To think that if you kick a ball into someone else's garden, you should ask for it back?

[lovehatelove]

Next door have 2 children, not sure how old but I think the older boy is about 6/7 and the younger boy is about 3/4.

They play football in their garden a lot which is fine and doesn't bother me at all. But they manage to kick balls over the 8ft hedge on a regular basis, but never come and ask for them back or shout over the hedge.
They never mention them. A few months ago I found 7 different balls in the back of my flower bed!

We were out yesterday and have come home to three balls on our lawn.

When I was a kid and I did the same, my parents took me round and I had to politely ask for them back, which was fine.
But the assumption here is that we'll just throw them all back every time.

I'm tempted to start binning them.

AIBU to expect them to just come and ask for the balls back?

You are being extremely unfair. I don’t allow my two to go round and ask because all that would happen is they’d kick back over 5minutes later. If they can’t keep the ball under 6ft they lose the ball for a bit 😎

We were always taught to wait so my dc had to do likewise.

My mil used to get very annoyed as next door would climb her fence to get them, so it could be worse.

We have children on one side. When my two throw the ball over by accident, they’ve been known to keep it and claim the ball is theirs

Other side are fine- just throw it back.

Yabu and petty

I actually see where you're coming from, OP. It is annoying that you receive no thanks or even checking that you're okay with throwing back balls. It's your garden and you are not obligated to do it. For me, it would depend on how I otherwise felt about my neighbours. Nice, polite kids? No problem. Rude, entitled kids? They'd be waiting until Doomsday.

Our neighbours have a few kids, including a toddler and they have a large dog too. The kids kick balls over all the time, the toddler drops her shoes over wall, her dollies, water guns you name it. Even the dog has lost his chew toy over the wall to our garden (although that could have been the little girl too) and its never once occured to me to wait for them to ask for it all back! I just pop it back over or leave it on the wall... Good Grief.

I write the house number and street on the kids balls so people can throw them back if they don't see which direction they've come over from. Wouldn't go round pestering neighbours - if I see the neighbour in passing I'll ask if they can throw them back when they get a chance.

I've bought a swingball football thing though so unless they're really trying to belt the ball and it pings off the spring bit - the amount that go over are minimal thought.

The only time a ball landed in our garden it was shredded by the dog.
I felt a bit mean when I handed the bits of plastic to the child who came round to politely ask for it back.
If I didn't have a ball destroying dog I'd much rather throw a ball back than be bothered by kids knocking on the door.

I used to return everything as soon as I noticed it but it became a bit of a game for the kids I think. I mentioned it to the parent and they said to throw it all away to teach the kids a lesson. I left it a week and then hooked 2 full carrier bags of toys, ball pit balls, fruit, snack litter, mud clods etc over the fence. It stopped.

Just throw them back! Fair enough I would be annoyed if a ball hit my washing but thats all that would bother me. I only have one neighbour and they are fine with my ds going in to retrieve his ball. Found some toys on the fence the other day that the neighbour had returned. Its not a big deal really

I like that my neighbour's kids aren't round knocking at my door everyday asking for their ball back. They went through a stage of chucking loads of random stuff over into my garden, space hoppers, dog toys, skipping ropes, etc. So I don't always chuck stuff back straight away. Our gardens aren't really big enough to play football and the parents and the teenage son play with the two younger kids, which is nice I guess. I just don't get why they don't go to either of the two nearby parks 5-10 mins walk away.

My garden is looking worse for wear with all the balls hitting the flowerbeds (fortunately no expensive plants to replace). My dog also gets stressed when they throw their dog's toys over (smelling another dog in his garden makes him anxious).

just don't get why they don't go to either of the two nearby parks 5-10 mins walk away.

Probably because they can play in the garden on their own but they can't go to the park on their own?

Penggywn, I did say when they're playing together as a family as they do most days. I'm sure two parents in their 30s plus a 15 year old can cope with taking a 5 and a 7 year old to the park.

I would vastly prefer the little shite boy next door to just wait until we threw it back.

The ball hit both me and my fiance whilst we were watching the football from the garden on Sunday, and he came around hammering on the door and ringing the bell straight away. I would have kept it overnight, but fiance is soft as butter in the sun.

Chief crime was him knocking on the door at 7am on a day off I had when I desperately needed to catch up on sleep.

He just needs to piss me off one more time for me to go to speak to his parents about it. The only reason I have held back is that I know they are lovely, and completely on my side - I've actually heard his mum tell him not to go around to us shortly after the ball has come over, and I've heard his dad bollock him for kicking the ball too hard at our fence. I don't want them to feel bad!

Haha I regularly get balls kicked into my garden. I also have a dog who LOVES a football. So it's a goner as soon as he spots the ball!
Tbh it could be one of a couple of different gardens where the ball comes from so unless someone comes for it then I'm not going to chuck it back and my dog gets it 🤣

If you want to make a point, out all the balls in a bag or bin liner depending on quantity and knock on their front door to deliver them back after bed time, once a week. Parent opens door. Comment along the lines of "you'd think an 8ft hedge would be sufficient wouldn't you" or "I think they need some control practice"

Repeat weekly.

DONT destroy their balls. It's hopefully not malicious behaviour and chances are their parents aren't aware of the scale of the problem

Just be glad they don't climb over your fence to get it back.

Our neighbours kids are a fucking nightmare. Their eldest actually broke our fence a few years ago trying to get his ball back from our garden. They youngest two now throw all manner of crap in our back garden. Crisp packets, pop bottles. Their daughter even threw over a pair of her soiled knickers when she had an accident This has all been caught on CCTV so we know it's them. Their youngest lad climbs over the fence and messes around in our back garden, has actually smashed and damaged our property. Despite being told numerous times, their parents let them run feral and don't give a shit.

We fell out big time with our neighbours over balls over the fence. They are a middle aged couple (no kids) who seemed friendly enough when we first moved in. My 2 DSs are not massive football players but liked to boot a ball around occasionally. We had moved from a house with a much bigger garden so they weren’t used to controlling the ball as much and it went into next door’s garden two or three times. Each time I sent DS round to apologise and ask for the ball back. About the third time (and this is over a matter of weeks) NDN started getting a bit snippy with DS about it. Then on the fifth (yes, fifth over several weeks) occasion, they both went absolutely bonkers. DH went round with DS, who was 9 at the time, and I could hear her screaming from inside my house! They refused to give the ball back and screamed on about possible damage to their new car and how she had a stressful job and didn’t want to come home to footballs in the garden! Finally my DH and DS can home minus the ball. Then a few minutes later, NDN husband knocked on our door with the ball. Thinking he had come to apologise for the upset, DH went to take the ball from him, and he pulled it back from DH as if he was a child, basically saying you can’t have it back until you’re a good boy! It was literally the most bizarre thing. I was so upset as I hate confrontation. This was three years ago and they’ve not spoken to us since!

Not that long ago there was a thread about this. People not happy at kids being at their door asking for a ball back.

Find a couple of planks, some sellotape and some string. Then hang up all the balls in a mobile of the solar system and balance it on their side of the fence.

You sound very old and cranky. It's really not a big deal to throw them back, no matter how long you've been doing it. It would be more annoying to have them constantly at your door and you'd long for the days where you could throw them back at your leisure. Clearly they have a lot of balls so you don't need to do it straight away. Just get over yourself and throw them back.

To be fair, Smoothsailing, although the bizarre behaviour and shouting definitely isn't on, I do get where she was coming from about stress.

It's not the act itself, it's the fact that it's the last straw in a long stressy day, that intrudes literally on your own turf. I was having a hideously stressful time at work, constant migraines. I could have burst every fucking ball he had when that kid ruined the one lie in I had.

I can see how being worried about the ball hitting the new car would tip her over the edge.

Though FYI I just refused to answer the door to the kid when he came banging at the house.

Because all old people are the same, Claire?

Footballs I toss back as and when, cricket balls, on the other hand, are collected until a parent comes for them (and pays for the damage they have inevitably done - never an issue of if they'll pay for the damage, but it happens so often I'm seriously annoyed about it).

Your main problem OP is that the children are not being taught to be careful, several balls per day are far too many.

I only really have a front garden and the local kids, including my own, like to play 'Kerby' in the street. Frequently the ball will end up in my garden. I am disabled, so getting up to answer the door is hard work. I have them all trained to just get the damn balls without bothering me! It took some work, as all their parent taught them to bother people knock, before retrieving the ball, but I have got there!

Reminds me of that episode of Recess and 'The Yard Of No Return!'?? There was a cupboard full of balls that the man that lived there had been collecting for years!

Loved Recess