Toddler in my garden

[Yabbers]

Our house has a public path running past it. Our front garden is separated by a wide strip of grass, then our drive, then our front garden. It’s obviously our garden and not public space.

Mother, granny and toddler outside, toddler running about kept running on to our drive, up the path hitting the door then back across the grass. I do get twitchy about kids going on our drive as our neighbour sometimes has visitors who race up it, but not a problem as I assume the mum is paying attention. But, it is still my front garden so I’m a bit that’s a little rude. The mum and gran are watching him, smiling indulgently.

Then he starts taking the top off one of our garden lights. Puts it back and goes and does it to another. Giving it a good wobble as he does it. (They are those solar ones you push into the grass)

I opened the door and said to the mum “excuse me, do you mind?” Not shouting, just quite calm, he’s just a baby I didn’t want to scare him. She started saying sorry but then rolled her eyes and turned to granny and gave one of those smiles. I said, I didn’t mind him running in the garden, but not playing with those lamps as that’s a bit rude. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

WIBU to ask her nicely to stop her son doing this?

We have exactly the same problem. People cut the corner and walk across our garden to the path.

It didn’t use to bother me but recently it’s got to the point where people blatantly walk diagonally across our drive and down the middle of our lawn. It’s incredibly rude.

We’ve had kids picking flowers, running round our drive and poking at the borders with sticks.

And don’t get me started on the dog walkers. angry

Stop all access to your garden asap. A metal or wood frence and plant a Pyracantha hedge behind it

Smile brightly and wait for them to quickly remove child from your property.

Naw, they'd decide the child was crippled, and try to sue you 😄

Sprinkler system
And cctv to laugh later!!

Stop all access to your garden asap. A metal or wood frence and plant a Pyracantha hedge behind it

There's always been some tale that if you don't prevent people from walking across your propertey for a year and a day then it becomes a right-of-way. Or is that just an urban legend?

Get orfff my land" ought to do it

No, it's bullshit 😄 Just googled.

@FrancisCrawford I love Misty! Is she/he a real pony?

Joseph we don’t really want a fence, but I think we are going to have to do something.

It’s very annoying though.

We used to have an open plan Garden, a really rough family moved in and their kids basically treated our front garden and drive as an extension of theirs. I got tired of moving toys out the way to get onto my driveway and tired of telling the parents and kids it wasn’t on. I warned the son if kept doing it I would just drive over his toys next time...so I did, que one flat action man and no more issues.

@NKFell

I did half expect a call for one. I’m shit at drawing, but here you go.

I have a similar problem with my next door neighbour. Our garden runs in front of both houses with no separation. Our area is much larger as their side is mostly made up of their driveway. They have a toddler, and when we first moved in I heard them telling her off for venturing over onto our side of the garden. I (stupidly) told them not to worry and that I did not mind their little one playing on my garden (she was obviously too young to know where their garden ended and ours started and I thought what harm could a toddler do?) I also did not want to seem "funny" by putting up a hedge or fence as a boundary. Next thing, half the, much older, neighbourhood kids were playing on my garden, sticking in cricket stumps and kicking footballs, all invited over by my neighbour to play on "our shared garden". As if that wasn't bad enough one day I looked out from my toilet window (over at the complete opposite side of their house) and the husband had come home from work and was lying on the grass right outside my front door "sunbathing". The final straw was when Harry and Meghan were getting married and I settled down peacefully in my front lounge to watch the wedding. Next door had visitors and they decided to send all the kids out to play on my stretch of garden in front of my window, kicking a ball repeatedly against my front window and wall - I was only trying to be kind to their toddler but the parents have really taken advantage.

so rude what an example to set a child. think i would have been a bit less restrained and told them exactly what i thought of them

is your house bottom right?

reading with interest as we have a similar dilemma about how to erect a barrier.

She was probably embarrassed. Poor reaction on her part.

Meh I have one of these not the pony the wayward toddler. Maybe the mums look of smug is actually exasperation. I just endlessly say don't touch, get off, that's someone's garden, you can't go on there toddler just ignore's me. However he can shout "get off me" really loudly if I try to lead him away

@nojellybabies

Our house is both sides, the path runs up to the front door in the middle of the house.

Maybe the mums look of smug is actually exasperation.
I’d love to give the benefit of the doubt but I really didn’t see that in her face. When he was just running back and fore, child cute waved at them and they waved back. They weren’t making an effort to stop him.

Follow her home and drive over her front lawn

A very sensitive sprinkler system?
Actual electrified lights?
Motion sensor blood curdling scream?

Invest in a sprinkler system and switch it on when the cf’s come into your property. 😇

To those who asked about the pissing-in-the-windowbox incident - no, the mother did not apologise. She told me that he was "desperate". She was standing 20 feet from an open cafe with a toilet, which I pointed out to her, seeing as she was apparently blind as well as DISGUSTING. I think she genuinely expected me to say "oh well that's okay then" and instead I'm afraid I went full on Hyacinth Bucket and gave her a few lessons in how not to be a disgusting pig.

She gave up whining at me after a minute and walked off with her child tucked under her arm whilst I continued to give her the benefit of my very loud advice about how she should conduct herself in public in future.

I've never seen her back, funnily enough.

With the boundary thing - i understand it can be tricky. Used to be a lot of properties near us like this at our old place. I often looked at them and wondered what i'd do if i lived in one to mark my turf

Can you plant an evergreen shrub in each corner perhaps? Or place a plant pot there? At least to mark out the 'square' of your property?

I'm madly territorial. I blame my dear departed dad. He was too.

How about saying 'my dog just did a big poo there and I haven't picked it up yet' how are they to know if you have a dog or not.

@mamageebo you’re garden layout sounds the same as ours was. I came home to find the daughter had been using my new doorstep (after extension) as a platform for colouring, I had pens, books etc just dumped there with felt tip pen marks on the step. The same they invited all kids in neighbourhood to play on our garden and my DD was scared to go out the door as they were nasty to her. In the end enough was enough and we fenced off the garden I didn’t give a damm if it upset he made or not same as they didn’t care about upsetting us. They moved a while later thank god