to expect local children to stay out of my garden?

[IdreamofClooney]

I;ve recently moved into a new house and am thrilled to finally have a proper house with a garden and everything!

However I am getting really fed up with the fact that some of teh local kids seem to think that my property is a public area.

There are two wee boys who are maybe 4 and 6 max who are constanly hanging around on the streets. The minute DS and I venture outside they are all over DS asking to play with him etc (I always say no as DS is only two and he won;t be going out to play on the streets unsupervised for many years to come!) they wrestle his toys off him etc but generally are fairly ok.

Over the last few weeks though I've noticed that they are constanlty in my garden. Running up and down my drive and cycling their bikes round my front garden. I;ve asked them to go and play in their own garden twice now - once when they were staring into my living room for over half and hour and once when I saw then deliberately aiming a ball at my window.

I also caught an older boy trying to climb over my seven foot fence into my back garden (they have done this once before when I was in and I told them not to).

I am really fed up - what can I do?

barbed wire and an electric fence should keep the little feckers out.

YANBU......... I prefer if MY children stay out of my garden........lol
Seriously though, perhaps you should tell them that you'll visit their parents if it doesn't stop....

The worst I've had is kids climbing over the back fence to get a ball back - I told them the polite thing to do would be ring the doorbell!

At their age I would tell them they are not to play in your garden, it's private, not theirs and if you catch them again then you will speak to their parents.

I'm a bit too scared to speak to their parents actually as these kids seem to be left to their own devices for hours at a time so I doubt whether their parents could care less that they are hanging out in my garden. They don;t seem to bother other neighbours - just me as I am on the end of the block and have a open driveway. I don;t want to be mean to them, I just want them to play somewhere else.

Am especially not keen on a 10 year old climbing a seven foot fence in the dark to get into my back garden. I was amazed that the wee four year old could scale the fence no problem too. Think barbed wire may be the solution

Or dig out a big trench so that when they drop down in to the garden the drop will be about twelve foot. you could add water too and some crocodiles.

YANBU. I think if you have to tell them a couple more times then you should maybe just pop round and see their mum? Say you think it is really nice of her boys to want to play with your DS but he is too little to go out and could she explain this to them as you have tried and it has not worked as they are constantly in your garden.

we have had the same problem, next doors kids thinking its ok to come into our driveway, or climb over the fence, i told them if they wanted their ball back they should come and ask, their dad then had a go at me and said they were just kids and not doing anything wrong

well duh i can see they are just kids and i have three myself, none of them would go in someones garden without asking permission.

they have also taken toys from our front garden and i caught one little boy (about 6) trying to take the boys ride on tractor we have gates and both the front and back garden are fully enclosed, however these kids are ALWAYS out and unsupervised, the only time i see their dad having something to do with them is when he is shouting at them which normally involves swearing as well

the miserable weather is actually helping as they cant be out all the time, but i need to come up with an action plan before next summer ....

so you are not alone xxxx

I came home in the summer to find a girl in our back garden on our trampoline and her brother standing on our shed .
As i opened the back door to find out what they were doing ( I was more confused than cross that point) my big old english dog ran past me down towards them. He was bounding and happy to have someone to play with on a school day but it scared the crap out of them.
It wasn't imtentional but they have never been back. Still not sure what they were doing and actually why they weren't at school .
So buy a big dog seem to be my soloution

You need an air gun.

Although I do like the idea of barbed wire ...

Do you live in Basra?

Plant pyracantha along back wall. Nature's barbed wire, with pretty berries.

sit on the porch, in your rocking chair, shotgun in hand muttering maniacially bloody pesky kids^

this is so annoying isn't it? I have the same problem

dd is 3, local kids are a bit older (not sure, 7? 8? and a 5yo). They ask to play with her then play with her stuff, ignoring her. We have a swing and one of those mini trampoline things in our garden so nowt flash at all. I have sent them away before now because they have upset dd by either ignoring her or muscling in on her toys and not letting her play with them. They are now no longer under any illusion that they can play with dd without including her in their games. I would see them off altogether but dd enjoys playing with them when they play nicely. I have heard next door boot them out of his garden when they have let themselves in there. I turn a blind eye to a large extent because I think it's great that they do play out, but when they upset dd I go all MummyZilla

IdreamofClooney - i only jest. i would be really cross too. tactful words to the parents?or invite the neighbours inc parents of these children over for a coffee and i'm new to the area nice to meet you (subtext being gentle hint - don't play in my garden)