To let my DD walk on the wall?

[PrincessWatermelon]

Like any other children, my 2 DDs (2 and 4) love walking on garden walls. There are some especially good ones near the school. No one has told us off, but I do wonder what the 'done thing' is. Obviously I'm careful they only walk on a sturdy wall and don't touch/harm any plants/fences, etc. Do you think this is ok or AIBU?

Tinsel

Honestly, it was completely normal. People walked on our garden walls, we did it on theirs...

Anyhow, I understand that times have either changed/or that things are simply different depending on where you live.

Which may mean that DD won't be allowed to walk on other people's walls...

YABU to let them walk on walls belonging to people.

My old garden wall was in need of repair and was wobbly. I had to save up to pay to get it fixed. I would be very pissed off if it collapsed through a parent letting a child walk on it. Chances are I would be blamed too if they were injured.

Maybe all of these breezy "oh I havent given it a thought"'s might actually give a thought now you know that there are plenty of walls that are very unstable and could seriously hurt your DC. Mine could.

All it takes is one brick to wobble, kid loses footing and smashes their head on a sharp corner of brick as they come tumbling down with all of their weight.......jesus a chill has just gone up my spine!

I wouldn't allow it and haven't let my children climb on private walls. I'm surprised people think it's ok actually - I assumed everyone knew you stay off private property unless invited.

I have a low wall in front of my house. It was slight in disrepair (a few bricks coming loose) when I moved in. I worried about the neighbours children walking on the wall - what if they fell off and hurt themselves, would it be my fault even though the state of the wall was fine IF it wasn't being climbed on?

I've since had it repaired but still don't want children walking on it. I don't want the wear and tear from others climbing on it - simply because I can't afford a second set of repairs any time soon.

These sound like pretty crappy walls tbh

well, we can't all be loaded and have lots of spare money to build walls fit to be walked on

round here, most private wall is built of local bricks which crumble easily; it's cheap, most of the walls are as old as the houses, and people are not well off here

walls around public spaces are built of a more expensive variety which can take more weight

No, of course you shouldn't be using other people's property as a balance bar for your kids. Take them to Tumble Tots and make them walk on the pavement.
How would you react if one of the walls was unstable and collapsed when you're child was on it? Bet you'd decide it was the owners fault...

Yes, miserable fucker here too I'm afraid. My elderly MIL said how much she loved watching all the little ones pass by the house on the way to and from school, except for the ones who were allowed to walk on their wall, run onto their lawn, pick up handfuls of gravel from their drive and pour it down their drain etc.

You have to think beyond the one child and think about the impact of many kids doing it twice a day.

What happened to if it's not yours, leave it alone

i.e. if it's not your property then show some respect to the owner and do not touch it.

Indulging a child and egging them on to perform a repeated action which will eventually damage someone else's' property isn't clever.

Garden walls are not constructed to the same standard as play equipment and if there was an accident, who amongst all the fans of wall walking would hold their hands up and say 'Sorry, that was entirely my fault, I should not have let the child walk/climb on the wall'
and how many would shout loudly for compensation because their precious over-indulged snowflake hurt themselves doing something where they should never have been allowed to be.

Sadly, responsibility for one's own actions and parental responsibility need explaining to some people.

I wouldn't be particularly bothered although I can see why some people would be. My dogs would probably jump up and knock them off though so not very safe.

You've reminded me of my grandmother who used to take a hosepipe to kids doing that though.

Please don't. Whether you believe it a big deal or not, it does eventually damage it, particularly those walls with the flag tops. Repeated walking on them loosens the mortar and they get wobbly, eventually falling off and breaking.
Stick to council owned walls if you must. Always best to raise children to believe they need to respect other people's property and not climb on it.
It's bad enough that I now have a wobbly fence and a broken garden gate thanks to friend's of my children climbing and swinging on them despite me constantly telling them not to. Perhaps their parents never thought climbing on stuff was a big deal either....

This is like the bloody slide argument.

YABVVVVVU.

It's not your property so it's possible that people will get arsey.

Of course on a site like this a lot of people are going to be fine about it. But you shouldn't let your child walk on any wall, including public ones - these things still have to be maintained and if enough children do it, they will damage the wall. Plus as a pp said, if your child falls off, then the homeowner may feel responsible

Although I'm literally lolling at the idea of all those homeowners smiling indulgently while various children gradually wreck their property

absolutely not OK, it's someone else's property, it's like walking over someone's grass, you're not likely to damage it but you still don't do it! It's rude.

Well the leap from "a child walking on my wall" to "dozens of children doing it every day, wrecking my property" is a pretty big one. Not on mumsnet though I guess.

I used to have a wall that local children walked on, it was not particularly safe so I had it taken down before someone got hurt.

I have railings now, mwah hahaha!!

I work from home, and my study overlooks my front garden. I'm near a church hall with lots of toddler groups, so I get various small people walking along my front wall all day. I quite like it.

The only time I've every said something is when litter was thrown into my garden. But aside from that, I don't think it's an issue at all.

Like any other children, my 2 DDs (2 and 4) love walking on garden walls. There are some especially good ones near the school

This means the jump from one child to many is not so big.

Well the leap from "a child walking on my wall" to "dozens of children doing it every day

If you're on a natural route to nursery/school and have a walkable wall, then it is dozens of children ... that's kind of the point, as everyone thinks "oh it's just my one child, they won't do any harm" but it becomes an issue when you look at the big picture.

Though I am happy to turn my YABU to a "YANBU if you have discovered a wall that is not on any normal walking routes and yours is likely to be the only child walking on it".

YABU.

It's not your property to allow them to walk on.

Gosh, people are easily upset! Our front yard has a nice wall about a foot high which is rarely free of small children walking on it. It has never once occurred to me to resent this.

Bully for you, Tawdry. If one of them gets injured on it, the parents will very likely sue you.

Not private garden walls but public ones are fair game, sometimes I walk on them too.

Yabu other people's property isn't a play thing, stick to public ones or people who have said it's ok to walk on their walls.