Kids waiting for school bus on my porch

[Anonymous]

I don't know if I'd be ok with this. I'd be worried for liability reasons - if someone falls down my steps and injures themselves, are their parents going to sue me?

It would never occur to me to have my kid wait on the porch of the house where our bus stop is. That seems like such a violation to me. If it's raining, I'm sitting in the car waiting with her until the bus comes. I mean hell, I don't even let her step foot on their grass.

Mom sounds like a jerk who was too self-absorbed to wait for the bus with her kid.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how tight or clique-y your new neighborhood is, but if you have children you need to walk a tight line btwn being the neighborhood ogre and the resulting isolation your children might receive. Word gets out quickly on the neighborhood jerk - I know who it is on my street. With this being said, that mom sounds terrible! Maybe the other family moved bc they were sick of the kids on their porch....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors tell their kids it is ok to play in our yard and equipment. We have asked them to leave when not invited as they have damaged things and it's annoying. The Hey do laps around our house playing tag when we are napping or eating and it's uncomfortable. I think it is fine to tell them to get off your porch. Mom an wait if it is raining. Worst case, get some low hammer in fencing for a few hundred to create a boundary. They sell it at he and lowes.

Like, you are eating dinner and there's some random kids on your swingset whom you have asked not to be there?!

[Anonymous]

I think it's rude for them to assume you are okay with it, I would have asked, but I also don't understand if it's raining why you'd have a problem with kids waiting for a few minutes on your porch. Our neighbor allows it, though there are always parents there waiting as well so it's not like kids are being left alone or are unruly without adults minding them etc.

I really have never seen a stop in our neighborhood where there are just kids waiting, there are always lots of parenting, so the whole scenario sounds off to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if I'd be ok with this. I'd be worried for liability reasons - if someone falls down my steps and injures themselves, are their parents going to sue me?

It would never occur to me to have my kid wait on the porch of the house where our bus stop is. That seems like such a violation to me. If it's raining, I'm sitting in the car waiting with her until the bus comes. I mean hell, I don't even let her step foot on their grass.

Mom sounds like a jerk who was too self-absorbed to wait for the bus with her kid.

I wouldn't want my kid waiting on a stranger's porch.

I was thinking of the liability issue, too. OP, call your home owner's insurance and ask if you can be sued if the kids get hurt on your property. I'm pretty sure you can.

[Anonymous]

maybe you should meet some of the people, see if your kids know them etc. cold be a great way to get to know the neighbors. I would not mind it 1 bit but I am very social and enjoy having the friends around. I am willing to bet your kids know them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I may be in the minority, but if it's raining I wouldn't care if the kids waited on my porch...

Until they run down the wet steps towards the bus, slip, and crack their head open on the steps. Then where do you think OP is going to be? Up the proverbial creek without a paddle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the mother is driving her child to the bus stop, the child can wait in the car with her mother. I would never leave my 9yo at the bus stop by him/herself without an adult. What if he/she had missed the bus!!??

Huh, I went to the bus stop, two blocks away, by myself everyday from 2nd grade-12th grade. This was in the 80s and 90s on LI, so maybe a different time. Or, I had bad parents. Could be both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I may be in the minority, but if it's raining I wouldn't care if the kids waited on my porch...

it's also a liability issue. what if the kid falls/slips and breaks born or something on OP's property?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be in the minority, but if it's raining I wouldn't care if the kids waited on my porch...

Until they run down the wet steps towards the bus, slip, and crack their head open on the steps. Then where do you think OP is going to be? Up the proverbial creek without a paddle

If the parents attempt to sue they would have to prove that I am careless about my property maintenance and was negligent, which I am not, and thus they have no case. Knowing my neighbors I don't think they would sue at all. They would tell their children to be more careful, but my neighbors are not ogre's...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be in the minority, but if it's raining I wouldn't care if the kids waited on my porch...

Until they run down the wet steps towards the bus, slip, and crack their head open on the steps. Then where do you think OP is going to be? Up the proverbial creek without a paddle

If the parents attempt to sue they would have to prove that I am careless about my property maintenance and was negligent, which I am not, and thus they have no case. Knowing my neighbors I don't think they would sue at all. They would tell their children to be more careful, but my neighbors are not ogre's...

This is the root of my problem- I don't know my neighbors yet. I have no idea if they will sue, if the neighborhood is cliquey, how many kids live nearby. I met my immediate neighbors and they have a kid my kids' age but that kid doesn't ride the bus. So I would totally let my kids' friends wait or a mom with a baby wait on my porch I worry it will hard to get them off a year from now if I dont end up becoming friendly with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if I'd be ok with this. I'd be worried for liability reasons - if someone falls down my steps and injures themselves, are their parents going to sue me?

It would never occur to me to have my kid wait on the porch of the house where our bus stop is. That seems like such a violation to me. If it's raining, I'm sitting in the car waiting with her until the bus comes. I mean hell, I don't even let her step foot on their grass.

Mom sounds like a jerk who was too self-absorbed to wait for the bus with her kid.

This. Liability. OP, either call the school to change the stop or think about putting a picket fence around - every year there is a new crop of kids, you'll be stuck doing this ad nauseaum.

[Anonymous]

If I knew them - I might. But I wouldn't want random kids on my porch! Aside from the liability thing, kids don't respect personal property as well and I don't want trash, trampled landscaping, or my stuff broken. In our neighborhood (and when I was growing up), kids waited in cars in bad weather until the bus came. If a parent can't wait, the kid hops in somone else's car to wait.

Sounds like it's fence time.

[Anonymous]

I would totally mind. In your place, I would probably take the (completely annoying and expensive) step of installing a fence.

[Anonymous]

Call the school transportation department and ask to have it moved. If it were pouring down rain and I wasn't wandering around in my house naked with the curtains open or sleeping in late, I wouldn't care if kids were waiting on the bus stop since they are only there a few minutes. Even if they peered in, it is just kids. If it were lightly raining, they can wear hoods, carry an umbrella, or wait with their parents. I think it's presumptuous of the parents to think it's okay. I'd also be mad if I had to keep picking up litter (but how do you know it's from them and not just random litter? We get litter all the time living near a high school.) The trampling of plants would make me mad too, and maybe muddly footprints on my porch or finger marks on my windows. But most of all I would not like if I had to be somewhere, and if they were standing in the driveway. The bus stop my kids wait at is not where the school actually told us it would be, because it was moved. Every day a kid comes out of that house and hangs outside. I think he likes that his house is a bus stop.