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out of control kids and their parents

franco6832franco6832 Posts: 105

why do some parents think its okay for their kids to play their football and break people's plants. the annoying thing is, their parents stand by and watch as their kids do damage to peoples properties. these people dont appreciate the cost of the plants and the effort that goes into nurturing plants into maturity. the other day a ball was played into the garden over the fence and knocked off the heads of my pot grown lilies. i was so pissed off 

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    If they're not gardeners, or their parents/grandparents weren't gardeners, then neither the parents nor the children will understand. image  After all, if you lobbed a ball over the fence into their garden I don't suppose there's much it could damage.

    Pansyface is right, hang on to the ball, show them the damage and explain how long it took to grow your plants and how much they cost to produce.  They may not offer any compensation - but at least they may understand a little bit and be more careful next time. 

    Good luck image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    Hi, Franko. It can be very annoying but helps if the parents are respectful of other peoples property.

    My current neighbours have small children who play football in the garden but when the ball comes over the fence, mum tells them they'll have to wait now until Zoomer throws it back. Initally there were floods of tears but they were told not to kick the ball so high and play nicer. Their ball seldom comes over now.  

    I did buy the children water pistols one Christmas for use if my cat went into their garden but the rule was she had to be in their garden and not just walking on the fence, acknowledging I didn't want her pooing on their plants. They weren't unkind to her and she eventually learned to poke her head through a gap in the fence when they would come and stroke her.    

    After a ball hit my car due to children playing football at the top of the street, I talked to one of the mother's explaining I didn't mind them playing football but if at home and car parked outside would move it round the corner but could one of them knock on my door so it could be moved...no probs. They were often very plesant when I came home from work and say if they were going in so I'd park outside the house.

    Sometime's you need to think outside the box and be prepared to be flexible. 

  • Lorna95Lorna95 Posts: 436
    franco6832 wrote (see)

    why do some parents think its okay for their kids to play their football and break people's plants. the annoying thing is, their parents stand by and watch as their kids do damage to peoples properties. these people dont appreciate the cost of the plants and the effort that goes into nurturing plants into maturity. the other day a ball was played into the garden over the fence and knocked off the heads of my pot grown lilies. i was so pissed off 

     

    Franco6832 i know how you feel, my next door neighbours, always kept kicking the ball over, my husband told the kids they are breaking the plants and also told the mother, but the balls still kept coming over, so i decided to keep them and they could wait till i was ready before they would get  them back, so what did the mother do, she just kept getting them more balls, one day within the space of two hour i had 12 items being thrown over, balls, toys and many other things. well they moved out a month ago so just hope the new neighbours are a bit more respectful. My Dad's not a big flower gardener but he did have a long row of tulips in his front garden and a few of the girls come along and pulled them all out all he had was one tulip come up this year and that's it.

    Some parents need to teach there children to be respectful of other peoples property, a flower might just be something to pick for some people but for the people who like taking care of there garden it means more, it's something you take care off and have pride in. 

  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276

    Franco you have my total sympathy. Respect seems in short supply these days but as fellow gardeners we feel your pain. Some good advice offered and try not to lose heart, dispiriting though it certainly is.

  • franco6832franco6832 Posts: 105

    thanks very much for all your replies, i appreciate them very much.i spoke to one of the parents once, and she said she wants to keep an eye on the kids while they play football outside and that the kids get picked on at the park. i have even got the council marshalls involved with no success. they kept going thru my shrubs to get their ball and totally destroyed my hedge of mixed shrub, so i  replaced them with pyracantha and leylandi which has stopped them going thru the shrubs, but they just run unto the front garden to retrieve their ball and trample on everything, when i shout for them to get off, they just laugh. i am boarded by a block of council flats.i dont bother much with the front garden now, and i will never let them into my back garden to see the damage they cause, because they have to go thru my front room.

  • Our next door neighbours grandchild of about 7 keeps throwing stone chippings into the garden which I then run over with the lawnmower on the first cut of the year. Tese then either smack into the sides of the mower, or my shins. In previous years I've spoken to the neighbour, this year after a particularly sore ding on the shinbone the grandkid and her friends had the misfortune to be out in the garden, Not sure next year will be an issue.

     

    On the topic of kids not realising the importance of wildlife, we had recently planted up a disused corner of a local park with a  mix of Oak, Beech, Rowan, Hawthorn and Blackthorn. Over the last few months, most of this has been torn up or snapped with the exception of the Rowan, which in folklore scares away bogeymen. Go figure :/

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