Yeah I don't see anyone who thinks this is ok saying "we have a similar situation and I don't mind 4+ kids walking across my lawn twice per day!!"

We have a path beside our house I can’t tell you how many Sunday mornings I’ve gone outside to see the neighbors dog taking a big one on my front yard.
OP I would put up a fence. The entitlement is unreal. Also our neighborhood just turned over. New crop of kids. So the kids cutting through the yard is a permanent one. Fence. All these PPs who are just fine with it live in condos. It doesn’t affect them.

OP, life is too short. Get over it and let the kids walk through your yard. Enjoy being part of a community where that happens. Be neighborly.

We have lived in this house for 15 years and know everyone on our street. Have bought stuff kids are selling in front of their houses before we had kids of our own, have helped friends move, have welcomed new families, have celebrated new babies, weddings, graduations, etc. I am not at all concerned about the neighbors on my street thinking I'm jerk, because they know I'm not. If the guy behind us who won't let my kids in his yard to retrieve a ball or play hide and seek is pissed off at us because we won't let his kids wear a path in our lawn....that's too bad for him but I don't really care or need his "friendship" in my neighborhood. There's actually another yard they could walk through (my next door neighbor) but she told them no as well (and she has pavers on the side of her house).

Anonymous wrote:If I were the parent of one of these children, I would assent to your unreasonable request and make a silent vow never to be neighborly again. Tree falls on your roof and I have a chainsaw? Not my problem. Your kid is selling Girl Scout cookies? I'll buy elsewhere. Your dog gets out? I'll make a cursory search of my property but that's about it. Your kid wants to play basketball on my cul de sac hoop? Nope--"liability issues."
I'll also gossip about you to all the other neighbors. Enjoy being the neighborhood crank.

So you really think it is fine for one of the walker’s dad to yell at OP’s kids and not let them walk anywhere near his yard but now OP is the grinch in not allowing his kids to walk through her yard TWICE a day? No way if the situation were reversed would that dad let anyone cut through his yard yet he expects his kids to be allowed.

If I were the parent of one of these children, I would assent to your unreasonable request and make a silent vow never to be neighborly again. Tree falls on your roof and I have a chainsaw? Not my problem. Your kid is selling Girl Scout cookies? I'll buy elsewhere. Your dog gets out? I'll make a cursory search of my property but that's about it. Your kid wants to play basketball on my cul de sac hoop? Nope--"liability issues."
I'll also gossip about you to all the other neighbors. Enjoy being the neighborhood crank.

Put pavers in and be a better human.

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids haven’t had a normal school experience in like a year and half and you want to start picking on them.

No kid has ever died of walking for ten minutes.

Poor kids haven’t had a normal school experience in like a year and half and you want to start picking on them.

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.

What a waste of time and money. It’s grass. Meanwhile you’re actively alienating people in your neighborhood. Nobody’s asking you to make a community treehouse there or anything. Please remember all of this when your young children are teens and running late to school. Talk about bad karma.

I’m with you OP. I don’t think it’s appropriate to let kids walk through your yard. Not as much a safety issue but it’s respect of other people’s property. We live on a corner and kids always cross not only in our grass but our driveway too. They leave trash, beck I’ve had kids pee in our tree before.

You can be a good neighbor and be supportive of community without allowing kids on your lawn. Don’t let other people make you feel bad for that choice.

Daaaannnggggg, way to be neighborly.

I'm in potomac and we ALL put gates in our fences so that kids, neighbors, etc can all cross thru, it's called COMMUNITY. I'm glad I'm not your neighbor.

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.

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!

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.

Agree. Meet the children, let them walk through the yard, and be gracious to them. Don’t worry about the dad.