...to think this woman is being unbelievably precious about her grass?

[Jaylabelle]

Bought my ds a rather expensive football for his birthday - it was his main present. On Friday he and his friends were kicking it about as they walked home from school. They walk along a winding road with lots of big houses with big gardens, and they accidentally kicked it someone’s garden.

He rang the doorbell, but no-one answered, so we went round this morning to ask for it back.

A woman answered the door, we asked her, and she said she had seen the football at the end of the garden, but she couldn’t get it back as they’ve just had their lawn relaid and can’t walk on it for 3 weeks!?!

Is it just me who thinks she’s being incredibly precious over some grass? I can’t believe we’re going to have to wait 3 weeks to get back Ds’s football - he’s so upset. Her walking quickly to get it wouldn’t do any harm. I offered to send ds as he’s very small and light but she refused to let him.

Oh do they?

Still though! A few steps won't destroy the lawn surely.

Her lawn, her garden, her right to refuse. A newly laid lawn shouldn’t be walked on. Kicking a ball in the street, hard enough to end up over a wall is dangerous. Serves your ds right.

Footballs in gardens do seem to cause much angst on MN.

Ffs. Really??? I completely despair of humanity when retrieving a bloody football for a child is toooooo much trouble .

Of all the things to cause despair about humanity, this really isn’t one of them

She is quite right. YABU.

Yabu. We waited longer than 3 weeks. Lawns cost alot.

Expensive grass
V
Expensive football

Expensive grass wins.

She's right it's bloody expensive to lay and a new lawn can't be walked on for 3 weeks. She was polite YABU and precious about a ball!

OohMavis

It won't destroy it, but it might make it worse than if you didn't walk on it. And why should the woman put up with that because the OP didn't supervise her DS properly? Sorry to sound critical (we all do it sometimes) but that seems to be what happened.

It wouldn’t destroy the whole thing Mavis but it could leave you with a good few decent size holes in the lawn. Which isn’t what you want when you’ve spent considerable money on it.

Next time ask all his mates to come to your garden fir a kick about after school.

No, it probably wouldn't do anything, but the advice she has (correctly) been given and is taking is that she shouldn't walk on her new, probably pretty expensive lawn. The advice given isn't given just to spite boys kicking footballs about! Grass roots are delicate and do take time to properly set in and take hold. If you fuck it up you get dead grass. I would rather follow the advice to the letter than take the risk for some strangers football which will still be there for collection in a few weeks. Can't he just play with a cheap one temporarily?!

Good job he didn't boot it into a car or the face of a person. Don't play football along the road.
Lesson learnt.
She INBU.

Walking across a new lawn can compress the soil, but most often it leaves a series of depressions in the lawn that may never fully recover. Also, any lateral movement or shearing (running around on the sod by humans or dogs!) should be avoided for the first four to six weeks.

I've just had a new lawn priced up. The cheapest i could find is £110 for 10 square meters, excluding top soil and fitting costs. You can't buy it in lesser quantities.

Would I bollocks walk on over a couple of hundred quids worth of grass for a ball that shouldn't be there.

its not just that the new grass can get killed it’s also that the soil has to settle. If they have just had it laid it will be wet and a bit squishy so if you walk on it the footprints will leave marks. It cost me several thousand pounds to lay the grass in my back garden. I was very precious about it. 😊

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱⚽️🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Sorry, I missed that someone had already made the point I made 🙃🙃🙃

We've recently had a new lawn laid and it cost a lot of money. We weren't allowed on it for 3 weeks and we stuck to that rigidly.

I wouldn't normally be bothered about retrieving a ball, but I wouldn't have walked on my new lawn to do it. I get it's frustrating, but I don't think she IBU.

Who lets their kid kick a football about the streets the way home from school?

Very unlucky timing but it's her garden.

We had a section of the garden turfed and were told to cordon it off for 2 weeks.

I don't think she's unreasonable.

Don't let your child play football along a road.

Who lets their kid kick a football about the streets the way home from school?

How can you 'let' them or not let them do something if you aren't there?

The same kind of person who thinks everyone should drop everything because her son wants something. I’d equate it to someone tramping dirty work boots over a brand new carpet.

Problem is, leaving a ball on a newly laid lawn will block the light and cause a dead patch where the ball is in contact. So actually it would be best to get it off one way or another.

YABU