School kids walking on my front garden wall

[Randomo]

Why do parents think its okay to have their kids walk on my front garden wall (2 foot high)....

Whats worse are the kids that sit on the 'pillar' at the entrance to my drive. (A 3 foot high brick pillar with a flat top).

When I was a kid I was taught not to walk or sit on others property. I dont blame the kids so much as the parents. Its drives me nuts. I used to call them out on it, but given up now....too many different/new parents each year.

Or am I the one with a problem?

I bet the parents would be quick enough to sue if their little brat fell off and broke their arm. It would definitely annoy me too. I’d either remove it and plant a hedge, put planters there or put some sort of fence/spikes on it.

@habibihabibi

When I was in London, teens used to sit on my low wide wall late into the night being antisocial. I tipped a bottle on cheap vegetable oil on the top and voila problem solved.

I like your style

'Property' ! Urgh! I feel sorry for you, OP. And for all you others who show by your support for OP how spiritually impoverished you are. Property.

I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry at how ridiculous this is. I only wish I could have included the pathetic italicisation of property from your original post, as if the very concept made you shake your head in sorrow at the world.

I could do with some new towels. I was going to buy them, but from now on I’ll just pop over to your house for a shower and use yours. After all, you won’t be getting annoyed about mere property, will you?

@StillCoughingandLaughing why not pop a bottle of their champagne and sip it while having a nice long bath?

It would have given me a chance to show the little one and explain something very important: we should always do our best to be polite and kind, even to somebody who is nasty and silly

Nice. Why not teach your child to respect others property AND that disrespect brings unhappiness in those you affect?

@HotChocolateLover

I bet the parents would be quick enough to sue if their little brat fell off and broke their arm. It would definitely annoy me too. I’d either remove it and plant a hedge, put planters there or put some sort of fence/spikes on it.

If you'd make the bet, I would advise against ever setting up an account at William Hill. You'll be destitute within a year.

Yanbu op it is just rude.

@StillCoughingandLaughing

'Property' ! Urgh! I feel sorry for you, OP. And for all you others who show by your support for OP how spiritually impoverished you are. Property.

I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry at how ridiculous this is. I only wish I could have included the pathetic italicisation of property from your original post, as if the very concept made you shake your head in sorrow at the world.

I could do with some new towels. I was going to buy them, but from now on I’ll just pop over to your house for a shower and use yours. After all, you won’t be getting annoyed about mere property, will you?

Well you picked up some of the idea. Indeed, yes, the very concept makes me shake my head in sorrow at the world, set off as it is in the OP implicitly as outweighing the feel of a tiny trustful hand in an (my?) old arthritic mitt and the actuality of a small child having fun exploring the world and him/herself.

Property , indeed. Property ?! In comparison to a small child holding a parent’s hand and balancing along a small wall? Property ? You are having a laugh, no?

Oh, and you are welcome to come over and have a shower (or bath) and use our towels. Why would I be getting annoyed at that? You plan to misbehave in some way? Or what? If you let me know when you are coming, I will chill some champagne, as someone suggested. Champagne, like most good things, is always nicer shared.

You should not think everyone is like you, although sadly, as this thread shows, there are lots of emotionally and spiritually stunted people around. ('Towels?' … No, seriously, ' towels ' ? Towels?!) Partly, I suspect, this comes about through rent-seeking’s inbuilt tendency to over-emphasis the relative importance of ownership – of things – for human fulfilment. Easily done, it seems. But that is another story.

parents would be quick enough to sue

Kindly provide the stats to back up your assertion. We don’t have a litigious culture in the UK. It just doesn’t happen here unless there have been life changing injuries or death.

Property , indeed. Property ?! In comparison to a small child holding a parent’s hand and balancing along a small wall? Property ? You are having a laugh, no?

Where’s the funny bit? Just sounds like a load of pretentious old toss to me.

@SpaceRaiders

parents would be quick enough to sue

Kindly provide the stats to back up your assertion. We don’t have a litigious culture in the UK. It just doesn’t happen here unless there have been life changing injuries or death.

Can YOU provide the stats to prove it ‘just doesn’t happen’?

@FourTeaFallOut

Meh, it's a two foot high brick wall on the way to school, you'd have to have the self restraint of the Dali Lama to walk past that as a kid and not hop on.

Absolutely.

Can YOU provide the stats to prove it ‘just doesn’t happen’?

You can’t prove a negative.

@StillCoughingandLaughing

Property , indeed. Property ?! In comparison to a small child holding a parent’s hand and balancing along a small wall? Property ? You are having a laugh, no?

Where’s the funny bit? Just sounds like a load of pretentious old toss to me.

Yes, I know it sounds like that to you. That is why I feel sorry for you. You do not know what you are missing. In a (quite important) sense, you are only half alive. Sadly, as this thread shows, there are a lot of people like you around.

It is unlikely you will be able to see this. But, well, there it is. Think about it, maybe.

(Btw, "You are having a laugh?" generally does not generally connote anything funny in contemporary English. Language is funny like that.)

We had kids running up and down on our front wall, 4 feet away from our living room window. I put some potted holly bushes there. Can you maybe do something similar?

I wouldn't dispute the fact that it's fun to walk on low walls as a child (or indeed, as an adult), but it's also a fact that it can be detrimental to one's property to have even small people climbing on it.

From OP's description, it's not a thick, sturdy wall, and OP is not an ogre to wish that the adults accompanying these children would have the respect and discipline to teach their children not to climb on other people's property without permission.

I would have thought that such a spiritually alive person would understand that it's possible to have a beautiful, fulfilling life without impinging on other people's property...

@Blossomtoes

Can YOU provide the stats to prove it ‘just doesn’t happen’?

You can’t prove a negative.

Then you can’t state that it doesn’t happen.

Unbelievable that so many people think it's perfectly acceptable for children to walk on someone else's wall.

MN is a crazy place at times.

@I8toys

Unfortunately that's the price you pay living next to a school. Parking across your drive, kids running in your garden, Kids peeing on your garden whilst the mums chat outside your front door. The entitlement is immense. I'd grow fast growing thorny bushes.

I've lived a less than 2 minute walk from a school and I've never had any kids playing in my garden or peeing in my garden...

Yes, I know it sounds like that to you. That is why I feel sorry for you. You do not know what you are missing. In a (quite important) sense, you are only half alive. Sadly, as this thread shows, there are a lot of people like you around.

Oh, come on now. You’ve had a good run, but I think you’ve overplayed your hand with the suggestion that someone who doesn’t want kids climbing on their walls is ‘only half alive’. Nice try though.

(Btw, "You are having a laugh?" generally does not generally connote anything funny in contemporary English. Language is funny like that.)

Thank you so much for that. I just wish now I hadn’t wasted those three years getting my English degree - had I known my lifestyle AND language guru was awaiting me on Mumsnet, I could have spent the time walking along a wall or doing something equally joyful.

I'd be so annoyed by this.

I don't understand parents allowing it. It just seems so disrespectful. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe your private property shouldn't be walked on/over just because your dc want to.

I would 100% have planted a rose garden by now 😂

In a (quite important) sense, you are only half alive.

For disagreeing about wall climbing etiquette? I nominate you for a hyperbole medal.

May I also say that anyone who calls a child a "little brat" or "dim heads" or "little shots" shouldn't be on a fucking parenting website and probably shouldn't be anywhere near children. Just shows what a horrible person you are to call children names.

You may say it, but whether you can expect anyone to care is another matter entirely.

That's fine, people can not care all they want, but most vile people don't care about being vile.