Kids Walking Through Our Yard to Catch the Bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm worried because our yard gets very swampy/muddy sometimes in the winter and it's on an incline which can be slippery when it freezes. From a family member's experience it's all well and good to say "nobody will sue you" but their insurance company might not agree when it comes time to pay medical bills. I think injury is unlikely but it worries me ESPECIALLY with kids I've never seen before and whose parents I don't even know (the "guests" of the kids who live there).

The neighbor we know less well has had issue with other people crossing through THEIR yard in the past and was annoyed with our kids for being in their yard before so it rubs me the wrong way that they think they can just let their kids walk through our lawn without even asking.

And maybe that's the crux...I'm annoyed that they haven't even asked and the kids just keep trudging through our yard....

NP. Haven't finished reading yet but had to stop to respond to this. At my last house we discovered after moving in that not only were we the cut-through spot, our backyard was part of a set of yards where some of the neighborhood dads held baseball practice. They all knew we had moved in but no one, ever, introduced themselves to ask or discuss it. When we go outside during the baseball practice they would just stare like the idiots they were. If they had approached us and asked, it might have been different. I'm telling you now that a fence is the only solution. They will not listen to or care about you asking them to limit the days of week. Nothing except a physical barrier will work.

Yeah maybe some people may think you're a "d1ck". Who cares about their opinions. I certainly did not.

As to poster who accused OP of "peering out her window", if these are anything like my old neighbors, they screamed at the top of their lungs for no apparent reason whenever they were outside, so yeah I kinda knew they were there as they screamed their way through my yard. And to the people rushing in to dismiss the liability aspect, no it is NOT that unthinkable. Our trespassers later came INTO our locked fenced and hurt themselves playing. One dad while he didn't end up suing did knock on the door suggesting we pay medical bills.

Anyway, fence. ASAP.

I seriously can't believe the audacity. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The *twice a week* rule is weirder than just forbidding it entirely. Just tell them no more. You’ll be rude for it, but oh well.

Excuse you? Rude for not letting people use my own property without my permission??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason “Get off my lawn!” is a meme. You’re a terrible neighbor. Put down pavers and welcome the kids through. Are you the kind of individualistic American who thinks vaccines are a matter of personal choice as well?

Get that fence up by Halloween or get up early to clean the rotten eggs off your siding.

LOL, what in the world?? You are insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason “Get off my lawn!” is a meme. You’re a terrible neighbor. Put down pavers and welcome the kids through. Are you the kind of individualistic American who thinks vaccines are a matter of personal choice as well?

Get that fence up by Halloween or get up early to clean the rotten eggs off your siding.

You are a terrible neighbor if you refuse to respect property boundaries.

People who value personal property over community welfare are not my kind of people.

O the wounds to community welfare caused by kids walking extra ten minutes to catch the bus!

Right?? The entitlement of some people is really something. PP, if you are so concerned about community welfare over your personal property, why aren't you opening up your home to the homeless? Putting a pool in your backyard for the neighborhood kids to swim? Turning your front lawn into a public park? GTFOH lady.

[Anonymous]

Well, I for one wouldn’t care for kids traipsing through my yard, and I still believe in private property.

Put up a fence or plant some rose bushes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason “Get off my lawn!” is a meme. You’re a terrible neighbor. Put down pavers and welcome the kids through. Are you the kind of individualistic American who thinks vaccines are a matter of personal choice as well?

Get that fence up by Halloween or get up early to clean the rotten eggs off your siding.

You are a terrible neighbor if you refuse to respect property boundaries.

People who value personal property over community welfare are not my kind of people.

O the wounds to community welfare caused by kids walking extra ten minutes to catch the bus!

Right?? The entitlement of some people is really something. PP, if you are so concerned about community welfare over your personal property, why aren't you opening up your home to the homeless? Putting a pool in your backyard for the neighborhood kids to swim? Turning your front lawn into a public park? GTFOH lady.

I am kind of amazed by the groundswell of support in favor of kids NOT walking for ten minutes on the actual paved street where god intended. But I'm sure these same people praise walkable lifestyles.

[Anonymous]

This thread reminds me of the fear I get when it snows and everyone comes to my backyard hill to sled. Sledding is pretty dangerous and I’m so worried something will happen and I’ll be liable. Apparently everyone has been sledding on my hill for decades. Ugh. Luckily we get such little snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread reminds me of the fear I get when it snows and everyone comes to my backyard hill to sled. Sledding is pretty dangerous and I’m so worried something will happen and I’ll be liable. Apparently everyone has been sledding on my hill for decades. Ugh. Luckily we get such little snow.

Seriously, you have too much anxiety. If people have been doing it for decades and nobody has died, you’re good. Please don’t stop a multi-generational tradition.

As for OP, she has the *right* to do anything she wants as a property owner. However, she would not be a good person if she actually put up a fence. Im in the “put in some pavers and bask in the glow of being a good person” camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd just make a walkway somehow if lawn gets messed up. But I doubt it will. Let the poor kids thru.

Oh poor kids. These poor poor poor kids. Forced to walk for the WHOLE TEN MINUTES!!!!! over the mean streets of American suburbs. Here my love, let me help you over this dangerous curb. I am so sorry you have to trouble your tender feet by contact with this rude uncouth sidewalk. O the humanity. How you tolerate this and not shed a tear for the pain these kids go through. What if they get a blister? What if they get tired? How are tired children with blisters expected to learn?

I hope we’re friends in real life. You sound exactly like my old roommate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do want to be "neighborly" but quite frankly this is a one-way situation where they get all of the benefit and I get all of the wear and tear and potential risk. I literally NEVER cross into their yards and as I mentioned the one family got annoyed when my kids and some friends stepped over onto their property at one point last year.

If their kids want to come on our property to play with my kids or cross occasionally when they are running late or there is bad weather, that's totally fine, but crossing through my yard at least twice per day every single day...at least 4 pairs of feet? That's gonna leave a mark.

Fence, even hedges. Liability is absolutely an issue as, yes, someone will sue if their child is hurt. I am amazed at people who think this is not a possibility. The slope and ice are a concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here:
Dad of family in the culdesac that we don’t know as well emailed us that when they bought the house the realtor and previous owners said that there was a path through our yard. He is livid.

Previous owners were elderly and never walked through our yard. Can’t tell if he’s full of it or not. Either way, there’s nothing in the deed or whatever that he can walk through our property so….

You need a fence. This is exactly the person that will sue if Johnny stubs a toe.. He is likely looking for a real estate lawyer right now. Fence!
-signed, a lawyer

[Anonymous]

We've seen the kids still walking through and honestly don't have the budget for a fence right now (we looked into it a couple of years ago for the dog and decided to focus on other house projects). At least I have in writing that we have told them they are not allowed to walk through our yard so if someone gets hurt they are trespassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the guy that wrote the email who was livid is this guy?

(From a follow up post of OP’s)
The neighbor we know less well has had issue with other people crossing through THEIR yard in the past and was annoyed with our kids for being in their yard before so it rubs me the wrong way that they think they can just let their kids walk through our lawn without even asking.


If this is the same guy then I don’t blame OP. The neighbors who have more privacy in a cul de sac don’t want her kids playing on their cul de sac but then expect their kids to be allowed to cut through her yard twice a day.

Yes, it's this guy. The other family was fine with it and having the kids walk around. It's a less than 10 minute walk....and if it's a super big problem they can call and have the bus stop moved. I don't mind if kids come and play in our yard (and they do) but I don't want kids wearing a path on my lawn. I spend a lot of time and money making my yard look nice, it's something I really enjoy and I don't want it destroyed so I'm standing ground.

So to be clear - one of the dads of the kids who walk through YOUR lawn didn't want your kids walking through HIS lawn? Then yeah, tell them to keep their kids off your lawn.

I'd probably deal with it but our neighborhood has a lot of communal spaces and we're all pretty good about sharing even our own property with others, but I can't stand hypocrites so I'd definitely put a stop to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here:
Dad of family in the culdesac that we don’t know as well emailed us that when they bought the house the realtor and previous owners said that there was a path through our yard. He is livid.

Previous owners were elderly and never walked through our yard. Can’t tell if he’s full of it or not. Either way, there’s nothing in the deed or whatever that he can walk through our property so….

You need a fence. This is exactly the person that will sue if Johnny stubs a toe.. He is likely looking for a real estate lawyer right now. Fence!
-signed, a lawyer

Also, if there was an actual easement granted on your land, he'd be able to find legal proof of it. So ask him for it. Word of mouth doesn't work.
- signed, another lawyer

[Anonymous]

Yes, the guy doesn't want kids playing in his yard but wants to walk through ours (and the other neighbor who he also won't allow those kids to play in his yard).

There's definitely no easement. He claims the real estate agent said there was and real estate agent says the previous owners said this. I doubt that's true as they'd lived there for decades (much longer than we have lived here) and they certainly never walked through our yard that we saw.

Moot point because he doesn't have a leg to stand on or any right to walk through our yard and even if he had the right to walk through OUR yard there's a yard in between us and I don't know how he'd get to our yard without an easement from that other family.