

I know how disturbing such behaviour is and I know that it can be distressing and cause anxiety, and sometimes downright fear, but the best option is to contact your local PCSOs, if you live in a place lucky enough to still have them. If not then perhaps one or two creative responses are called for.

One local shopkeeper has installed CCTV both inside and outside her shop. When there are episodes of antisocial behaviour, or theft occurs, she always goes on local social media and gives a limited description of the child/ren, time and date of the incident, and invites the culprits and/or their parents to call in to apologise and make reparation - otherwise she says she will contact the police or school with the evidence.

In spite of some people thinking this approach is too soft, it has been a really successful tactic and I don’t think she has yet had to go as far as involving the police. Several children have voluntarily owned up to poor behaviour and others have had apologetic parents turn up. And, more to the point, the incidences of such behaviour have dropped dramatically.

In my small town we have problems with teens and older youth riding motor bikes at speed along narrow streets... also vandalism in the local park - where flower beds, park furniture and play areas have been smashed up.
I once made a complaint on Facebook - live - in our local FB group, about the noise from the 'bikes, but mostly about the danger to other road users and pedestrians.
My comment attracted quite a few replies - most were derogatory, telling me I was a 'spoil sport' and to 'get over myself'. Other said that there was nothing for the young people to do and nowhere for them to go, so what did I expect - it was only a bit of harmless fun.
With that kind of mentality - you're stuffed. I don't mind kids being rowdy or 'larking around', it's what they do... but when they are being deliberately obnoxious or doing something dangerous...
When it happened again, I called the Police (some of the kids were riding on pavements). They did come, and have occasionally patrolled the estate where these kids live.
I didn't want to bother the Police - but why should we be forced to put up with this kind of yobbish behaviour by a minority, encouraged by stupid adults?
Some of these youths are repeat offenders and it is known that their parents don't give a damn where they are or what they are doing when they are out of the house... I think they just want a quiet life for themselves and everyone else can go hang.
TBH I don't think it's ever been any different, I remember as a kid in the late 40s early 50s being chastised by my grandmother for hanging around with a gang of youngsters who were always making a nuisance of themselves. The only difference is that, in those days, the Police were visible on the streets and would visit the parents of troublesome kids, which did have an effect.
I haven't seen an officer 'on the beat' in my town for nearly 15 years, apart from one occasion.

I’d do exactly that, I would knock at their parents door and ask them to remove their unruly child from my garden/ front of my house or I will inform the police and social services. If they get aggressive, I would ring the police while they stood and watched.

Years ago I had a problem with kids sitting on my wall I decided to take action bought a pack of cooking lard and smeared it all over the wall they never sat on it again

Social services - children in danger because of parental neglect

I once had a group of teenagers who had taken to sitting on my front wall and being noisy, so I went out with my greenfly spray, sprayed a few roses and told them quite pleasantly to be careful not to breath it in. They never came back!

Thankfully we haven't had those kind of problems where we live, the few kids that do live on here seem to be quite well behaved & polite. I have seen antisocial behaviour up in the town on odd occasions though & I witnessed a boy aged about 11 on his way home from school shouting obscenities at an elderly lady walking her dog (I won’t repeat what he said on here) If you ring the school they can’t really do anything either, they’re up against it trying to manage behaviour, I don’t know what the solution is. I remember as a young child sticking my tongue out very rudely at a neighbour that my mum wasn't overly fond of, she marched me home by the ear to my mum where I got a sharp slap around the back of my legs and was sent to bed crying. I was rather hoping my mum would stick up for me but she didn’t so I learnt a lesson there. None of that would be allowed now of course.

I work in a primary school and a lot (not all) of the kids are absolutely obnoxious little s***s! This is right from nursery/reception and is getting worse every year. The parents of these so called 'little darlings' are no better, they are rude, arrogant, entitled and bad mannered. They threaten staff and neighbours of the school, park across neighbours drives, take up spaces on the staff carpark and sit outside hours before school is open with their engines running! I have had children as young as 8 squaring up to me, had chairs thrown at me and been punched by pupils! And no we are not a special needs school, this is a 'normal' 'OUTSTANDING' school! I recently signed up to a local website that you can post onto any antisocial issues, local news etc I think this is a countrywide site called Nextdoor.co.uk. I would also be phoning the police/neighbourhood officer, contacting the council and also my local MP, not just once or twice but bombarding them continually. Good luck, I hope this helps. Unfortunately the days of children having any sort of respect have gone! Its a very sad state of affairs and I can't see that it is ever going to get any better!

True. But some of them, the very 1st time their child is told off by an annoyed neighbour start harrumphing that the neighbour should have spoken to them. But the same type of parent then takes umbrage if someone asks their child where they live, or becomes highly indignant when approached and does the "my child would never do something like that" thing.

When my DC were young, there was a grumpy neighbour whose garden was next to the grass area at the end of the close. If they or one of their friends kicked a football over his fence he would stab it with a knife before throwing it back.
They soon knew to keep away from his property.
I suppose if parents came round to say that you should have spoken to them about their child's behaviour you could then find out their address for any future complaints.

My estate was a bit like that a few years ago. I think when the dominant demographic is young families people who don't fit into that category can be ignored or almost bullied into accepting that behaviour. "Why did you choose to live on an estate...." kind of thing, by some of the more self centred parents.

Thankfully a lot of the children have grown up and there is a better mix of ages and less self entitled behaviour and attitudes.

Nothing you can do about noisy kids, difficult parents, dogs, footballs etc except move house. I did and luckily haven't had the problems since.