Trampolines

[Rivendell2013]

Hi all, my neighbour has just knocked at my door and asked me to take down the trampoline in our garden because it encroaches on her privacy. She said that the children bouncing and looking at her in her garden "makes her feel uncomfortable". The trampoline has been up for one day and the only reason I bought it was so that my boys have something to do in the garden during lockdown. Also it was my sons 10th birthday present. I am a high risk person so cant go out and i'm home schooling 2 boys each day. The boys stay at their dads for 3 days a week as well. Am I being unreasonable telling her that it isn't coming down?

As long as your children aren't gawping at her or peering into her garden rather than bouncing, I'd explain it's a healthy way for them to exercise and let off steam during lockdown and you'll remind them to be considerate.

If you can move it at all away from her boundary, do - everyone's so on edge these days that minor irritants loom large. Your children deserve their fun but anything that mitigate disturbance to others is worth bearing in mind.

BanKitten
That's because the other thread is about intrusive behaviour and asking the trampoline be moved away from the boundary so the child can't stare.

This thread is about a neighbour asking OP get rid of a trampoline entirely and no indication of poor behaviour from the children.

The Art of Compromise.

Make sure your children can't see into your neighbours garden and keep the springs well oiled with WD40.

Your children are happy, your neighbour should be happy (if not feel free to say you have addressed her complaint so that's that)

As if your going to take it down! Can you not move it away from her fence if there's room?

Don't all trampolines have netting around them? Is the netting very see through, online they tend to look opaque? Are many kids able to jump higher than that? I wanted to buy one for my toddlers.

Yanbu, the kids aren't at home half the week. I would monitor how much they go on it but otherwise your neighbour needs to deal with it. It is not like you will be using it all year round if you are in the UK.

Depends where your trampoline is and whether your kids are bothering your neighbour. I had a trampoline once and you couldn't see my kids but could hear them and I had a neighbour complain about kids noise- bizarre but she had a reputation for making anonymous complaints. Anyway if your trampoline is against the fence and the neighbours can see your kids jumping and peering at them then you need to move it

YABU. Move the trampoline so it isn't against her fence and tell your child to stop staring. Easy!

Tell her to stop doing the gardening with her tits out.

I can see it might be a bit annoying but particularly in current circumstances kids need ways to let off steam.

If there's any way you can move it away from her boundary then that would be a kind thing to do.

It would also be kind to limit the amount of time the kids are allowed out to play on it - say a couple of hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon so she can have some uninterrupted garden time (and let her know roughly what that would be so she could for example choose to have lunch in her garden knowing your kids will be inside).

Otherwise it's just a tough luck for her and she needs to accept it as part and parcel of living in a community.