My mum is roaming around and turning up in various family members' back gardens. I am so cross

[Aaaahhhndrea]

She keeps doing this 'I just can't stay in the house' giggling schtick. I am really, really pissed off. The DC were upset by not being able to go to her and then she had the cheek to ask for a cup of tea- I said no.

Turns out she's being doing this to different relatives. WTF am I supposed to do with her?!

ScissorsBike but it’s not really social distancing when you actually come into someone’s back garden, so potentially opening gates etc, then asking for cups of tea; and what If they’d been outside when she came round?

I think people think that there’s a 2m bubble and as long as you stand 2m away that magically protects you. It doesn’t. It’s just most (not all) droplets etc don’t go past this point and it works for casual short encounters. Hanging around chatting increases the risk that more droplets will get past this point. Then you’ve got whatever is being left on all the surfaces being touched.

She’s clearly having a hard time in lockdown; she is allowed to go out For daily exercise (which contrary to MN is not limited to 1 hour) , for essential shopping.
Can you not try to agree a time for her to come and talk from the driveway, explaining to her & the DC that they need to maintain distance.
No tea, of course unless she brings her own flask. Does she have technology? Can you FaceTime or zoom with her?
I get that she’s a difficult , pain in the rear, but maybe think of it as an exercise in empathy for the kids.

Tell the kids it's "Safari Day". Arm them with (fake) poison darts and a blowpipe each.

Sorry, I'm not making light of your difficult situation, but your thread title does suggest a wildlife documentary.

I hope you can talk some sense into her.

How much time are you all spending on the phone with her? My MIL was going out a lot just because she was so desperately lonely and frightened and had no one to talk to.

Perhaps if you up the phone conversations - maybe check in 3 or 4 times a day she won't feel the need. Get all the siblings and grandchildren calling - she won't have time to be out and about.

How old is your DM OP?

What do your siblings and other family members do when she visits them?

You'll end up reported. The police are encouraging neighbours to report people breaking the rules and it's your house so they will be out to see you. Tell her you don't want a fine or sentence as you're responsible for children and to stop being such a thick, selfish twat.

Don’t be so ridiculous Notredam.

Notredamn has a point though. We have an older neighbour who has been entertaining all sorts of people next door. Really worried about him, I've tried to speak to him. He thinks it's all great. However, someone in the street has reported him. People will because they are scared.

It's infuriating isn't it? I find lockdown a real mental challenge, I know I'm not alone, it takes an enormous amount of energy to stay positive and as normal as possible whilst observing the rules.

It's surprisingly distressing to see neighbours having had get togethers this weekend; a driveway party, an adult daughter visiting, little kids from different homes playing whilst their parents sit at a distance chatting away.

I shouldn't care, I should just ignore them, I should just lots of things. What I want to do is confront them and dob them in. The level of concentration it's taken to ignore them has flattened my motivation. Bastards.

I thought this was ok. I shop for an elderly neighbour and always stop for a little chat. I put the shopping bags in the front garden, she stays inside and opens her window and we have a chat for 5 mins. I would say I was about 2/3 meters away. She lives alone, no internet and is desperately lonely and bored.
I honestly thought I was being nice stopping for a chat. Is it really bad to chat from a distance?

@LavenderLilacTree I think that's a little different to the OPs case. You're delivering groceries to a vulnerable person and I'd say that no one would begrudge her a five minute chat even if it's technically against the rules.

Going round various family members' gardens for no reason is not the same.

LavenderLilacTree there’s a difference between looking after a vulnerable neighbour and saving them from social isolation by having a quick chat; and what the OP’s mum is doing here (barging into multiple gardens demanding attention and tea).

There has been plenty of reporting around here and the police have acted quickly. Not frothing at all.

How is she getting into all these back gardens?

Having her randomly appearing in all the gardens is an odd mental image!

We go on our daily walk past my parents house and bellow at them from the bottom of the drive.

lockdown isn't fun. Not being able to see people isn't fun. None of this is fun and depending on your situation it can be totally awful.

that is how it is and she needs to grow up and accept it. Because it is better than a painful, suffocating death. Remember assisted dying isn't allowed because due to the enforced suffering lobby, and 17 people a day die horribly in normal times because even the best palliative care has limits.