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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to dread children playing football loudly outside into the evening?

40 replies

LMSLMS · 05/04/2026 19:30

I know I'll get flamed for being miserable but it can't just be me... Already dreading the lighter evenings as some parents near me think it's totally fine for their kids to be booting footballs up and down the street soon as they're in from school until 9:30pm or when it's dark. It's literally right outside my front door and window (not their own houses) and just the worst when you want to relax and enjoy your evening, the noise is so loud 🙃 would anyone else feel the same as me? Before anyone says anything I've got a 5 and 1 year old, I just think I wouldn't let them do this once past a certain time in the evening on a main road 🫠 I can't talk to them either as they're the type of people who would just argue back that it's kids being kids and whilst I agree it's good they're not stuck on screens, it shouldn't be disturbing others so much 🥺

OP posts:

henlake7 · 05/04/2026 20:13

As long as they aren't kicking balls into your house or garden I don't see the issue.
I live in a very hilly area so the kids tend to congregate and play wherever they find a flat bit of road, people just ignore them.

LappingLouisa · 05/04/2026 20:12

CheeseLand2 · 05/04/2026 20:05

Yeah this would do my head in. I doubt it’s a quiet affair and why shouldn’t you be able to enjoy a bit of solitude? Their needs shouldn’t trump yours. Surely there a park they could go to or you could just ask them to play outside their own homes?

Why aren’t they doing this? Probably because their own parents have told them to bugger off and play somewhere else so they’re not disturbed!

Edited

I live near a park and summer is just relentless - it’s not the nice kids that I have a problem with, it’s the ones that scream, swear at one another drop their rubbish everywhere and turn up day after day…

BCBird · 05/04/2026 20:07

It not playing outside that would bother me,it's the excessive noise.

CheeseLand2 · 05/04/2026 20:05

Why aren’t they doing this? Probably because their own parents have told them to bugger off and play somewhere else so they’re not disturbed!

ThroughTheRedDoor · 05/04/2026 19:56

12 months ago, I'd have said that it's a lovey thing and the best kind of neighbour noise you could hope for.

A new family has moved in a couple of doors down. The thud of the ball is just awful. From 7am till 9pm (Yep, even in the dark rhe lad is out there) some weekend days. And most days afterschool until 9. Its surprisingly hard to block it out.

tulippa · 05/04/2026 19:54

I guess YABU really but I sympathise as well. Next door's grandchildren are round near enough every evening when it starts to get lighter and they can get very annoying. I had to shut the kitchen window earlier as they were singing Disney show tunes loudly and tunelessly in the way only 8 year old girls can. I feel bad as they're just doing what kids do but they are extremely irritating.

fartoomuchtoblerone · 05/04/2026 19:54

Have you considered moving somewhere more rural so you don’t have to deal with the sound of other people?

NerrSnerr · 05/04/2026 19:52

Where exactly are they playing? I live on a main road and kids certainly couldn’t play football out the front as they’d be constantly dodging cars getting the ball back. Are they on the pavement/ road or is there some grass they’re playing on? (Just trying to picture it).

I do think it is nice for kids to be out for hours. Where I live kids can’t win- we have a MUGA in our village and people still moan when kids play football there as they get loud/ listen to music, even though it’s what it’s designed for

ClaredeBear · 05/04/2026 19:50

I would love to see more children playing outside. Are they actually playing on a main road?

ShouldIJustKeepQuiet · 05/04/2026 19:46

I can't talk to them either as they're the type of people who would just argue back that it's kids being kids

that’s because it is kids being kids. Have you forgotten what it was like to be a child and play with your friends?

WaneyEdge · 05/04/2026 19:41

Villanousvillans · 05/04/2026 19:38

I told some children to play football outside their own house. They moved.

I do this. The parents are very quick to say “Kids being kids/better than stuck on a screen” but I think it’s really annoying (and rude) that they never play by their houses, or even in their own streets sometimes.

Villanousvillans · 05/04/2026 19:38

I told some children to play football outside their own house. They moved.

youalright · 05/04/2026 19:37

Just put the telly up there kids they play thats a good thing, as long as they are not kicking the ball at your door or window i don't see the problem

PoppinjayPolly · 05/04/2026 19:35

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 05/04/2026 19:33

Kids playing outside is one of the most joyful sounds I can think of!

Children?! Playing outside?!! Oh my! Where’s the trigger warning! send in the child catcher… that’ll learn ‘em!

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 05/04/2026 19:33

Kids playing outside is one of the most joyful sounds I can think of!

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