Are we toy magnets?? (VENT!!!)

[Tina]

We don't have any children, yet all of the children on our street choose to leave their toys in our front yard! Why is that? It drives me insane. If its not crap blocking the street - like ramps & bikes without a child in sight, its ramps and bikes on our lawn. The other parents on the street also don't seem to care. A couple of years ago, DH backed his truck out of the garage and ran something over. He got out of the truck to look and it was a bike. Some dumb kid actually left it in our driveway right up by the garage door. DH was so mad, he drove forward and backed over it again. Then he picked it up and THREW it out of our yard. I don't mind when the kids are actually playing in the street. We live on a small pipestem driveway off the main street in the sub (a dead end) with 4 other houses. Its when they abandon the stuff that drives me crazy. We've tried mentioning it to the other parents, but they look at us like we have 2 heads. They just assure us that we'll understand when we have kids of our own. Uhhhh... I don't think so. I intend to teach my kids to respect the property of others and clean up behind them.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Start collecting the toys and bringing then in your house. When one of the little kids comes to collect it, tell him that you didn't know who it belonged to and that you planned on taking it to the Salvation Army.

Trust me, the toy won't land in your yard again....

 

[Tina]

I'm sure that would work just fine for the occasional ball, but I've got 2 huge black bike ramps on my front lawn right now.

 

[Laurabearz]

I'm sure that would work just fine for the occasional ball, but I've got 2 huge black bike ramps on my front lawn right now.

Do you have a sawsall???

Or... paint paint them lime green with a big DISBOARDS logo on it.

Or... pin a note to them telling them to remove it or lose it.

Do you have any idea who they belong to?

 

[bumcat]

Have you tried talking to the kids since the parents are too stupid to do anything? I can't believe kids would set up bike ramps in your yard? There going to damage your yard with that. The only thing I have ever found in my yard is a bike on the side of the house and we have lots of kids in our neighborhood. I would put it out with the trash.

 

[PixieDust32]

Ohhh god!

You should pick all the small toys and bikes and take them to goodwill.

About the ramps, you should call the dept of environment and tell them about it, just pick up your yellow pages and start calling.

I had an issue couple months ago with toys and other "items" left on the street and i called them, sure the next day i saw a truck leaving notes on doors the items were taken. I saw big mean faces too, but i didn't care, i was tired of talking to kids and adults about their stuff.

 

[Tina]

Do you have a sawsall???

Or... paint paint them lime green with a big DISBOARDS logo on it.

Or... pin a note to them telling them to remove it or lose it.

Do you have any idea who they belong to?

Now there's someone who thinks like I do!!! LOL

I do know exactly who they belong to. The main problem is 2 boys, ages 4 and 6 that live at the top of the street. I used to have a problem with the kids that lived in the house next door, but they moved a few months ago. They used to leave basketballs, mitts, baseballs, etc in my yard. Anything that sat for 24 hours or longer went straight into my trash can. Its mean, I know, but if they really appreciated their toys, they would care where they left them (this is the same family that left the bike in our driveway).

 

[Tina]

Have you tried talking to the kids since the parents are too stupid to do anything? I can't believe kids would set up bike ramps in your yard? There going to damage your yard with that. The only thing I have ever found in my yard is a bike on the side of the house and we have lots of kids in our neighborhood. I would put it out with the trash.

They don't actually ride the ramps on our lawn, they were in the street and someone told them to get them out of the street, so of course they just dragged them over to the side into my lawn. I wanted to go out and drag them off the grass, but its raining. If they are still there in the morning, I'm going to drag them over by my trash can (Monday is trash day). These are not homemade wood ramps, but store-bought Xtreme-something-or-other ramps. You would think they would care where they ended up.

 

[rigs32]

By not doing anything, you may be silently agreeing to it. What if one of the kids gets hurts on a bike in your yard? The parents will likely try to sue your pants off. Your best defense is to be offensive now in not allowing that behavior on your property.

Big ramps? can your DH use the lumber? Figure out where it came from and drag it to their property right where the driveway meets the street.

 

[wendy1974]

I agree with the previous poster that if they decided to jump them in your yard and got hurt on your property then the parents could sue you. I would do as other posters have suggested and load up ramps, toys etc. and bring them to the salvation army.

 

[Tina]

By not doing anything, you may be silently agreeing to it. What if one of the kids gets hurts on a bike in your yard? The parents will likely try to sue your pants off. Your best defense is to be offensive now in not allowing that behavior on your property.

Big ramps? can your DH use the lumber? Figure out where it came from and drag it to their property right where the driveway meets the street.

They're not wood, they are black steel-like things. The appeal of our street is the fact that its a dead-end that runs downhill. The kids love to ride on it. Believe it or not, these 2 problem boys are serious daredevils. I can remember the day the oldest one went over a ramp in his cozy-coop. He was about 2 at the time and some older boys had built it and set it up. As he got a little older, he progressed to running off the ramp on his bike with training wheels!! So when I tell you one of them is a 4 year old - he's not your normal 4 year old!!

 

[Tina]

Again, they are not riding IN my yard, they just leave their toys there.

 

[wendy1974]

Maybe a pit bull staked in the front yard to greet them would work ug:

 

[Tina]

Maybe a pit bull staked in the front yard to greet them would work ug:

 

[wdw4us2]

Tina, I feel your pain.

We live on a six house cul-de-sac and we are the last house in. We have kids, but our kids know enough to bring their stuff home with them.

A few years ago, the brats up the street decided to put up skate board ramps in the middle of the street. You couldn't even drive a car around them without going on the grass. Then, they decided they wanted to ride them at night, so they moved them in front of our house since we had the street light. They wouldn't move them, and they were out until 11 pm when our kids were trying to sleep.

We called the county Code Enforcement and explained the problem to them. They came out and had the sanitation department haul them away by the end of the week. It was great.

We don't have to worry about ramps anymore because they built a skate park near us.

 

[Tina]

I only wish we could be so lucky. Since we are on a pipe-stem, rather than a cul-de-sac, the county cannot intervene. The street is actually a driveway owned equally by the homeowners on the street. We all share in maintaining it, including snow plowing (luckily it doesn't snow much here!!).

 

[ksjayhawks]

How do the little boys get the ramps down to your house in the first place? Are they light enough for them to carry that far?

I do the same with small items left in my yard. I put them by the curb, if not collected the next day, they go in the trash.

As to the ramp. sounds like you have tried to talk with the parents and have had no luck. So,

**toss the ramps back in the street where they are out of your way.

**take the ramps and put them at the end of the boys driveway so that the parents have to get out of their cars and move them to get in/out driveway.

**put them out with the garbage.

If the parents complain, smile nicely and say that you assumed the boys didn't want them anymore since they had been sitting there for so long and since they were in your way, you got rid of them.

 

[bumcat]

Put the bike ramps behind your husbands car, he knows what to do with them.

 

[Tina]

Dragging them up the their driveway isn't much of any option. They live at the top of the street and their house faces the main road. That would require me dragging them pretty far. Dragging them to my trash can is MUCH closer.

The ramps are fairly heavy, but they manage to drag them around. I can often hear them coming with them from inside the house.

 

[Tina]

Put the bike ramps behind your husbands car, he knows what to do with them.

LOL. They are pretty heavy duty, so I doubt our Toyota Tacoma could do much damage. But on the other hand [rubbing my palms together with an evil grin] the neighbors to the left of me drive a Yukon and a Ford F350! Maybe I'll drag them over there!!