To be annoyed at kids playing football

Read my post again and then comment. They are not just jumping on the trampoline, they are purposely jumping very high
The trampoline is in their garden - and nobody, kid or adult- jumped on a trampoline with the aim of staying LOW.
Why not take your dog out for a walk when they start on the trampoline?
Or turn your tv up?
You need to sort out your attitude to them - or move as ranting about it never solved anything.

Our neighbours GC arrive frequently to play football. They live very near but never seem to use their own garden.It's not the thud of the ball it's the incessant shouting and screaming and one of them in particular has a very shrill voice. But having DGcs myself I try to be very tolerant.Children do need to be active outside.The damage to plants though is annoying though.I've had recently had a lovely salvia smashed to bits.They are always very polite when retrieving the ball but I have now asked them to try not to kick it over near the flowerbeds.And when it's wet and muddy they have moved to the front drive and kick about there against a garage door -and that is irritating. However our neighbours are very nice people,and it isn't every day -so I wouldn't say anything.
My daughter however has a very rude and inconsiderate neighbour who has let his son repeatedly kick against the fence,.Now 3 panels are badly damaged. She finally flipped and told him any more damage and he can pay for a whole new fence.He also has parties with extremely loud music and shouting so I count myself lucky in comparison !

And yes BlueBell I will not feel ashamed to say that my little dog is more important to me than the kids next door.

QuoteBlueBelle Wed 24-Jul-24 17:11:51

Read my post again and then comment. They are not just jumping on the trampoline, they are purposely jumping very high, looking over my fence and goading my little dog, a very unpleasant thing for any child to do.

The trampoline is actually the little girls, when she is on it, sometimes with friends and on the other very hot day, with water, I thought it was lovely to hear their shrieks of laughter and my little dog, sitting in my garden, did not react to the noise at all.

Read my post again and learn that I do bring my dog in if he barks. However he loves sitting quietly in the garden and I think it a shame to have to lock him in, and that means I'm locked in too and I love having my patio doors wide open for the fresh air and to look out at my pretty garden.

I also said in my first post, that when my GDs visit on a Friday, they all end up playing together, so to say I dislike hearing children enjoying themselves is utter nonscience!

You would have a different opinion if you had big football prints on your patio doors, your beautiful Hostas plant that you've been growing since moving in, smashed to pieces along with other plants, your bird bath & water fountain knocked over and damaged and your first fence panel in bits due to the constant kicking of a football on it!

He doesn't just look in, by the way, his calling out to my little dog Come on then and such like.

Had an unpleasant situation with next doors boy [about 13yrs]. Goading my little dog again, jumping furiously up & down on their trampoline or looking menacingly in from the top of our gardens where there's a small gap. I know he's doing it as he is annoyed at not getting his balls back. I went out and told him to stop & then just stood and watched from my patio step, after bringing my little dog in, until they had run out of steam with their furies jumping.

I thought about it all night, what to do, and have decided that if it happens again [sure it will], I will go round and speak with him, in front of his mum, and ask him what are we going to do about this situation with your footballs After telling his mum about all the damage done, I will say he can have his balls back but must kick them low!, otherwise I will not be throwing them back.

Everyone loves seeing children playing happily outside and in their gardens.

To me you are not being unreasonable. I live in a small esrate. In the middle, there is a SUDS area with restrictions u(legal) prohibiting ball games and cycling as well as no vehicles. Anyone with a bit of common sense can see why these restrictions exist. Three sides are surrounded by roadway, the fourth has a house adjacent. Not only do the footballs land on the roadways, the kids use the fencing at a parking bay as goals and the house is constantly being subjected to footballs hitting their fence, and side of the house and of course balls in the garden. One hit their 3 year old grandchild who was out playing in their back garden. Damage to planting is rife, all replanting and fencing repairs to be paid by residents. Of course, the single house has to pay for their own repairs when their fence is damaged. Then there is the constant thumping of the football. All our Deeds have Conditions prohibiting using the SUDS area for ball games but all are basically ignored at least they will be until some residents take a few of the parents to court to challenge their ignoring the legal conditions. The children who do play football restrict other kids from using the grassed area, eg some like to practise running, gymnastics, have little picnics but the football prevents this. I had two professional footballers in my family (brother and cousin). Neither played football in gardens and definitely not in the street. Brother classed street play as merely kicking a ball back and forth, so boring and never football. He was taken to a park or went on own when old enough. Streets nowadays are definitely not the place for ball games. The annoying factor is tgat tge estate is surrounded by a park and if cycling just over a mile through the park, there is yet another one that has football pitches. Just too far for the little secondary school treasures to go without a lift from mum and dad though.

We have this with kids playing football in the middle of our busy road. We have several parks within walking distance but it seems they don't want to play there.

Try and reach a compromise - sleeping policemen at the entrance to the park; the children go home at 8.00p.m. Get the Press and Local Council involved, and thank whatever deity you believe in that they are not stick to a screen or vandalising public property. We were all young, once.

Good heavens- what a thread! It's summer for heaven's sake, soon be too dark for the little darlings to play out. Who'd be a kid these days?

Buttonjugs

So the consensus is I’m being unreasonable - but what about the safety aspect? Some of the cars drive in quite fast and usually the kids notice and get out of the way but it does worry me that an accident could happen.

No, you are not being unreasonable.

Kids playing out in the street is one thing, a car park is not the right place for kicking a football around - as the HA rightly points out by asking that children don't play in it.

I know we are all supposed to be delighted that kids are out instead of glued to their screens indoors, but it's not unreasonable to expect them to behave with a little consideration for others, and to obey the HA rules.

There's two good reasons why a car-park is not a suitable football playground - the possibility of damage to the cars, and the more serious danger of one of the kids being hit by a car driving in or out.

Why the heck can't the parents spend some time taking them to the nearest playing field for a couple of hours? I will probably get criticised for saying this, but some parents clearly just can't be bothered.

I once found my son repetitively kicking a ball in our joint courtyard belonging to our block of flats - in fact it was the noise that alerted me, the continuous banging against the neighbouring fence. So, tedious as it was, I accompanied him with some mates to the park, which was a bit of a walk away, so they could play football properly, without annoying anyone.

It's a bore though, and I was a full-time working single parent and would much rather have been indoors catching up with housework and leisure time, but that's what you have to do with kids during holidays. Not just shove them out the door so you can get on with your own life. I also got together with other parents of my son's friends, and we took it in turns to not only take them to the park, but to McDonald's sometimes.

I've no patience with lazy parenting, which, I suspect it is in some cases.

Yogin The other bug bare is these big trampolines, they have one next door and take great delight in jumping high, goading my little dog to bark at them! I knocked and asked the dad to stop them doing this as I need to keep my dog from barking

Your dog is more important than kids playing on the trampoline!!!
Wow you sound a bundle of fun You don’t want kids playing in their own garden on their own toys because it ll annoy your dog. Keep your dog in when they re out using their trampoline

Kids should be out chasing and jumping and kicking balls around, you all moan that they re on their phones too much!!can’t have it both ways

You have two problems. The noise - and damage to your car. A few years back, there were lots of children in my road who all played football a lot - the noise was irritating, but I put up with it - but then I had a new car, and within weeks it had a large dent in the roof caused by a heavy football...😠
I went to see the parents of some of the children, asked them to view the damage, told them that I didn't expect to find out who had caused it, and would pay for repairs myself -- but that if it happened again, I would involve the Police. The football moved to where it should have been (on the playing field a couple of streets away) and I had no more trouble...

I see the annoyance - and the parents' idea that it is an enclosed space - they know where the children are and more or less what they are up to. It may seem 'for ever' but the weather will turn and then they will change what they are doing. 'Keep calm and carry on'!

If the sound of children playing football makes you anxious: consult a medical professional. Why put up with anxiety ?

You must have been a child yourself once, and at some age you too were allowed to stay out until the shockingly late hour of 9 p.m. Or perhaps you weren't and that is why you find it anxiety provoking.

Let the children play whereever their parents deem fit. Turn the radio or TV up, or buy ear-plugs. Be glad they are not glued to mobile phones or tablets, like so many of their generation!

And if I sound unsympathetic, then that is precisely what I am. I have no patience with adults who should know better grousing because children will be children.

I certainly don't think it's at all unreasonable to be annoyed at it. I think many people would find it extremely annoying, to say the least. It's what to do about it, in practical terms, which is a bit more difficult, especially if the parents are less than approachable.

Surely a car park is a dangerous playground , even if there are few cars there. parents are teaching their children that it's a safe p lace to play, which is not so. I'll be honest, - haven;t read all the replies so somebody may have said this already, but maybe you could mske a request for a community police officer to investigate, and maybe advise partners?

I don’t think are. I can identify with your feelings of anxiety and distress having suffered myself from just such incidents. My previous house was on a corner with a wall ideal for propping up or seating the “little darlings”. Their football came into my garden ruining plants and was regularly pounded against my gable end. I asked nicely and then not so nicely but it went on and on. Their parents also had walls and gardens but they didn’t play there. In the end I resorted to long walks just to stay out of the house and then eventually was able to move away. I agree it is nice to see children enjoying fresh air but where their parents live, cynically I imagine the parents would prefer them to be anywhere but.

mabon1

Oh for goodness sake just be grateful they are playing out instead of being stuck on "devices". If it bothers you that much contact Environmental Health to settle it, your name will not be reveaed.

why should she be grateful someone else's kids who have vandalised her car already that they should be playing outside rather than inside.?

They're not her kids or her GC's they're someone elses kids who choose to allow them to make someone else's life a misery. She shouldn't she have to endure this because you and people like you feel these little vandals should be out playing regardless of what misery they're causing, rather than indoors on a device.. at least indoors they'd be learning something and not causing untold upset to other people... SMH !

I too played out when I was a child in the 50s but also was told to keep the noise down if we got too excited. I live near a High School so I’m used to hearing children shouting and playing. However there is a child that’s house backs onto mine that screeches all day. She’s obviously having a good time but her constant screaming is so irritating and the noise sets your teeth edge it’s so high pitched.

You're not unreasonable to react that way - that sort of rhythmic banging can be purgatory. But on the other hand, kids need to play out. Would earplugs help? Or, if it's that bad, move house? On a plus note, the nights are already drawing in and soon it will be too dark!! :-))

No I don’t you are in the wrong we have the same problem kids playing football hitting it off a brick wall for hours on end and until 9:30-10:00pm. The ball apparently ended up in our garden and I noticed 2 young boys being very sly looking to see if anyone was about one of them started to climb over the fence and as I couldn’t see their ball I told them to stop. A few minutes later his irate dad started shouting at me that I frightened his son by shouting at him. I pointed out had he taught his better manners if he’d explained why he wanted into the garden I would have agreed to this, which he took offence to. The whole family ended up at my front door shouting and swearing at me so I promptly shut the door on them

Seems the kids today are damned if they do and dammed if they don't. They get moaned about if they stay indoors, they get moaned about if they play outside. Most of us played outside back in the day including in places we shouldn't have been playing. During the school holidays we often played out late. Leave them be. People have just got to used to kids not leaving their homes as they have played on games consoles instead. When they do come out certain age groups don't seem to be able to cope with it. Its sad really.

Feel sorry for the poor kids having nowhere else to play.

We live near a close. The children used to play football in it but their ball was always coming over our fence , doorbell constantly being rung “ can we have our ball back” which used to drive us mad! But they’d do it early in a Sunday morning v when we were trying to have a lie in - we were NOT happy.