To stop throwing the balls back over the fence?

[Danielsss]

Those bloody balls. The kids next door constantly play ball games, the balls always go over our fence! We would always get a knock on the door, every 2 minutes. I ended up saying if just throw it back over, it's still as frequent!!! How do I stop this?

They are probably sturdy kids if they spend their time kicking a ball around, so unlikely to hurt themselves, and the OP could point out any plants they are not to go near. They are children, not gorillas.

These are kids who are being polite by knocking, they are spending their time playing in their garden, and someone is going to make their life hard, force their parents to buy a huge supply of balls so they can get through the day, and in the process become that neighbour whom they will remember throughout their lives for being such a cranky misery.

They could use a ladder on both sides of the fence.
If the fence is made of wood you can nail in horizontal slats that could serve as a ladder on your side.

Seriously, who would make a fuss about this so-called problem?
The children can't win for losing here, it seems.

I think you should do what our neighbour said to our DC. He would throw them back, but in his own time. He asked them please not to knock.

My friends little guy kept kicking ball into ndn garden accidentally. She refused to return them saying he was ruining her flowers. Nothing they could do. Then on Christmas morning she came to the door with a huge sack full of balls. Every one was there. He was thrilled. But all l could think of what a mean horrible witch.

What?? I can't believe kids who are suggesting damaging kids balls! What total and utterly arsewipes. They're kids fgs. Bit criminals. We used to have children in the street playing cricket and their balls falling over into our garden and they were alwasy polite about asking them back. Leave the gate open after the first time if its too hard and ask them to close it at the end of their game to save you on subsequent trips. Are you seriously suggesting damaging some poor kids property just becasue you can't be asked to open the door? What a bunch of miserly guts.

My own DC play ball and sometimes it falls into the overgrowth near the house, outside the garden. They have to walk through some brambles and bushes and stretch out quite a bit to retrieve it but they do so. They buy their balls with their own pocket money and they don't get a lot. It's usually reward money when they do well at school or do a chore over and above what's expected of them. If some mean miserly guts of a kid busted their ball just because it was inconveniences them it would really upset them. If an adult did it it would be worse.

Kids next door to me kick their balls into my garden on purpose, no sooner have i thrown them over they literally throw them over thinking its a game and laughing. Told them so many times not to and to not coimb the new fence because it is now wobbly.

I might start chucking their balls to the dogs on the other side of me 😂

My DH used to lodge with a woman who refused to throw the balls back. She put them in her shed. We called her a witch.

The best approach is a simple, sensible compromise. Ask them not to knock unless they are collecting balls that have been there for a couple of days. When you go outside in the evening, chuck the balls back. If you are there when they fly over, chuck them back. Or install a net 😂

My friends little guy kept kicking ball into ndn garden accidentally. She refused to return them saying he was ruining her flowers. Nothing they could do. Then on Christmas morning she came to the door with a huge sack full of balls. Every one was there. He was thrilled. But all l could think of what a mean horrible witch.

But the neighbour had said her flowers were being ruined. Wasn't it your friend's responsibility to stop this happening, whether that meant higher fences / trellises / buying her son a goal to kick at? What else could the neighbour have done to protect her garden?

DS (5) has just got into football, our garden is tiny and he has limited control. Our neighbours are lovely and throw the balls back when they land. Gotta be worth a thank you card and bottle of wine at Christmas, no?

If it gets too much say you are busy and you'll throw the ball back when you've finished what you are doing. And leave it longer and longer each time. Have wet hands when you answer the door or a duster or similar.

We too had a miserable bugger next door who would refuse to return a ball. We learned that even knocking and asking politely wouldn't necessarily get it back (didn't happen that often - large garden). I have an abiding memory of him puncturing one with a penknife in front of us and binning it. Nasty git.

We now live next door to a family of boys. Their ball comes over, we throw it back. What's the problem?

Oh, stop being a misery guts and throw them back when you're going outside anyway.

I get that someone refusing to throw your ball back straight away seems like a misery guts to kids, but let's not forget that adults have the right to enjoy peace in their own homes - this can get very annoying if it's constant, to be fair.

My NDN is lovely and has told the boys just to go in her garden and collect their balls but they are under strict instructions not to tread on the flower beds etc. The other neighbours just throw them back when they spot them. What type of people would destroy children's balls? Probably the same people who moan that children spend all their time inside playing computer games!

We are a family of boys. We have lots of balls. Our small garden borders on 4 other garden (don't ask, odd layout). One of our garden neighbours also has kids/balls and we have a nice reciprocal agreement re ball return - no issues. Other neighbours are elderly, had 3 kids, now grown-up, and also fostered 20+ children, they throw back and/or allow access to their garden at will, so my boys go and get their balls again themselves. Neighbour No3 we never see, but periodically balls reappear in our garden. Neighbour No4 works off shore, 3 weeks on/3 weeks off, so we collect balls when he is away and when he is there is shouts and rants

Guess which of these parties in known in the whole village as being misery-guts wankers?!

Throw back once a day, OP, that's what I do and it's really not a chore.

Christ, some people need to tone down the over-emotive, handkerchief-clutching crap. 'But the children will think you're a meanie! How can you be such a misery?'

Ugh. Pass me a bucket. I'll puke in it and then throw that over the fence.

Had a miserable woman next door.not only did she not let the kids have the ball back but she used to give them away. My son had a ManU ball for his birthday,he was so thrilled because I had said they were too expensive. Someone accidently kicked it over and she wouldn't return it. He was so upset. Months later a man we knew in the village knocked at the door and asked which team my boys supported and when I got to Son 3 he said " I thought so just a minute." Yep, you guessed it he gave us a ManU ball. Apparently she gave it to him for his grandsons! After that they went to the village hall to play and we have a good size garden.
She used to do other horrible things like throw glass over on our grass. We nearly moved because of her but then I thought we would hopefully be there after her( she was in her 70's) and we are. My kids were polite and well behaved and the ball only went over a couple of times less than a few of times a week. He threw them back. She was miserable to her grandkids too. They told me they hated going to visit as she preferred her dogs!
Don't be so miserable throw them back even if it is once a week.

Go out at the end of the day and chuck back over.

Ask them not to knock as its disturbing you.

We have a family with 4 boys and a trampoline next to the adjoining 6 foot fence. They have about 20 balls and a space hopper.

Their manners are impeccable. If I see a ball in our garden (or the space hopper ) I will throw back over if convenient . If not, I tend to throw back over at the end of the evening when I do poo patrol (I have a dog....we don't tend to shit in the garden apart from DS, 3, but that's another thread )

If they're in the garden when i return the ball they are always so grateful, like I've done some major good deed. They're lovely boys.

My ndn is fab, quite narly but very kind. She's in her late 80s and has half her garden as an allotment. DS knocked for his favourite stick (light sabre). There is a language barrier but he came back with his stick and a Cornetto. I'll do anything for her, DH is her IT guy.

I wouldn't let DS ask for balls back. He waits for them to be put back over.

Joff

Just say you'll throw balls back at the end of the day, every few minutes is daft.

We have small gardens. Family with two football mad boys, 7 and 10, live next door to local grump who has been spoiling kids' fun, even well away from his house, for decades. He doesn't return balls. The boys' parents have now netted over their garden.

When my boys were tiny, the lad next door used to kick his footballs over all the time. It got a bit annoying having him knock repeatedly, so I said he could climb over the fence and get them.

Fast forward a few years, and my boys are now doing the same thing. Both neighbours are very nice about it, returning the balls without complaint. I'm sure it irritates them, but I don't see what can be done about it. The kids aren't doing it out of malice, it's genuinely difficult to keep a ball in a small garden.

I think it's all part of living in close proximity to others. We're not deliberately making their lives unpleasant - blocking their drive, playing loud music - nothing like that. It's just kids playing, with the inevitable side effects. And it's not for ever - the lad next door is now 17 and I never see him in the garden at all.

And for those who may not know - fancy Premier League footballs can cost £20, so please think twice before damaging them!

Let me start by saying that I love kids and seeing them play. I babysit and have teen boys myself (they never played ball games in garden as there is a big park nearby). I have never had no issue with normal playing and ball games.
Problem is that we now live next door to an 8 year old who not only kicks his balls over our fence but has also put several holes in it. He seems to have his dinner much earlier than us so all through our dinner we get knocks on door to return his balls. This can be as often as 10-20 times in just an hour.
I have spoken to his mother as he often sends her to collect his balls. She doesn't seem to see the problem and was quite happy with him getting his balls from our garden if we don't move fast enough or are out.
We have now put a lock on the gate to stop him coming in and I let my sons return his balls. They are as fed up as me. I just want one mealtime where I eat my food while its hot.
I dont want to be a grumpy cow. I want to carry on making biscuits for neighbourhood kids, doing fun things for Halloween and all the other things I do for them but that kid honestly makes me cry.
I'm not like the people in the area. They are all middle class and I'm very working class. My kids had rules and they wouldn't have dared kicking balls into neighbours fence or garden as he would have slapped them. The rules are different here so I just have to take it.

I suffered badly from kids knocking the door TELLING me to throw their balls back that had been kicked over the fence. These weren't little kids playing in their back gardens but the whole neighbourhood's 11-12 year olds who would congregate outside our house (corner plot so our back garden was on the road ), 'playing' all day long in the holidays or just from 4pm to around midnight on school days.

Their 'play' consisted of shouting, screaming, swearing, drinking and throwing glass about, keying cars and of course footballs being kicked so hard against our fence and walls every 20 seconds or so.

As one group grew up and moved on so the next younger ones moved in. We had years of it. I became known to them as the mad woman in the corner house.
My life was a living hell due to these 'children playing'. Of course when the balls came into the garden I was expected to rush out and return them so the children could carry on with their game.

Eventually it died down a bit and i made a rule of only returning balls to the parents - they had to come in person every time and ask for their precious kid's balls. Funnily enough that put an end to it.
To all of you saying of their only children, poor little mites, get real. I was suicidal due to your attitude.

My son is banned from ball games and anything that flies because I'm fed up with every single bloody thing going over the fences to our next door gardens. They have dogs each side and understandably chew everything (totally our own fault).

However one sides kid frequently kicks his ball in the garden, he used to shout my name until I came out but after a few times ignoring him he got the idea id do it in my own time. We're happy with our arrangement.