AIBU not to outright ban kids from playing with balls in garden, after neighbours complained

I’m 66 with two grown children. My husband who is older than me, yelled at the neighbourhood children for using the small hill of our front garden for sledding in the snow. “They’ll kill the grass!” We don’t actually HAVE grass, just harmless green stuff. I was SO embarrassed. He scared them and had apparently forgotten what it was like to 9 years old.
I don’t want the kids to totally destroy our front and back gardens, but as a retired teacher, I think people should compromise and try to remember what it was like to be a child and if it applies, what it’s like to be a parent of young kids. I’m appalled at mumsnetters
who puncture the balls or throw them in the bin. Making a rule that the parents have to come collect the balls seems sufficient. But maybe those cranky, sour neighbours aspire to be known as the neighbourhood witch. Every neighbourhood has one. Myself, I love to sit out and hear happy children playing.

Re. posts this morning. What is it with old people complaing and mums taking offence too easily?

You say that! and I am sure the OP does not want to quote human rights legislation at the neighbour😳 who could also point out that trespass (the ball) is also a civil offence! Far better to deal amicably with it

I've had same problem with my lads, I get its annoying for your neighbours, but you want your lads to be able to play too. Best thing is insist they dont keep booting the ball take them to the park to do that. Instead passing only and set up some cones so they can practice dribbling round them . you can get a kit lidl sometimes have them.
One neighbour we had and same age as us (so not elderly) kept 3 of our eldest lads balls, wouldnt throw them back and wouldnr give them.back when my son asked husband went round and had a word. (This was part of a neighbour dispute which is why the people we bought house off moved , we didnt know that at the time)

yup usual thing
OP Aibu
MN Yes
OP no I am not

I have got 7 too. Only ever had balls over from one and when I explained about having a tortoise, they moved their garden around to stop it happening

My neighbor had a great solution. Any balls in their yard became theirs.
I'd be annoyed too. I shouldn't have to look for falling objects while outside and shouldn't have my flowers broken.
My kids never once lobbed a ball into the neighbors yard. If they can't keep it in your yard then. O, they shouldn't be doing that activity. Your right to enjoy your yard doesn't extend to ruining your neighbor's right to enjoy theirs

They should be thankful it’s not a teenage boy bashing a sliotar off the concrete wall for hours on end while his little yappy dog barks non-stop! When we moved away his mother apologised to my mother after we put up with it for years!!!

Our neighbours at the back have a very small garden, we have been getting sometimes 2 balls a day as soon as the weather allows, one broke my new rose tree another my bird bath. We have a park 5 mins away, last time it happened told them I’d start billing them for every broken thing. It’s really bloody annoying.

If you have a very small garden get them to play something else take them to the park for a proper kick about, all too often now people take the stance ‘it’s my garden I’ll do what I like’ giving no thought to others around them. Consideration is a dirty word these days.

This. Mine learned pretty quickly that if a ball went over they were coming in.

It's no wonder it doesn't annoy you if you've got SEVEN gardens! They wouldn't be landing in your immediate vicinity. I bet it would annoy you if you only had one small garden that you like to sit in and they were landing directly in your personal space.

I know it would annoy me. Can't you take them to the park? It must be annoying for the neighbour who might be trying to relax in their garden after a busy day, to have stray balls flying over the fence. You're lucky they're not popping them 🤣!

I love it when a story changes when an op doesn’t get response the op wants!

Ex school teachers?
So they deffo have experience of children then, but want an apology every time?
I'd be tempted to tell Victor Meldrew and his wife to jog on... 😆
@MyKidsThrowFood

and yet again its not either or

2 balls in a month is nothing, it would not worry me, they are little children playing in their garden a lot healthier than being stuck looking at their tablets.

once again, its not either or

People have explained why they don't like it - it's not hard to see why getting plants or greenhouses damaged or interruptions from neighbours kids wanting their ball back, might be annoying.

As I said it’s not a problem. If you don’t want to return it then don’t 🤷‍♀️

Children have played kick about in their back gardens for donkeys years. Why are so many people being such miseries about it? I bet they would be the same people who would see all the children turning up at the park together and clutch their pearls claiming they were unruly kids that should be at home.

I’m off to spend the day in the garden with my ⚽️

Look at this way OP - what if your neighbour had a yappy dog that she allowed into her garden every night when you were putting your kids to bed. Or if they decided that was a good time to play their music in the garden. Or to burn their garden waste? Or have their friends round to drink wine and talk loudly right underneath your kids' bedroom window? Thru could argue that it's their garden, they aren't doing anything wrong, they have a right blah blah blah. But those things regularly would become annoying and would be anti social, so you'd hope that they wouldn't do it, what with living in such close proximity.

You never know when you will need a favour from a neighbour, so it's always good to keep on decent terms, which you can do by making a small adjustment. It's not like they are asking for your dc to never play in the garden - they aren't constantly moaning about the house of them playing, only the balls.

You can get a 10ft net fence like this:
10FT Net Fence

A friend had a tiny garden and used this to fence in the entire garden including netting over top!

@canyouseemyhousefromhere but looking at a screen isn’t the only alternative to playing football in the garden. And if those kids from the seven gardens got together at a local park they could have an amazing kick about.

If balls regularly come over the fence then the garden isn’t big enough to play that ball game in it

Yabu - your kids can play lots of games in the garden that don't involve kicking a ball. Mine had those swing things with the ball on a rope that you can hit with a bat. You can get a mini trampoline if the garden is small. Your right to do anything you like in your garden, should stop when it negatively impacts other people.
It's not very relaxing if you're sitting in your garden and random balls can hit you or break your plants.

I guess if you persist, your neighbours can refuse to return the balls or start doing things which will piss you off in return.

We live in close proximity to other people and have to try not to irritate each other too much.

I have 7 gardens that have fences around my garden. There are children and grandchildren frequently playing with a ball in those gardens, we often find balls in our garden and it isn’t a big deal. Our only problem is knowing which garden to return it to. I would much rather those children were playing outside with a ball than stuck inside on screens.

no the neighbours can't require that the children should stop but I can see ,by what has been said here, that the OP should either make changes like netting or should put a stop to it themselves.