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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to let my children chalk on the pavement?

74 replies

Sampanther · 22/04/2014 22:01

My dc love drawing on the path outside our house with chalk. The path serves only our house plus two others, so is seen by very few people. Today I was hanging my washing out and heard my neighbour talking on the phone about how my dc had been 'vandalising' outside her house again and how she'd be telling me to put a stop to it if it happened again. I suspect she knew I was there and it was her passive aggressive way of telling me to make them stop.

If it were outside her house directly (it's not) or offensive words or pictures (actually it's generally their names/flowers/hearts/animals) then I could understand, but surely letting children chalk on paths isn't wrong? Aibu to politely tell her they won't be told to stop if she broaches it with me next time?

OP posts:
zzzzz · 22/04/2014 23:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Blondeshavemorefun · 22/04/2014 23:29

The children I nanny for love drawing with chalk on patios etc - don't see the harm as long not rude

Tho one employer years ago told me off for ruining their patio Hmm and banned me from allowing kids to to again :(

It was chalk ffs and washed off the next day in the rain

VinoTime · 22/04/2014 23:31

Jeez, what a right old misery she sounds!

We live in a little cottage that sits pretty much directly on a very quiet road leading to a dead end, so we don't have a front garden or anything. The only other place the road can take you is to my neighbours house or the old folks home 2 seconds away. DD (6) is always out with her chalks when the weather is nice. The road is covered in pictures and words and of course - a big colourful hopscotch. I've never had a single complaint. In fact, the old biddies always stop to talk to her and then stop to tell me how nice it is to see a wee one outside playing "these days" Grin

I wouldn't stop allowing them to do it, OP. They're just children drawing sweet pictures and they won't always be at an age where it's something they take enjoyment from doing. It's not like they're drawing anything explicit right on her doorstep. Tell her to stop being such a scrooge if she raises the issue with you. They aren't doing any harm.

mom2twoteens · 22/04/2014 23:44

She sounds very sad and unhappy, poor thing.

I chalked loads as a child and so did my children. They love it and it doesn't last long. So don't worry about it.

One of my son's friends did some chalk drawings when he came to mine after school, I had him for hours and fed and entertained him (chalk drawing LOL) and is mom complained about his dusty uniform 'cos she only did washing on Mondays and Thursdays. What! There's no pleasing some people. ;-)

MidniteScribbler · 23/04/2014 00:13

DS loves doing chalk drawings but I only let him do it on our driveway, not the pavement. If they're doing it on public areas I'd probably wash it off when they're finished. She has as much right to dislike it as you do to like it, and you still need to live next to her. Compromise sounds like it is needed.

spatchcock · 23/04/2014 01:00

What a miseryguts. If it wasn't the chalk you just know it would be something else.

eightandthreequarters · 23/04/2014 01:09

Tell her she best let them get it out of their systems now, before they're old enough to tag her door with spraycans. :) Some people just cannot be happy, and can't let others be happy either.

MexicanSpringtime · 23/04/2014 01:15

If that is all your neighbour has to complain about, let her. Obviously she enjoys it and if it's not that, she'll only be looking for something else.

She doesn't know how lucky she is, I used to live beside children who would deliberately break my windows,

Nowitscleanugobshite · 23/04/2014 01:41

Blame the teacher!! I sometime suggest chalking/painting with water on pavement or patio etc as a homework for my class! (though in NI the colour of the kerbstones can often denote "territory"!!!)

TooWetToWoo · 23/04/2014 02:02

Please, please, purlease draw a huge spunking cock outside her gate then casually next morning remark to her about the disgusting teens of today. At least your little ones only draw inoffensive things and thank goodness it just takes a little rain to wash the offending items away. You must practise your 'totally innocent' face Grin

AveryJessup · 23/04/2014 02:24

She's a miserable cow. It rains a lot in the UK, doesn't it? So what's the problem? It might sit there for 2, maybe 3 days at most and then the rain will wash it off. Hardly the end of the world.

Give the old bag the evil eye the next time you see her.

Amy106 · 23/04/2014 03:32

I love it when the neighbourhood kids chalk their cute and colourful drawings on the pavement and always feel a little sad when the rain takes it all away. YANBU but your neighbour certainly is. She needs to lighten up.

Theodorous · 23/04/2014 08:57

Posted it back through letterbox? What a cow! Another supporter of the spunky cock idea here

PsychologicalSaline · 23/04/2014 09:31

There are big wide pavements around where I live and loads of kids have chalked pictures and games over the Easter hols. I can't see the problem if it's not offensive/rude.

I did buy some chalk from Ikea last year and let my kids use our garden walls to draw on. Eldest drew a series of stick men dying horrible deaths. Sort of gruesome and cave painting art in equal measure. I thought the rain would wash it off. It didn't. Cheap chalk cooked onto the walls in the sunshine and I had to borrow a jetwasher to blast it off!

FrigginRexManningDay · 23/04/2014 10:02

Some fucker called the council last summer because of the children chalking the paths and kerbs. Nothing offensive, just childrens stuff.

Nocomet · 23/04/2014 10:21

YANBU
We had lots of path (paving stones all round a bungalow), but we weren't allowed to draw in them. DM said chalk was for DSIS blackboard and bits of roofing slate, not the path. It used to really annoy me.

In later years we did draw a discreet hopscotch grid, which she grudging ignored.

SummerRain · 23/04/2014 10:43

This has reminded me I need to pick up some chalks when I'm at the shops. My lot love drawing on the pavement and fences with them and anyone who objected would get my finest Hmm face and be soundly ignored.

She sounds like a miserable mean old bag, who posts back a picture a child gives them ffs?

shewhowines · 23/04/2014 10:54

I can sort of see where she is coming from if they are doing it everyday and it's sort of a permanent fixture.
If it's only every so often she's a right old miserable git.

rumbleinthrjungle · 23/04/2014 11:13

I live near a long bike trail and love seeing the chalk drawings appear on it in good weather. It's only chalk, it's not flipping spray paint! YANBU.

MiniSoksMakeHardWork · 23/04/2014 21:13

Just a thought, could you make them banksy-esque and try to convince her they are worth a small fortune??

BigBirdFlies · 23/04/2014 21:26

I remember chalking a hopscotch grid in my flats when I was about 9 and the man upstairs shouted at me. I wasn't allowed to chalk after that because he was on the residents committee.

backwardpossom · 23/04/2014 21:39

Good grief some folk are miserable bastards. YANBU.

Fruli · 23/04/2014 21:45

Our cul-de-sac is often decorated by the neighbours' kids. I can't resist hopscotching either Smile

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