'My neighbour's kids keep using my garden as playground – so I took savage revenge'

A man has enacted revenge against his neighbour's children after they continued to play in his garden without permission - but their parents think he's a 'bully'

Having people use your property without permission is always frustrating.

If you've got a friendly relationship with your neighbours, it may not be out of the ordinary for you to share your garden space with them - assuming they extend the same courtesy to you. Perhaps one house on the street has a pool they don't mind neighbours using every once in a while, or maybe someone else has a fruit tree they've agreed can be picked by those who will use the produce more than they will.

But in every case, it's vital you get permission from the homeowner before you start walking onto their property and using their private space for yourself. Most of us are well aware of this, but one man claimed his neighbours aren't so considerate. He said his neighbour's kids always play in his garden without permission - and their parents don't see the issue.

In a post on Reddit, the man explained he is "friendly but not friends" with his neighbours. He said he and his wife don't have kids themselves, but the surrounding houses all do, and the bus that takes the children to school stops directly outside of their home. The children often "run around on the grass" of the man's front garden while they wait for the bus, but he didn't have a problem with it until recently when things went "too far".

He said: "After the bus dropped them off, they were on our property raking leaves into piles, jumping in them, and shaking little trees to bring down more leaves. We feel this exposes us to liability if anything were to happen and is frankly disrespectful to our property. My wife kindly asked the kids not to play in our yard, and the mum, who was in her own yard, sternly said she had already told them not to do that after having to go inside for a phone call."

Things got more out of hand when the mother of the children began "yelling" at the man's wife, claiming she doesn't get to "parent her children" and she should have spoken to her instead of her kids.

Unimpressed by how the parents had handled the situation, the man decided to take revenge in his own way. He called up the school district and asked them to move the bus stop away from the front of their house. But now, the parents are even more livid at the couple and have called them "pathetic" and accused them of "bullying" their children.

Asked kids not to play in our yard - parent argument ensues
byu/louieeatworld inneighborsfromhell

The man added: "We're two introverted people, so we are not comfortable in these situations and are a bit disheartened that this happened. We were always 'friendly' but didn't go out of our way to be 'buddy-buddy' with our neighbours when it was hard enough to maintain other friendships. We didn't really talk with them before, so nothing will really change now, but we just would have preferred this not to have occurred at all in the first place."

Commenters on the post sided with the man and his wife, with many saying they were not "out of line" with the approach they used. Many also slammed the parents for not having better control of their children.

One person said: "Nope, you're not wrong. There are liabilities with kids being in your yard, and if something happened, they'd be looking at you. Parents need to parent their kids." And another added: "It's basic respect. You don't go on someone else's yard without being invited. We knew this without having to be told."

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