Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding Dong Ditch is a normal thing kids do. It's basically harmless - what do you mean it won't end will for them? Are you going to pursue legal action or fire off a round into your front yard over kids playing a prank?

And no, my kid never did this - we live in a city full of apartments where it's not even possible.

Not normal and not harmless. Kids and parents should be held accountable.

It IS harmless. Nobody gets hurt physically from it. Ergo, harmless.

It is not harmless

Especially if a homeowner shoots someone because they are scared.

If someone is scared by their doorbell ringing they shouldn’t own a gun.

At 11 pm? Repeatedly? Come on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding Dong Ditch is a normal thing kids do. It's basically harmless - what do you mean it won't end will for them? Are you going to pursue legal action or fire off a round into your front yard over kids playing a prank?

And no, my kid never did this - we live in a city full of apartments where it's not even possible.

Do you not see the news? Kids are shot over this silliness.

So many parents in this thread not teaching their kids how to not get shot. Instead they'd rather cling to their old-timey traditions and stick their heads in the sands about what the world is like now.

And you can’t do a thing about it. Other than shoot kids maybe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding Dong Ditch is a normal thing kids do. It's basically harmless - what do you mean it won't end will for them? Are you going to pursue legal action or fire off a round into your front yard over kids playing a prank?

And no, my kid never did this - we live in a city full of apartments where it's not even possible.

Do you not see the news? Kids are shot over this silliness.

So many parents in this thread not teaching their kids how to not get shot. Instead they'd rather cling to their old-timey traditions and stick their heads in the sands about what the world is like now.

Anonymous wrote:I did this with my friends and had a dentist who lived on my friends street chase us for a wildly long time.

I’m now probably the same age as he was and have to give him props for his cardio fitness-he pursued us like terminator for probably a quarter mile all while wearing a bathrobe and slippers.

Clearly we were a—holes but it was definitely fun.

Sure hope he had his Ward Cleaver jammies on under that bathrobe, LOL!

Anonymous wrote:Ding Dong Ditch is a normal thing kids do. It's basically harmless - what do you mean it won't end will for them? Are you going to pursue legal action or fire off a round into your front yard over kids playing a prank?

And no, my kid never did this - we live in a city full of apartments where it's not even possible.

Do you not see the news? Kids are shot over this silliness.

Anonymous wrote:I did this with my friends and had a dentist who lived on my friends street chase us for a wildly long time.

I’m now probably the same age as he was and have to give him props for his cardio fitness-he pursued us like terminator for probably a quarter mile all while wearing a bathrobe and slippers.

Clearly we were a—holes but it was definitely fun.

You need to be a comedy writer!!

Thank you for the lolz

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11 year old boy shot dead.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/11-year-houston-boy-shot-door-knocking-prank/story?id=125141773

This! It may be a "prank", but it can get out of hand quickly

You can’t shoot a child in the back. He deserves to be tried and in jail.

Anonymous wrote:I did this with my friends and had a dentist who lived on my friends street chase us for a wildly long time.

I’m now probably the same age as he was and have to give him props for his cardio fitness-he pursued us like terminator for probably a quarter mile all while wearing a bathrobe and slippers.

Clearly we were a—holes but it was definitely fun.

My boys are college aged and whenever we pass this one house they still fondly talk about the man who lives there and chased their friend when they all went ding dong ditching in a row. Word got around that he was a chaser so all the boys started targeting him hoping they’d get a chase out of it. Apparently it went on for quite awhile.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding dong ditch — add “dead”.

New York Times (gift article):

Boy Shot During ‘Ding Dong Ditch’ Prank in Texas Has Died

The police in Houston detained a person after an 11-year-old boy was shot on Saturday night, officials said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/houston-boy-shot-ding-dong-ditch.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.vc3u.EWImB_6vBcYp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Note that it happened just before 11pm, not the middle of the day like in more innocent times. Not saying that any 11 yo deserves to be shot, simply that this is an unreasonable hour for an innocent prank. 11 is way too young to be out at night with a pack of unsupervised kids. Parenting failure.

He will be charged with murder so I would say it’s the home owner’s failure. You don’t shoot a kid in the back no matter what he did. But knocking on a door?

Gun control please

Failed parenting if your elementary school aged kid is roaming the neighborhood after dark. Not something a teenager should necessarily be doing either, but it is developmentally and socially more acceptable in our culture. You better believe these parents' parenting skills will also be going on trial. Defense attorney going to have a field day with that.

You’re mentally ill to think a parent will be put in trial for someone else murdering their child. This is one sick, as in mentally ill, society to think this.

If a person feels threatened on their property, and this is harassmenet and can be seen as someone trying to break in, a homeowner has every right to protect themselves. A parent shouldn't complain if their child is injured or killed when they allowed it to happen, allowed their kids to harass and bully others for laughs, and refuse to supervise or parent them.

Parents need to be held accountable.

You don't shot someone unless the door has been breached and someone is trying to physically enter your house. You call the police. I had to do that when someone drunk thought that my apartment was their friends and kept trying to get in the door, to include kicking it and trying to break the door down. It was scary, drunk dude ramming my door, I called the police. I would have used my bat, I don't own a gun, if the idiot had gotten through the door.

But shooting someone who is on the porch being an idiot is over the top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think parents are encouraging DDD, I think many of us remember playing it as kids. Yes, the neighbor might rat us out and our parents would lecture us but it wasn't that big a deal. We also were not likely doing this late at night and we were not banging on doors like we are trying to bang them down. We rang a doorbell and ran away. We were not kicking the doors and slamming the doors.

The biggest difference is that more people are willing to shot someone and when your kid is pounding on someones door at midnight, they are at risk of getting hurt or killed because someone might take that as a serious threat to their home.

Are the people who are shooting the people running away in the right? No. Best way to avoid that? Tell your kid not to play DDD late at night and not to be pounding on the door like you are trying to break in. And yes, the idiots shooting people for this should not be shooting people but, again, the best way to prevent yourself from getting shot playing DDD is to not do it. Or not do it in such a way that you sound threatening and not just annoying.

You are justifying your and your kids poor behavior. Its not funny, its not fun, its inappropiate and could be harmful to someone else. Don't blame someone feeling threatened and shooting another person when that person should not have been on private property doing something highly wrong.

My kid is not out playing DDD. That is not his thing. I don't see DDD as being harmful, at least not the way we played it when I was a kid. You rang a door bell and ran away giggling. You thought you had pulled off some amazing prank. It was stupid and we all ended up getting in trouble because someone saw us and called our parents. Mom and Dad told us to stop it and we moved on to kick the can or some other ridiculous game.

What some teens are doing today is totally different. It is late at night, disruptive, scary, and over the top. I have no problem with people sending ring footage to the police and kids getting in trouble over their behavior. I did not have a problem with the tweens who played DDD in my neighborhood at 4 PM, it was the same stupid thing I did. If you can't tell the difference between the two then I don't know what to tell you.

I get why some people are showing up at the door with a gun in hand. Kids pounding and kicking on my door late at night is scary, it is not a prank. I also know that I would call 911 before a used a gun. I sure as heck wouldn't shot someone running away. I have showed those reports to my kid as a reminder that you have to be careful with what you do and told him that DDD is not a good idea. But this type of crap, the escalation from a stupid but harmless game to something deadly because it is "fun" to post out of control behavior on tic tok is one good reason my kid doesn't have a phone yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding dong ditch — add “dead”.

New York Times (gift article):

Boy Shot During ‘Ding Dong Ditch’ Prank in Texas Has Died

The police in Houston detained a person after an 11-year-old boy was shot on Saturday night, officials said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/houston-boy-shot-ding-dong-ditch.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.vc3u.EWImB_6vBcYp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Note that it happened just before 11pm, not the middle of the day like in more innocent times. Not saying that any 11 yo deserves to be shot, simply that this is an unreasonable hour for an innocent prank. 11 is way too young to be out at night with a pack of unsupervised kids. Parenting failure.

He will be charged with murder so I would say it’s the home owner’s failure. You don’t shoot a kid in the back no matter what he did. But knocking on a door?

Gun control please

Failed parenting if your elementary school aged kid is roaming the neighborhood after dark. Not something a teenager should necessarily be doing either, but it is developmentally and socially more acceptable in our culture. You better believe these parents' parenting skills will also be going on trial. Defense attorney going to have a field day with that.

You’re mentally ill to think a parent will be put in trial for someone else murdering their child. This is one sick, as in mentally ill, society to think this.

If a person feels threatened on their property, and this is harassmenet and can be seen as someone trying to break in, a homeowner has every right to protect themselves. A parent shouldn't complain if their child is injured or killed when they allowed it to happen, allowed their kids to harass and bully others for laughs, and refuse to supervise or parent them.

Parents need to be held accountable.

Well you explain that to the judge during your sentencing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding dong ditch — add “dead”.

New York Times (gift article):

Boy Shot During ‘Ding Dong Ditch’ Prank in Texas Has Died

The police in Houston detained a person after an 11-year-old boy was shot on Saturday night, officials said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/houston-boy-shot-ding-dong-ditch.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.vc3u.EWImB_6vBcYp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Note that it happened just before 11pm, not the middle of the day like in more innocent times. Not saying that any 11 yo deserves to be shot, simply that this is an unreasonable hour for an innocent prank. 11 is way too young to be out at night with a pack of unsupervised kids. Parenting failure.

He will be charged with murder so I would say it’s the home owner’s failure. You don’t shoot a kid in the back no matter what he did. But knocking on a door?

Gun control please

Failed parenting if your elementary school aged kid is roaming the neighborhood after dark. Not something a teenager should necessarily be doing either, but it is developmentally and socially more acceptable in our culture. You better believe these parents' parenting skills will also be going on trial. Defense attorney going to have a field day with that.

You’re mentally ill to think a parent will be put in trial for someone else murdering their child. This is one sick, as in mentally ill, society to think this.

If a person feels threatened on their property, and this is harassmenet and can be seen as someone trying to break in, a homeowner has every right to protect themselves. A parent shouldn't complain if their child is injured or killed when they allowed it to happen, allowed their kids to harass and bully others for laughs, and refuse to supervise or parent them.

Parents need to be held accountable.

There’s a difference between someone pounding on/kicking one’s door persistently, possibly attempting to gain entry, versus someone ringing the doorbell one time and immediately running away. There is no justification for shooting in the second scenario. A kid shouldn’t be ringing someone’s doorbell late every Saturday night, but that’s no justification for shooting them.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think parents are encouraging DDD, I think many of us remember playing it as kids. Yes, the neighbor might rat us out and our parents would lecture us but it wasn't that big a deal. We also were not likely doing this late at night and we were not banging on doors like we are trying to bang them down. We rang a doorbell and ran away. We were not kicking the doors and slamming the doors.

The biggest difference is that more people are willing to shot someone and when your kid is pounding on someones door at midnight, they are at risk of getting hurt or killed because someone might take that as a serious threat to their home.

Are the people who are shooting the people running away in the right? No. Best way to avoid that? Tell your kid not to play DDD late at night and not to be pounding on the door like you are trying to break in. And yes, the idiots shooting people for this should not be shooting people but, again, the best way to prevent yourself from getting shot playing DDD is to not do it. Or not do it in such a way that you sound threatening and not just annoying.

You are justifying your and your kids poor behavior. Its not funny, its not fun, its inappropiate and could be harmful to someone else. Don't blame someone feeling threatened and shooting another person when that person should not have been on private property doing something highly wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ding dong ditch — add “dead”.

New York Times (gift article):

Boy Shot During ‘Ding Dong Ditch’ Prank in Texas Has Died

The police in Houston detained a person after an 11-year-old boy was shot on Saturday night, officials said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/houston-boy-shot-ding-dong-ditch.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.vc3u.EWImB_6vBcYp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Note that it happened just before 11pm, not the middle of the day like in more innocent times. Not saying that any 11 yo deserves to be shot, simply that this is an unreasonable hour for an innocent prank. 11 is way too young to be out at night with a pack of unsupervised kids. Parenting failure.

He will be charged with murder so I would say it’s the home owner’s failure. You don’t shoot a kid in the back no matter what he did. But knocking on a door?

Gun control please

Failed parenting if your elementary school aged kid is roaming the neighborhood after dark. Not something a teenager should necessarily be doing either, but it is developmentally and socially more acceptable in our culture. You better believe these parents' parenting skills will also be going on trial. Defense attorney going to have a field day with that.

You’re mentally ill to think a parent will be put in trial for someone else murdering their child. This is one sick, as in mentally ill, society to think this.

If a person feels threatened on their property, and this is harassmenet and can be seen as someone trying to break in, a homeowner has every right to protect themselves. A parent shouldn't complain if their child is injured or killed when they allowed it to happen, allowed their kids to harass and bully others for laughs, and refuse to supervise or parent them.

Parents need to be held accountable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between ding dong ditch when I was a kid, at like 4 PM, when it was light out and people were awake. You didn’t go to the houses with babies or people we knew were sick. Today, neighbors are reporting kids pounding on doors at 3 AM, waking people up and scaring them.

I played ding dong ditch as a kid but it was pretty harmless. The stuff happening today, all to video tape and put on tik toc, is harassment. We have had the police called with ring footage handed over to them. No one has been arrested but there should not be a need to call the police because a group of tik toc junkies thinks it is fun to scare the crap out of people in the middle of the night.

And yes, kids are getting shot while doing this.

We had a band of tweens playing old school ding, dong, ditch in our neighborhood for a week. The only reason it was annoying was because we had an elderly dog that struggled to stand up that would try and jump up to bark at them. I called the parents of the kids, we knew who they were, and asked them to tell their kids to take us off their rotation because of the dog. It stopped at our house. Otherwise, I would have rolled my eyes at the game. And yes, I had a neighbor call my parents when I played the game. I got a stern talking to.

You tell this story and see only kids as the problem? I hear it and see an entire that community that is sick. Sick as in entitled, self-centered, lacking in everything from community to care to elders to respect.

Kids getting shot playing ding dong ditch. You’re right. It’s the kids that are the problem.

Its also a parenting problem as its not ok on any level.