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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cul de sacs are not playgrounds....

173 replies

Bestb411pm · 19/05/2012 17:01

Last bloody forty minutes spent listening to kids bounce a sodding basketball right in the middle of the road. Maybe they're going for some sort of world record?

I've gone from been mildly annoyed to hoping the bloody thing goes through their car window and not mine. I can see why the parents don't want them banging outside their window if they keep them in the back garden, but what are they thinking letting them out to play with a sodding ball in the middle of the road?

AIBU? Really?

Angry
OP posts:
axure · 20/05/2012 10:22

I love the noise of kids enjoying themselves outside, there are only a few months in the year when the weather is mild enough and there's enough daylight. Reminds me of the fun I had as a child, don't be so miserable they will be grown up in no time.

inabeautifulplace · 20/05/2012 12:35

They certainly were when I grew up. Great for tennis, basketball etc. I identify with the post describing the sharing of space for different activities. It is possible to share these spaces provided everyone is reasonable about it. Playing children, resident adults and drivers can all co-exist with a bit of give and take on all sides.

satonawall · 20/05/2012 12:52

I naievely (spelling?) bought a house in a cul de sac because I had four cats and I didn't want a house on a busy road. I didn't have a problem with children playing there or the general noise they made, but the sound of a football being kicked about for hour after hour used to drive me to distraction - plus the fact that the ball frequently landed in my garden and the children thought they could just walk in and retrieve it. The sound of a ball being bounced in a street or park still sets my nerves on edge.

satonawall · 20/05/2012 12:56

I eventually couldn't stand it any longer and moved. I've been in my lovely quiet house for 11 years.

GnomeDePlume · 20/05/2012 13:06

I wonder if councils could be persuaded to designate areas as shared space and apply appropriate signage so that everyone who uses the space is aware.

One of the problems in my cul-de-sac was when it was first built a lot of people didnt realise that it was a cul-de-sac (old sat nav maps) and would come through expecting it to be a through road.

Speed bumps and signage would have warned them.

insancerre · 20/05/2012 13:09

YABU
I live in a cul-de-sac with just 5 houses. my dc are older (15 and 22) but I have no objection to the neighbour's children playing in the street
we often have to move bikes, etc to just get off the drive. Sometimes they use wheelie bins for goal posts too, right in the middle of the road. It doesn't bother ma at all, I am just glad they have somewhere safe to play.

kirsty75005 · 20/05/2012 13:47

Cul de sac is French for "bag arse".

Not relevant, but it's one of my favourite language facts. I had some snooty relatives who were very proud of living in a cul de sac.

goinggetstough · 20/05/2012 14:21

Having read most of this thread I would appear to fall into the YANBU. Most (not all) say that they bought a house rather than flat in a cul de sac so why don't the DCs play in their gardens with their friends. No one is suggesting that DCs should stay inside but a road is still a road even in a cul de sac and IMO is not for playing on especially when a number of people have said how close to parks etc they are. Or maybe I am just getting old......

ChaoticismyLife · 20/05/2012 14:44

It's about respect and consideration.

5madthings sounds like a parent I'd be happy to live nearby, other parents, eg the ones who send their children to play away from their own homes, not so much.

I have no objection to children playing outside, although most around here are now older/have moved away so there aren't as many playing. What would annoy me is if I had a car parked in the driveway and it was being hit by a ball or children running in and out of my garden, either to retrieve a ball or just because they are playing. When I was a child, we were taught to knock on the door and ask politely if we could retrieve the ball if it went into someone's garden. If it went in too often then we were told, usually by a parent, to play something else or move away.

Mealiepudding · 20/05/2012 14:53

Yy to respect and consideration.

My DD lives at the end of a cul de sac where DGS and friends often used to play football (nearest park a bus ride away).

He and his pals always avoided playing with the ball near neighbours' gardens and cars and apologised and asked before going into others' gardens if their ball landed in the wrong place.

A male neighbour once rang the police because he was fed up of this and wanted my DGS (aged 8 at the time) to get an ASBO (his words Hmm).

Two officers came out and had stern words. But not with the boys, with the neighbour! They told him in no uncertain terms that children have a right to play in the street and if he didn't stop watching the boys, he'd be in trouble.

Justice.

jamdonut · 20/05/2012 15:11

I don't live in a cul-de sac, but i am fed up with kids playing kerby right outside MY house, running across My garden and crushing all my plants, to fetch the ball, and it it hitting my street-parked car, (and everyone elses, for that matter)
Our front gardens are "open plan" but , belong to those of us who own our houses (ex-council house). It really infuriates me. I don't allow my children to do that, I've always taught them to have respect for other people's feelings and property, but these kids do not have any respect at all. Sadly my immediate next door neighbours, who moved here a year ago,have absolutely no such consideration for their neighbours at all.

BoneyBackJefferson · 20/05/2012 19:21

Mealiepudding

Hardly justice when the "male" is told that he will be accused of something that he isn't doing.

And you are going by a lot of heresay especially as your post contridicts itself.

suburbandream · 20/05/2012 19:32

I can see the OPs point if there are no parents around to keep an eye on things. Our DCs spent about an hour out this afternoon riding their bikes round the end of the close (sorry, I hate "cul de sac") but DH was with them all the time. I wouldn't want them to hurt themselves or damage anyone's cars. Sometimes some of the little ones ride their scooters about, and there are some bigger boys who skateboard unsupervised but they seem harmless enough.

ArcticRain · 20/05/2012 19:42

We have a large park three houses down . The kids however play in our cul de sac . It annoys me because they get their bike ramps out in the middle of the road and leave them there when they go in for dinner .

They also ride their bikes over our front lawn , and up and down our drives . I caught them playing around our cars with a frisbee gun. So UANBU.

Mealiepudding · 21/05/2012 14:07

BoneyBackJefferson - I think there was probably a bit of history there.

How do you know he wasn't 'doing anything'?

Mealiepudding · 21/05/2012 14:10

And wtf is 'heresay'? Do you mean hearsay or heresy?

curiositykitten · 21/05/2012 14:13

At any point did you ask the children to stop what they were doing?

MarysBeard · 21/05/2012 14:14

I'm glad to see children playing outside. People who don't like it should go and live on...most streets in the UK where children can't play out due to traffic. Grumpy old sods.

PiedWagtail · 21/05/2012 14:58

We live in a cul de sac too and there is a titchy bit of grass outside our hosue- we're the last house in the road. But we live RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO A PARK. So when I see kids playing right outside our house I ask them to play in the park. Seemples.

BoneyBackJefferson · 21/05/2012 17:07

Mealiepudding

I understand why he went to the police.

laughlovelife · 21/05/2012 17:26

Boney, what a silly retort and stoopid one at that, you cannot stop children playing in the street of his house or demand a 8 year old have a asbo served on him for being a child.

I live in a cul-de-sac, and I dont mind it, ds plays out as does all the other children in the street, children are going to be children, as long as they are not damaging the property, or being rude or abusive I dont see a issue, at all.

so for me YABU, but respect not everyone feels the same as I do.

BoneyBackJefferson · 21/05/2012 17:33

laughlovelife

careful or you will be picked up for bad spelling.

laughlovelife · 21/05/2012 17:41

Aah my spelling IS bad, so no new news there tbh Grin

Kellamity · 21/05/2012 17:43

Ours is and I love it! It helps that all the houses in the cul-de-sac have DCs and usually they are all out there playing. It's lovely. I often go out and sit on the doorstep watching them in the summer.

lisamason · 24/12/2016 03:47

Everyone seems to be missing the point : it is illegal to play ball games in the road/on highway full stop.
Nobody is saying do not play outdoors, all people want ( and should want if as an adult you are against breaking the law) is for everyone to live within the law for a harmonious society. And if we stop teaching children the law is there for the benefit of all, then what message do we tell our children ? Answer : Breaking the law is acceptable full stop. So to all those who think anyone asking for the law to be upheld are ***. Think on - when your property gets damaged at a time in the future by a kid, then you really can only blame youself because those children that damaged your property were brought up with parents sharing your view today, then you will become a victim - not a nice thought is it. As for taking it to the Police or Council - forget it, from experience they are a waste of time. Best way to handle it - take action youself and get a MOSQUITO DEVICE ! They are legal, ball games on the road however are illegal. Kids hate the sound, adults can't hear it. Works for us after 20 mins they can't bear the souund. You get one from Compound Security in South Wales. Yes they legal !!!

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