Is “ding dong ditching” a rite of passage? And would you be mad?

[Anonymous]

I don't go to the door at all unless I am expecting someone so I wouldn't care. Some people on Nextdoor post videos of kids doing that though and then shame them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, sure not a huge deal but definitely a jerk thing to do and reflects poorly on you as the family.

A neighbor girl tried that with us. She had been acting mean and bullying my DD. We were keeping our distance and ignoring it. She had some mean girls having a sleepover at her home (who were strangers to us and our DD). and they decided that it would be funny if they would do that to my DD.

My DH strode to her house after them, pushed open the door, walked in to these giggling girls and the startled parents and complained about what the girls did. The mother stuttered that it was just kids being naughty. My DH replied if tomorrow they burn a cross in our yard do you think it will just be a prank? And then he strode right back. Parents came and apologized. And all of them remain straightened out for the rest of their time on Earth.

For reference - all the girls were White. We are POC and immigrants. And not Christians.

If your husband pushed open our door and walked in, he would have gotten the beat down of a lifetime. If our dogs didn't get to him first.

Your husband is not only an idiot, he's an assh@le. But you sound like you enjoy that and are proud of it, so you two clearly deserve each other.

Oh oh oh, you are very triggered about something that did not happen to you. Could it be that you are a MoFo ah@le racist family indulging in this trash behavior and have been getting away with it till now? Maybe the thought that some bullied person could retaliate has you bristling with anger? The only way to shut down racist bullies is to show them your strength. Remember others can also have muscle, dogs, guns, connection, money etc.

[Anonymous]

Our neighborhood kids did this but they were too young to remember to ditch. Do they said hi then ran. Lol.

[Anonymous]

It’s rude and I’ve only had it done once and my dog barked and woke up the baby I’d just gotten down. I was LIVID. caught the kid and he came and apologized the next day.

[Anonymous]

That's great that she told you! I'd make sure you thank her for that. It's good that her conscience is bothering her. Teach her to listen to that voice inside her head. Teenage brains are still forming and it's very natural to be impulsive. The key thing to do is to try to build in a "pause" before just going along with the crowd, so that the conscience has time to be heard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighborhood kids did this but they were too young to remember to ditch. Do they said hi then ran. Lol.

That's kinda cute

[Anonymous]

My son got caught doing this later in the evening to a neighbor with a baby (so woke up the baby). I caught him and the neighbor didn’t know it was him. I made him go over and apologize the next day and say he did it.

I don’t think it’s a huge deal but I also think it’s super rude and thoughtless thing to do to neighbors and for me I wanted to send a strong message this isn’t how we treat people. It’s not funny and harmless. It’s a shitty thing to do. Is is the shittiest thing ever? No. They do dumb things like we did and then hopefully someone in their life points out they are being a jerk and they stop and think about other people.

also in the day of cameras everywhere it’s flat out dumb.

[Anonymous]

Completely inappropriate behavior that should be corrected

[Anonymous]

It’s extremely rude, if roles up dogs and wakes babies.

[Anonymous]

It’s a wholesome rite of passage that most of us indulged in a little bit. Unfortunately in the age of paranoia, Ring Cams, and NextDoor fanatics, I told my teens not to do it. Someone is going to call the cops, or worse, shoot you. We’ve had multiple news stories of psychos shooting people that were knocking on their door or turned into their driveway.

Sadly ding dong ditch has to go to the incinerator along with prank phone calls and flaming bags of dog sh*t on the doorstep of the biggest AH in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, sure not a huge deal but definitely a jerk thing to do and reflects poorly on you as the family.

A neighbor girl tried that with us. She had been acting mean and bullying my DD. We were keeping our distance and ignoring it. She had some mean girls having a sleepover at her home (who were strangers to us and our DD). and they decided that it would be funny if they would do that to my DD.

My DH strode to her house after them, pushed open the door, walked in to these giggling girls and the startled parents and complained about what the girls did. The mother stuttered that it was just kids being naughty. My DH replied if tomorrow they burn a cross in our yard do you think it will just be a prank? And then he strode right back. Parents came and apologized. And all of them remain straightened out for the rest of their time on Earth.

For reference - all the girls were White. We are POC and immigrants. And not Christians.

DDD and cross burning are VERY DIFFERENT, but sure call it out for racism....it's not unless they only do it to PoC, which I'd be willing to bet the girls do it to white nerdy kids too. Why is everything race to you?! BtW I'm also a PoC and I definitely don't see the world through this lens.

DP: You missed the bullying part. This wasn't the DDD of bored kids in a suburban neighborhood in summer. (But yeah. the dad sounds unhinged).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s extremely rude, if roles up dogs and wakes babies.

Or makes elderly people have to get out of bed and go downstairs and open the door. Nighttime arthritis is no joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a wholesome rite of passage that most of us indulged in a little bit. Unfortunately in the age of paranoia, Ring Cams, and NextDoor fanatics, I told my teens not to do it. Someone is going to call the cops, or worse, shoot you. We’ve had multiple news stories of psychos shooting people that were knocking on their door or turned into their driveway.

Sadly ding dong ditch has to go to the incinerator along with prank phone calls and flaming bags of dog sh*t on the doorstep of the biggest AH in the neighborhood.

A wholesome rite of passage unto the Brotherhood of Morons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This past weekend a small group of three sets of parents and a five co-ed 13yos got together for a bonfire. At one point just after dusk, the kids asked to go for a walk. About a half-hour later they returned and the evening progressed normally.

Last night my DD confessed that the boys had initiated DDDing, and she had participated. They rang and ran from a few houses a couple blocks over, but only one man confronted them and told them to “f’ing get lost”. DD was worried what we would have done if the police had showed up. I think she was worried they still might, as I was discussing with DH about how someone had posted to our local FB group about her bowl being stolen by trick or treaters, and how it included a picture of the kids with pumpkin emojis covering their faces.

I thought long and hard about it, but told her I wasn’t sure. She asked if I ever did it and I said yes, though we did it in the middle of the night, which was much more rude than 7pm. I also explained that it is dangerous in general, because you never know who might be behind the door or how mad they might become, or if they might use weapons.

In all honesty, I think it’s a fairly benign rite of passage, but that you can’t trust anyone anymore. I’m curious what you all think?

It's rude and inconsiderate.
People have mentioned the elderly, babies, and dogs, but there's people with PTSD. It simply isn't funny.
It's not funny to annoy people. I don't call that a rite of passage.
So it's great she told you it means she has some idea of right and wrong, but I don't think your message went far enough. You made it seem like she shouldn't do it because cameras and someone might get mad and shoot them. She shouldn't do it because it's rude.

You also should have broadened the discussion to include how to respond to peer pressure when it's not a good thing to do when her conscience is telling her not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Completely inappropriate behavior that should be corrected

Also note that your DD and her friends lied to all the parents to go do this. Is it the worst thing in the world no? But it does show they have the propensity to lie and get into trouble together make sue your alcohol is locked up.