Speaking of being the cranky old neighbor....

[ajk912]

So I can see from my front window a 16 year old boy and a 9 year old boy are repeatedly throwing a basketball at the neighborhood stop sign. Then I saw the 16 year old trying to swing around (tarzan style) from the stop sign. You can hear the stop sign shaking as the basketball pings against it.

The parents of the 9 year old are home, right next to my house, so I know they hear it.

I am on the fence about yelling at kids who aren't mine about disrespecting property that doesn't belong to them. Do people not watch their kids anymore? I suppose maybe I am being cranky to care..but seriously..do people not watch their kids?

 

[AKL_Megs]

Guilty of being a kid who threw basketballs (and baseballs, they were louder) at the stop sign. Also guilty of climbing the street sign pole.

 

[a1tinkfans]

seriously, many don't watch their kids. And as far as being cranky, I'd be cranky too, cause your hard earned dollars pay for that darn stop sign , that is vandalized needs to be repaired for safety....that being said, if it looked like just silly kid stuff, no sweat, if it went on for a period of time, I'd have no prob shouting out, Hey, knock it off....and the little buggers would prob leave

 

[FireDancer]

It just sounds like kids playing to me. We used to throw everything at stop signs. It was fun target practice and made a loud noise when you hit it. If a basketball knocks a metal sign off of a metal pole it was in need of replacement anyway.

 

[cocodog]

Do you think the kids will call in and request the replacement?

 

[minniecarousel]

Naw, I'm just a crabby old lady when they're stepping through my newly-planted flower-bed.

(which, I've noticed, they haven't played in my yard since I asked them to not step on my plants.)

 

[jiminyC_fan]

You know it's so hard to know what the right thing is to do on that. I hate causing trouble in the neighborhood but I don't agree with the attitude that "kids will be kids". The parents need to stand up and teach them right from wrong.

 

[sasywtch]

I always smile when I see kids playing outside instead of inside on video games. Throwing against a stop sign has been target practice since I was a kid (and that's a long time ago).
Tons of worse things that kids playing basketball against a stop sign.

 

[aprilgail2]

I always smile when I see kids playing outside instead of inside on video games. Throwing against a stop sign has been target practice since I was a kid (and that's a long time ago).
Tons of worse things that kids playing basketball against a stop sign.

I agree! And then there is the issue of them getting pissed off at you for being the cranky nasty neighbor and retaliating- which I even hate to admit it but as a kid that is exactly what me and my friends would have done!

 

[mjkacmom]

I'd yell at them, because I wouldn't expect mommy to physically watch a 9 and 16 year old. And yes, older kids do stupid things (I just happened to look out my back door, and witnessed ds12 and neighbor13 hitting golf balls into the neighbors' yards. It takes a village.

 

[Evil Genius]

I guess I'm not understanding what the big deal is. Are they damaging the sign? Or is it the noise you are objecting to? Kids make noise and as long as they are not damaging your property MYOB

 

[allison443]

So I can see from my front window a 16 year old boy and a 9 year old boy are repeatedly throwing a basketball at the neighborhood stop sign. Then I saw the 16 year old trying to swing around (tarzan style) from the stop sign. You can hear the stop sign shaking as the basketball pings against it.

The parents of the 9 year old are home, right next to my house, so I know they hear it.

I am on the fence about yelling at kids who aren't mine about disrespecting property that doesn't belong to them. Do people not watch their kids anymore? I suppose maybe I am being cranky to care..but seriously..do people not watch their kids?

Do you think parents normally would "watch" a 16 year old?

I don't think they were going to break the sign. Was it the noise you objected to?

 

[cindy58]

There are brothers (oldest appears about 9) in my condo complex whose mother apparently does not watch them. Their latest fun thing to do is blow up fire crackers in a glass jar and leave the broken glass in the middle of the road. There are broken toys and food? (watermelon rinds, bread, etc.) left in the grass in front of their condo. They don't seem to understand that it's not their personal grass or street to mess up.

 

[missypie]

H had to be the cranky old neighbor yesterday. The 13 year old next door plays with some kind of a cap gun. We have an 8 foot fence but the little pellets are still getting into our pool and messing with the filter. Husband very nicely explained the problem to the kid who just said, "well that just happens..." Hopefully he'll stop aiming in our direction, even if he didn't know how to react to my H.

 

[freckles and boo]

I'd yell at them, because I wouldn't expect mommy to physically watch a 9 and 16 year old. And yes, older kids do stupid things (I just happened to look out my back door, and witnessed ds12 and neighbor13 hitting golf balls into the neighbors' yards. It takes a village.

I agree. I don't have a problem telling the neighbor kids to stop acting like fools when they need a reminder. I know my neighbors do the same when they see my kids acting up. I can't imagine that a basketball against a stop sign is going to do any damage but if the noise was bothering me I would tell them to knock it off.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Respectfully, Evil Genius, that stop sign IS your - my, ajk912's, etc. - property. As kids, we didn't care. I see FireDancer's point, that if the sign gets broken it needed to be repaired anyway - all well and good. Between when the sign breaks (say, 8:30 PM on a Sunday) and when the DPW could possibly reasonably be expected to be aware of the missing sign and replace it - whose fault is any accident that happens at that intersection????

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

This is one reason I live in the country. No neighborhood kids screaming and yelling or running through my yard. The worst we get out here is an occasional chicken pecking leaves off my tomato plants. And when that happens, I shoot it.

 

[stashbin]

Naw, I'm just a crabby old lady when they're stepping through my newly-planted flower-bed.

(which, I've noticed, they haven't played in my yard since I asked them to not step on my plants.)

My neighbor's kids are always running amuk in the court outside my house and they are always throwing balls into my plants. Last night they were playing tackle football and a couple of them landed in my flowerbed together. I finally had to say something. I just opened the door and told them to go wrestle around in their own flowerbeds. Neither one of them would be allowed to do that in their own yards!

 

[stashbin]

This is one reason I live in the country. No neighborhood kids screaming and yelling or running through my yard. The worst we get out here is an occasional chicken pecking leaves off my tomato plants. And when that happens, I shoot it.

:rotfl

NOT SURE WHY THIS POSTED TWICE.....SORRY!

 

[mhsjax]

Well I guess my neighborhood is full of cranky people. We will yell at a kid for that in a New York minute. We have had one stop sign knocked almost all the way down from kids banging on it and climbing it. If people think that destroying stop signs is an example of "kids will be kids", well then that explains why there are so many ill behaved kids these days. JMHO.