Unbelievable Neighborhood kids

[pilotwife_02]

I can't believe the little punks Flame me all you want - but there is no other way to describe them.

Last night at 11:45pm DH and I were standing in our kitchen when we hear a loud banging on our front door and the door bell starts ringing (it rang 3-4 times). Of course scaring the poo out of us.

It was some neighborhood kids ding dong ditching. We have a long 8 inch wide window that runs the length of our front door so we saw it was two kids in black hooded sweatshirts that I would guess to be about 10 years old by their height.

I do find it odd that our house was chosen being that all our outside lights were on (porch light and a lamp post) and that our inside lights were on, and we have the window right by our front door so we could see who them doing it, but I guess since we don't know who they are they assumed they could do it without us recognizing them being able to find them and get them in trouble.

I'm just glad that 1) they didn't wake my 2 and 3 year old and 2) DH was home (he travels 4 nights a week) because if he wasn't home I would have been FREAKING out and thought someone was trying to break in and wouldn't have slept the rest of the night.

Joking around I told DH that someone needs to teach them how to do it right: you are supposed to chose a house that is dark (without all the lights on inside and out), without a window right next to the door.

 

[happygirl]

It sounds like you have a great sense of humor. I'm not sure I would have found it so funny

 

[pilotwife_02]

It sounds like you have a great sense of humor. I'm not sure I would have found it so funny

I didn't find it funny last night. I said that this morning after I had a night to sleep on it.

 

[Mermaid02]

I can't believe the little punks Flame me all you want - but there is no other way to describe them.

Last night at 11:45pm DH and I were standing in our kitchen when we hear a loud banging on our front door and the door bell starts ringing (it rang 3-4 times). Of course scaring the poo out of us.

It was some neighborhood kids ding dong ditching. We have a long 8 inch wide window that runs the length of our front door so we saw it was two kids in black hooded sweatshirts that I would guess to be about 10 years old by their height.

I do find it odd that our house was chosen being that all our outside lights were on (porch light and a lamp post) and that our inside lights were on, and we have the window right by our front door so we could see who them doing it, but I guess since we don't know who they are they assumed they could do it without us recognizing them being able to find them and get them in trouble.

I'm just glad that 1) they didn't wake my 2 and 3 year old and 2) DH was home (he travels 4 nights a week) because if he wasn't home I would have been FREAKING out and thought someone was trying to break in and wouldn't have slept the rest of the night.

Joking around I told DH that someone needs to teach them how to do it right: you are supposed to chose a house that is dark (without all the lights on inside and out), without a window right next to the door.

What the heck were TEN YEAR OLDS doing out alone at midnight?

 

[pilotwife_02]

What the heck were TEN YEAR OLDS doing out alone at midnight?

That's exactly what DH said. I said these kids need to be taught by their parents that in this day there are crazy people who could come out with guns at them for something as minor as having somone ring their doorbell at midnight, DH said "who lets their 10-12 year olds out at midnight roaming the streets?"

 

[LaraK]

10? Sounds like the parents need to be smacked upside the head.

Glad you have a good attitude about it, also glad they didn't damage anything. We had some hoodlums across the street who spray painted the neighborhood one night. Thankfully they're gone now. And yes, their parents needed to be smacked upside the head.

 

[Liberty Belle]

What the heck were TEN YEAR OLDS doing out alone at midnight?

I bet one spent the night at the other's house and they snuck out. Little stinkers!

 

[iwrbnd]

Some kids did that in our neighborhood and the POLICE came! Taught the little "punks" a lesson and scared the heck out of my kids who had decided to come home instead of doing it!

 

[MiniGirl]

We had some neighborhood kids doing this as well, and it was just so annoying. Dh ended up putting a motion sensor on our porch. When movement is detected, ALL the outside lights come on. Hasn't happened since -- at least not at our house. LOL!!!!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

What on earth is ding dong ditching???

Do I want to know?

 

[iwrbnd]

What on earth is ding dong ditching???

Do I want to know?

Kids ring your doorbell and then run away. Fun stuff.

 

[pilotwife_02]

We had some neighborhood kids doing this as well, and it was just so annoying. Dh ended up putting a motion sensor on our porch. When movement is detected, ALL the outside lights come on. Hasn't happened since -- at least not at our house. LOL!!!!

Ohhh...good idea! I'll have to remember that if it becomes an ongoing problem. Hopefully that won't happen though.

 

[lilybrooke14]

There were some kids doing that in our neighborhood the other night. DH wanted to go outside, hide in the bushes, and then jump out and scare the hell out of them if they came back. (As a funny, not a mean). Then he thought about it and realized that in this day and age, that probably wasn't a good idea. Somebody would probably call the cops and accuse him of bad touching or something.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Kids ring your doorbell and then run away. Fun stuff.

Oh! Ok. Annoying as all get out, I can see but nothing destructive.

My Dad tells about being a kid and setting a paper bag with cow manure in it, on fire, throwing it on the porch, banging on the door, or ringing the bell and running off. The owner would come out and of course stomp all over the bag...

I don't know if he ever really did it (somehow I doubt it given the way he was raised) or just knew other kids that did.

Regardless, setting a bag on fire on someone's porch is frightening to me!

 

[PixieTopaz]

I bet one spent the night at the other's house and they snuck out. Little stinkers!

Yep! I had kids who slept over here that did that. They were caught by one of their Parents driving home from an evening out.

 

[tzolkin]

Glad you have a good attitude about it, also glad they didn't damage anything. We had some hoodlums across the street who spray painted the neighborhood one night. Thankfully they're gone now. And yes, their parents needed to be smacked upside the head.

I live in a very small town on a dead end street (it's actually a bridge that's not in use anymore). The teenagers like to hang out under/on the bridge late at night, but they're usually well behaved. (A few years ago someone rummaged through DH's car-- they stole cigarettes, but left him one pack. They stole a bunch of quarters, but left him some change. At least they were considerate The reason we first noticed that someone had been in the car was because the CD case was on the front seat. They did not steal any of those. Apparently they don't like our music. )

Last summer a few boys decided to spray paint a few signs and were spray painting the road right in front of our neighbor's house. Apparently the two neighbors (firefighters) called the police and chased the kids down. The next day they were out their with their mom scrubbing the paint off the street. We were all out on our porches watching and the kids were so embarrassed. They have not caused any problems again.

 

[cbmstephanie]

I see two issues:

The ding dong ditching...annoying yes, destructive no. I can see where this would be fun for kids. They are being naughty without really doing any harm, except if something unexpected would happen.

The 10 year olds running the streets at midnight is disturbing. Too bad you don't know who the kids were because if I did I would be making some phone calls.

 

[Stitchfans]

What the heck were TEN YEAR OLDS doing out alone at midnight?

That was my first thought. Too late to be playing pranks IMO. Granted it there is no real harm with that prank but as said way too late.

 

[shortbun]

What the heck were TEN YEAR OLDS doing out alone at midnight?

They no doubt waited for the grownups to go to sleep. I've been on many a midnight mission in my day. Not like we asked permission to go out, kwim? They make for great laughs now when my old friends get together. There was the one where we went to the neighborhood laundramat because it was warm in there and ended up rolling each other in the dryer... I don't remember torturing any neighbors though.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

The kids in our cul de sac started this crap on us the day we moved in. They were about 8-11 yrs at that time, and they did it for a few years. I knew who they were, my TV chair is in full view of the front door, but they were so stupid they would keep doing it even after I went looking for them and found then in the yard next door. Their parents had the "boys will be boys" mentality and it gradually stopped when the boys outgrew it-at 16!

But that wasn't the bad stuff they did. They used to light fires out in the middle of the cul de sac, and of course my boys thought this was fascinating. I wouldn't let them get near the fires, and I did what I could with keeping them away from my front yard. Their parents, again didn't care and thought I was "Barney Fife" because I would say something. The last straw for me was when the 4 year old sister of one boy was dancing around the fire in a long cotton dress. I called and got hung up on. Then there was the time that her brother was sitting on his front porch with a roman candle in his hand, shooting the flaming balls into the yard where other little kids were running around. I saw his mom on the phone in the front window looking at him. I yelled at all the kids, including mine, to "GET OUT OF THERE BEFORE HE SHOOTS YOU!" They did, and after he got bored he quit.

One time he shot my DS7(at the time) with a plastic pellet gun. It left a mark on his chest through his thick sweat shirt. I was livid, went over to the mom. She already had him up in his room (he was hanging out the window listening to us talk) and she said she had taken it away-it was given to him by his father.(LOSER)

Actually what was odd was that the mom was a really nice person-funny, but not bright or very responsible. She never got angry or perturbed with my complaints, sometimes she would say sorry, sometimes she would laugh.


Anyway, they ended up divorcing, moving out, the dad moved to Florida with the boy, mom is here with the little girl. I expect to see the boy on "America's Most Wanted" some day, although I don't think he is smart enough to elude police that long. He doesn't stand a chance with his wife beating father.

We now have a very nice upstanding family living in that house. The other boys who are still here are older and not motivated to do wrong without the other kid. Life is peaceful now.