Neighbours kids keep looking over our fence

But then the nosey little girl will steal them. (Actual blackberries only appear on two-year-old canes - will the little girl still be there?) And her parents might sue if she pricks her finger, and falls asleep for a hundred years.

"Spraying her with a garden hose would be assault". It reminds me of what the advice used to be for pervy phone calls: blow a whistle down the phone, it may even have been official advice at one point, before that was considered to be "assault".

So their dog barking in the garden for no reason is nothing like this dog barking because a face keeps appearing over the fence is it?

Plant thorny blackberries along the fence … delicious homegrown fruit.

Being purposely obtuse I see. Of course I'm not doing that 🙄

I said the same

That why I suggested using a hose on jet, a bit of water won't hurt her but will stop her doing it again. If the parents have anything to say, then you can always se their line against them " how could I because apparently she isn't looking over." 😆

100 percent. Why would you let your child do this. I really liked our old neighbours daughter, but no way would I want her keep peering over our fence. It's intrusive and out of order that the parents aren't sorting it out.

Can you imagine the uproar if the original poster knocks the door and shows them that she’s made a video of their child in its garden?
The police will probably be cold and she’ll be forced to delete the footage

About 20 years- I remember when it really was for parents and we used to lobby parliament. Now these boards seem just for folk who want the Reddit experience without dealing with all the people for whom English isn’t their first language

I first came here around 2006 and it wasn't for children issues although mine would have been 7 and 10 then.

The boards were already varied and I loved the music board. We talked about gigs we had been to and bands we like, have discussions over favourite singers etc. I used to really enjoy it. It then went flat and people started asking about clarinet lessons and piano exams for their children.
I became disheartened for a while. However here were plenty of other boards that i enjoy. I like the holiday board as well as the general chat, style and beauty, films, exercise and weight training boards. None of which have much to do with kids.

I agree. If one gives a fake excuse for something, people will simply override you objection and find a way around the excuse. In this case sods law says they might agree the table is unsafe and provide her a step ladder instead. “No is a complete sentence” applies here.

Pop around and say to the neighbours that you've noticed their daughter is standing on something to look over at the dog, and that youre worried she might fall and its also making the dog bark so you thought youd better let them know.
If you want to soften it a bit take the dog with you and say that you've brought the dog over for her to stroke and say hi to as she seems to like it!

The child isn't just peeking over now she's standing at the fence barking at their dog. Clearly taunting it purposely since she's been asked not to. Would you like a kid popping over the fence barking into your garden.

I hate dogs, and like children.
However, the child and her parents are the problem.
As someone suggested, if the parents don't believe their princess is being an arse, a video of it would be a good idea.

The dog is not a problem at all. The blasted kid and its blasted parents are.

It likely doesn't count as noise pollution unless it's constant or continues late, but that doesn't stop it being a bloody nuisance. It's not hard to teach your blasted dog not to bark it's head off, or better yet, teach him, "quiet!". Child appears, dog barks, you tell it to STFU, problem solved.

If you just don't want the kid standing there gawping, that's a separate problem. It has bugger-all to do with the dog.

Considering you see yourself as a bit of a gatekeeper as to who’s allowed on Mumsnet, it seems strange that you don’t know how prolific swearing is on here.

Oh swearing how lovely 😂

That really surprises me. So do you not think it's a positive that Mumsnet has broadened out? There's still the activism element here, if you look at things like the gender-critical element of the side etc (which is also an issue not confined to parents, just saying.)

There's definitely some clickbaiting going on nowadays, quite a lot in fact, but sadly I think that's now the nature of online discourse and this particular thread doesn't strike me that way. And personally I will say I don't want a Reddit-style experience in the slightest, I suspect most MNers don't, but I can't speak for anyone else of course.

I’ve said my piece: I think it’s worth being mindful how things like that come across and can quickly turn into a mob mentality on a forum like this.

Encouraging deliberately spraying a young child for existing in her own garden isn’t a reasonable response.

I’ll leave it there.

Why are you staring over their fence at 7am and midnight?

Are you confusing a garden hose intended for watering delicate plants with a fireman’s hose, perhaps?
Anything used to water your begonias is not going to amount to assault and battery upon a child who accidentally or otherwise gets in the way of the spray.
Cool your jets there!

What nonsense is this? When I'm gardening/pottering around in my garden I find it immensely annoying when my neighbours dog is barking at me through the massive hedge. When it barks at midnight in their garden it annoys me. When they let it out at 7 am and the barking wakes me up it's VERY annoying. Dog owners are often the biggest group of annoying neighbours I think. I wonder how many neighbours my cats in my enclosed, cat-proof garden annoy? Oh yes, none, that's right 🙄

Unfortunately I really don’t think that’s what people are suggesting. The little girl is not trespassing (she’s not leaving her own garden) so a hose in the OP’s own garden wouldn’t make sense, and the wording of the posts clearly suggests spraying AT the little girl - presumably over the garden fence. This would be assault and battery, and (although less likely) could even be a worse offence of assault causing actual bodily harm if the girl was in any way hurt by it, eg, if she fell off the table. Let’s remember this child is very young indeed, only 5 or 6, so a powerful hose would be a weapon against her.

The comments are likely flippant and posted to be funny (I would hope no-one would actually be like that in real life), but this is a public forum and those sort of suggestions encourage a vindictive and child-hating streak, especially when there are multiple posts. This shouldn’t be who we are.

Anyone who’s posted that sort of stuff needs to please take it down; it’s not as ‘harmless’ as you might think.

Well actually no, not if she’s deliberately doing it to peer into the OP’s garden. There is a limit.