Kids Walking Through Our Yard to Catch the Bus

[Anonymous]

Some of you are raising some seriously entitled children. I would be pissed at my kid if she thought she could use the neighbor's yard as her personal sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our neighbors left a gap in the fence when they fenced in their yard -- so the middle schoolers could continue to use the cut through. So very cool of them.

My parents did this unintentionally. A gap developed between the fences of the people behind us and our next door neighbor's and opened up a small spot between our yard and the fields behind our school (we didn't have a fence) and they never fixed it. It was a nice cut through to the soccer fields behind our school, and I don't think the neighborhood kids used it unless they were running really late because there was a path half a block down the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

I get that it's annoying, but it's so clear from your posts it annoys you because of the interpersonal dynamics and NOT becuase of the (nonexistent) risks. So own that. You don't seem sympathetic because you have all these excuses about mud and "marks" on the grass. Your resentment isn't really about the kids.

Actually, it's both. I don't want people using my yard as a cut through every single day, even if we are super close friends. But this situation is worse because half of the people who are abusing my hospitality wouldn't allow the same in reverse.

OH good lord. Be an adult and either talk to them or put up a fence. At this point you're acting so pathetic it's laughable. You're the idiot that just constantly complains about things but never does anything to change the situation.

I was actually ASKING whether people thought I should set a boundary of the number of days they can use the path or something. I have every intention of speaking with them about this. What made you think I wouldn't??? I'm just trying to figure out what to say, what I'm ultimately comfortable with, etc.

Wait - now there's a path? I thought they were cutting through your lawn.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure your insurance is good and
You didn't know about it, didn't invite it, never saw them before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're not going to fall or get hurt walking through your yard. The chances of a serious injury from walking are slim to none. I would bet if kids walked through your yard for 10 years, you'd see zero injuries.

Honest question: Why do you care about wear and tear on your yard?

It seems like you are either really anxious or you're looking for trouble.

I can never tell if most threads on here are infected with trolls and/or like the above, just jealous poor malcontents who clearly live in some dump condo or apartment complex. Seethe with rage, deployed as message board "snark," that someone owns a home and values their property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OP what is this really about. You don't like the family so you want an excuse to chase them off your property with a hose?

I don't need an "excuse" to not want people trespassing in my yard. One of the families I DO like (although I don't want their kids in my yard EVERY DAMN DAY) and the other I barely know but they have been less than neighborly to us so I'm not sure why I should put myself at risk to make their lives a little easier.

You seem to already know what you want to do, so go do it. But if you explicitly tell them that they can walk across your yard a couple times a week, doesn;t that open you up to more liability than if you never say anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are raising some seriously entitled children. I would be pissed at my kid if she thought she could use the neighbor's yard as her personal sidewalk.

+1. Even cutting the corner across someone's lawn would get you yelled at by someone's mother or grandmother in my neighborhood growing up. It's totally disrespectful and classless. Kids raised right don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Why would OP put up a multi-thousand fence when a simple phone call to the parents would get them to stop? Do you not have a husband OP? Tell him to tell the other dad(s) involved to tell them kids to stay out of your yard. That's all there is to it.

[Anonymous]

Couple times a week makes no sense. How exactly are you planning to enforce any of this? Come out and yell each time: ‘You kids get off my lawn!’ Complain to the parents? Call the hoa? What if a kid does it anyway, are you going to start tracking it somehow? I certainly would not want to be that person op, don’t become that person, it will eat you up inside. Not something you’ll be proud of in your old age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are raising some seriously entitled children. I would be pissed at my kid if she thought she could use the neighbor's yard as her personal sidewalk.

+1. Even cutting the corner across someone's lawn would get you yelled at by someone's mother or grandmother in my neighborhood growing up. It's totally disrespectful and classless. Kids raised right don't do it.

Cup de sacs were invented to make pedestrian travel across streets safer and typically had pass throughs. The American version of dead ends really kills community and discourages interaction and walkability. We can make our communities better with simple choices like the op has before her, like free little libraries or community garden plots be proud of what you did in your neighborhood not ashamed.

[Anonymous]

When my kids were little, the bus stop was right in front of our house. On rainy or snowy days, I would often have ten + kids on my front porch staying dry and waiting for the bus. I kinda loved it.

[Anonymous]

If the kids are old enough to walk to the bus alone (e.g., older elementary), I would just stick my head out and ask them not to cut through the yard. We have a trail behind our house and some neighborhood kids cut through a couple times (we did have a fence), and my husband sort of did a slightly faux grumpy adult thing with them that worked to get the message across (‘hey, what are you kids doing?!?’).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my kids were little, the bus stop was right in front of our house. On rainy or snowy days, I would often have ten + kids on my front porch staying dry and waiting for the bus. I kinda loved it.

But what if an asteroid killed the children and your home owner's insurance only covers $1,000,000?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you are raising some seriously entitled children. I would be pissed at my kid if she thought she could use the neighbor's yard as her personal sidewalk.

+1. Even cutting the corner across someone's lawn would get you yelled at by someone's mother or grandmother in my neighborhood growing up. It's totally disrespectful and classless. Kids raised right don't do it.

I remember blowing past some woman's lawn on my bike when I was a kid and thinking she was totally f**cking nuts when she came out screaming at me to stay off the lawn. I'm sure I did it again.

No wonder our kids are turning into little porkers.

[Anonymous]

I would say exactly nothing. Nothing will ever come of it, OP. There will be no right of way created. If they fall in the wet grass, no one will be hurt. No one will get sued. I've had kids play in my yard for years and then they stopped doing it because they grew up!

But my husband would reason like you, and want to tell them to go around, and then be hated for years. Thankfully he lives with me and I tell him to shut up