to think this neighour should not have taken kid's ball

[junipertree2]

My sons were playing with a brand new football in our very small back garden yesterday when it bounced over the wall, down a path (our street is on a slope and we are the higher side) and came to rest on the opposite side of the street behind the back wheel of a neighbour's car. (The houses have no fences or gates.) Within about thirty seconds, he had raced out of his house and taken the ball.

Needless to say, my son who had just paid £17 for this ball was very upset and annoyed. AIBU to think that this man had no right to do this? He is a middle aged man who doesn't like children playing in front of his house, hates footballs and shouts a lot at boys in the street. But I am on my own and money is very tight.

If you saw the ball roll away and him race out after it, why didn't you go out and say something?
Just go and ask for it back, what's the worst that can happen?

@junipertree2

I did not ask for it back as he is unpleasant to children (not just mine) and I don't want to be yelled at or abused, thanks.

A very sad day when two kids can't play with a ball in their own garden without having it taken by a grouch.

When I was a child, the street was full of children playing - rounders, football, cribby. and coincidentally, half of all children weren't overweight, obese, or hooked on video games. But that's a price worth paying for a quiet street, eh.

Don't be such a wimp, go and knock the door and ask for it back

Honestly astonished someone would prefer to loose an expensive foot ball rather than just go and ask for it back.

Op is there a back story? Do you suffer from agoraphobia or severe anxiety or something? Do you have any friends or family you could ask to go and get it back if you’re unable?

@junipertree2

I did not ask for it back as he is unpleasant to children (not just mine) and I don't want to be yelled at or abused, thanks.

A very sad day when two kids can't play with a ball in their own garden without having it taken by a grouch.

When I was a child, the street was full of children playing - rounders, football, cribby. and coincidentally, half of all children weren't overweight, obese, or hooked on video games. But that's a price worth paying for a quiet street, eh.

The big difference is you are not a child so stop acting like one. Go and ask for the ball back. 🙄

Watch out for this man op. We lived next door to a very similar man. It started like this, anger at children playing infront of our house, not even near his house, taking children's balls, bikes, scooters etc and escalated until he hit a child with his car (on purpose) and was sent to prison. Men like this are unhinged.

Buy a new ball. Take DC to a park. Avoid anyone 60+.

Ask for it back or move on.

I'm surprised that no one has yet asked for a diagram.

IME if balls are kicked over fences; the next 10 minutes is spent trying to work out where they've gone. And yet the path of this ball was carefully tracked over the fence, down the path and the OP was able to observe her neighbour taking the ball but wasn't able to either retrieve the ball first or to tell the neighbour it was hers and not to take it.

I did not ask for it back as he is unpleasant to children

But you are, presumably, an adult.

Miserable git . We had a neighbour who used to kick to the the kids years ago and take balls off them if went on front garden but it was ok when his son started playing out and run and got his ball off gardens. His son grownup now and when my kids played out with other younger ones he kept coming out moaning at them until another neighbour of the kids playing out said we put up.with his kid.

Stand up for yourself and your child, knock the door and just say ‘can you return my sons football’ christ stop being such a wet blanket!

Maybe he was just taking it to keep it safe. How would he know it belonged to your children? I would be asking for it back, otherwise teaching your children to just roll over and accept the behaviour.

You need to be a grown-up and ask for it back.

yes he was wrong
but you said yourself the boys were playing ball in your very small back yard.
the ball was bound to get out of the yard at some time!

Football is for the park, not small gardens. I'd be annoyed if a heavy football hit my car too. I had one hit my pram as I was walking my baby (bounced inside, narrowly missing baby's head) and no apology from the lad kicking it.

You really should ask for the ball back otherwise your son has lost it. For goodness sake, you are the parent and supposed to be strong, not intimidated by other adults. It is your right to ask for the return of the ball, you saw it being taken from the road and that was wrong. So what if the man mouths off at you, it won't kill you and he would be the one in the wrong.

Bloody hell.

The capacity of respondents in this place to project and just plain invent shit is astounding.

Then there are the one's with the comprehension level of a one eyed frog with brain damage.

Buy a new ball. Take DC to a park. Avoid anyone 60+.

there now seems to be zero tolerance of any kind of disturbance or noise from children. Read messages here from people complaining about the noise of children playing on trampolines, etc. Is it because so few young families own homes? I do remember having far younger neighbours, most of whom were parents with young kids themselves. Most homeowners now seem 60+....and these are the people are kids have lost a year of their lives to protect

Wow - hasn't this thread developed!
*Kids ball gets kicked over fence and rolls onto neighbours car.
*Neighbour retrieves ball.
*Parent doesn't ask for £17 ball back 😱
*Mumsnet asked if the man has no right to do this
*Consensus is that parent should ask for it back
*Parent doesn't want to do this

Point of thread?

I can understand why the man might be grumpy if people regularly play football outside his house. Most rational people on mumsnet wouldn't want people kicking a ball outside their house as their car or house windows might get hit by it. (A lot more damage done than £17). Most Mumsnetters also don't dislike kids - the majority Mumsnet are likely to be parents.
Some may have a view that everybody has a right to enjoy living in their homes in peace - and screaming kids, barking dogs, un-oiled trampolines, garden bonfires, loud music etc do not allow everybody the chance to have peace in their homes and gardens. There is an increasing entitlement that kids can do no wrong and they are the only ones affected by Covid. They are not.

The proper place for playing football is the park or playing fields, otherwise a light non bouncing ball might be more appropriate unless you really expect your neighbours to be getting up all the time to answer their door to whatever kid has kicked a ball into their garden again (or under their car).

Mine used to play in the garden with those trainer ball kickers - a ball attached to elastic and a pole. Otherwise it was a trip to the park. I'd not want a neighbours ball hitting my car or house.

Go ask for it back and agree some reasonable rules about ball games near other people’s cars. I’ve done the exact same thing with kids on our street playing ball near the cars - are they going to pay for the damage? I think not. I did of course give the ball back but spoke to the kids about it not being ok to play round my car in case they damaged it and then that would mean I couldn’t get to work to help poorly people the next day. They understood. I probably seem grumpy too, but don’t want my wing mirrors knocked off. Not that unreasonable I don’t think.

I did not ask for it back as he is unpleasant to children (not just mine) and I don't want to be yelled at or abused, thanks.

A very sad day when two kids can't play with a ball in their own garden without having it taken by a grouch

I think it's a sad day when a parent would rather come on mumsnet to complain about the state of today (where children apparently can't play football in their garden because a neighbour removed a ball that was not in the family's garden) than knock on the door and ask for their child's ball back.

The neighbour sounds like a grump, but your children's ball wasn't in the garden.

I’m purity sure he’s not allowed to do that.
I thought he could stop them taking the ball back but he wasn’t allowed to take it from where it landed. Just get your kids to play in the street outside his house until he gets fed up.

You are definitely being unreasonable because you haven’t asked for it back. And you think you have put your life on hold for the sake of over 60s homeowners 😂😂

So we've had children are all obese and play video games - people over 60 are all miserable grouches and steal DCs balls - did you forget to mention how poorly parked his car was OP? Go on, you know you want to.