Children playing tennis in the street

[littlepeas]

I am genuinely unsure as to how I am supposed to feel about this one - please give me some mumsnet perspective! We have new neighbours - this evening their twin daughters were playing tennis (fairly well, not just mucking about, actual practice it would seem) along the shared access private drive. Think - houses, front gardens, shared access drive, car parking spaces - hope that makes sense. They kept hitting the ball into the bushes (and so were crawling around in our front garden) and missed my dh's car by centimetres a couple of times (he is away, luckily, I think he may have said something if he was here). Is this ok? I have to admit, I didn't really like it, but mine are a few years younger and I don't want to be a dick about it, if my lot will end up doing the same thing in a few years! Also not keen to fall out with neighbours! Houses are directly opposite a decent sized green (although admittedly, not ideal for tennis) and less than a minutes walk from a hard court.

[Littlepeople12345]

I'd have words about it being to close to your cars. The noise would piss me off too.

[PatMustardsBigTool]

The rule when I was growing up was no ball games around cars, so I wouldn't be happy about this.

[CodewordRochambeau]

Less than a minute's walk from a proper tennis court? YANBU.

[Witchend]

Do you have to pay for the court though? Our local ones are £13 an hour which I wouldn't pay.

[VioletBam]

I think it sounds lovely but I don't have a car...it's tough isn't it? You don't want to be "that" neighbour but you don't want the car hurt.

I think my Mum used to deal with this stuff by offering smiles and little reminders....she'd go outside on the pretence of getting something and then say "Be careful of the car please girls!" with a nice smile. That will at least make them aware....the crawling in your bushes I wouldn't mind as long as they're not crushing flowers.

[nancy75]

Most courts are not free to use and belong to tennis clubs

[nancy75]

To be honest a tennis ball bring hit by a child is very unlikely to cause any damage to a car

[apatheticfallacy]

I'd go out, compliment them on their tennis skills/enthusiasm for exercise and remind them to be careful around the cars although I doubt a tennis ball would do any damage.

Life will be easier if you keep the neighbours onside and there are a lot worse things they could be doing!

[trixymalixy]

Better than them being inside on a screen. A tennis ball would be extremely unlikely to cause any damage to a car.

[Purplemonkeydishwasherpimp]

Go outside and start shouting 15 love, or tell them their "urgh" noises aren't up to scratch. They may move.
Alternatively just tell them "This isn't fucking Wimbledon" maybe a reference to Robinson's juice for good measure.

But yeah it'd annoy me, I'm a moody cow though.

[littlepeas]

The court is multi use - marked up for basketball, football and tennis (but no net) - but should be good enough really, if the drive outside the house is! It is free to use, but obviously there may be a gang of teenage boys playing football already, etc.

I agree that it is nice to see them outside doing something, instead of just watching tv/whatever. My sister and I played tennis in the street when we were kids, but in an area that was not right by peoples' houses. I honestly don't think my dh (an avid tennis player himself) would have been happy watching them tonight though.

[littlepeas]

Sorry, dh would NOT have been happy.

[BurningBridges]

We live in a cul de sac so a safe road for kids to play in as a result its the local kids' playground, every is sent round here unsupervised for a day out usually with a football and lots of sweets etc which have wrappers to be dumped. All our cars get hit, balls are in gardens and kids climb over to get them, elderly neighbours get upset.

I am actually friends with some of the mums who allow their kids to do this and we have discussed it, they are apologetic at the time the next day the kids are back. We even have mums who blame it on the others' e.g, if one is not present there will be a discussion about how its her kids that are causing all the problems and how can she be so thick skinned etc. I am thinking now, sadly , the only way we are going to get anywhere is if there is some major damage caused to a car or garden. Even then I am not sure, but you know, children are entitled to play eh?

[5Foot5]

But a tennis ball isn't going to do any damage is it?

I remember playing tennis against the wall as a child and would often mis-hit and slam it in to the window. Mum would squeak angrily but I never ever broke it.

Mind you I did break the toilet window with a football once...

[gleegeek]

I think I'd be careful not to get on the wrong side of them - your dc will grow up faster than you think and children should be outside playing IMO! I think it's fair enough to remind them about being careful not to hit the cars but I don't think they're doing anything wrong really .

[Willow2016]

When I was a kid my friends and I spent the holidays playing 'tennis' out on the street or against the house wall. We never did any damage, tennis balls are pretty soft.

[Pootles2010]

Agree re tennis balls not doing damage, it just seems a bit bonkers when there's a green across the street!

[HermioneJeanGranger]

The likelihood of two small kids being able to do much damage with a tennis ball is minute. I used to play against the wall of the house as a kid, or with a friend in the street, and although we tried not to hit cars, it happened - but we never did ANY kind of damage. Tennis balls are really not that tough and you can't really get up much speed playing in a cul-de-sac!

I wouldn't worry about it.