Kids chalking on pavement

[Ritascornershop]

My best friend lives in a little estate of row houses with a grassed area in the centre and pavement around the edge with paths off to each of their houses.

Her idiot ex-partner lives with her (for the most part never paying rent or contributing to food and bills). They are just past 50 and never had kids.

The neighbours’ kids are aged around 5-6 and have taken to drawing pictures in chalk on the pavement; animals, houses, and hopscotch squares. They do this in front of a number of houses. My friend’s idiot ex partner has been hosing it off and telling the kids not to do it (& given how often she tells me he shouts about other things I suspect he’s not telling them nicely).

I told her I thought he was mean to hose away their harmless drawings, that she used to chalk draw when she was little, that he fancies himself an artist, and that I think he’s being awful. AIBU?

Currently chalking in the local park, bugger the miserable twonks, kids have had a miserable year or so! They're not harming anyone.

Maybe someone should tell him he's being very kind to wash it off, as it leaves the pavement clean for them to do new drawings every day.

@AgrippinaT some areas do, definitely where we live. Lots of communal playing out and sharing toys/ideas/ stuff! Some people on here would absolutely hate it but I moved here for a sense of community. There’s lots of chalk painting, skateboarding, skipping you name it. I love it.

I'm usually an old grouch, but there's something heart warming and nostalgic about children writing on pavements with chalk. I don't think we see enough of it these days. It would make me smile.

When I was a kid we didn't have any chalk so we used to use soft stones and bits of concrete instead!

My dc and their friends were chalking the other day. They drew coffins with skeletons inside and headstones that read "RIP [name]". They were pretending to be zombies!

Kids love chalking. I got a box out in a foundation stage class last year and by the end of the day the whole playground was a maze of drawings. It looked lovely and colourful.

My elderly. Neighbour comes out and washes it off about 5 seconds after the kids have drawn it 😂

And we live in Scotland where it rains about 200 times a day. Pointless exercise from her.

We had neighbours in my childhood (20 years or so ago) who used to wash our chalk drawings off the pavement and everybody thought they were strange and mean. They were things like hopscotch and cute little drawings. The wife used to send her husband out with a bucket of soapy water and a scrubbing brush and he would get on his hands and knees and scrub them away as we were still playing. Absolute weirdos. They were generally not always the nicest. I remember being shouted at one time because the pedal of my trike was touching their garden wall when I got off it.

Funnily enough, the area got a bit rougher and now the children get up to far worse, with far less parental supervision. I've seen swear words and inappropriate messages chalked on the pavement. They never went to clean those up or shouted at the children. It never made sense to me that we would be shouted at for our entirely innocent drawings but they never said a word about the other stuff a few years later, but then I suppose it is easier to pick on somebody you know won't say anything back. They were probably scared to say anything to the rougher families.

Chalks are lovely. Seeing kids draw on pavements always makes me smile. OP, your pal’s ex is a dick.

It’s a gateway drug, though, isn’t it. At first it’s children chalking rainbows and hopscotch. Then it’s babies laughing. Next come the friendly neighbours, the community street parties. Before you know it, everyone’s taking in parcels for each other. Where will it end? Play dates in the garden? Jumping in muddy puddles?? SKIPPING????!

I don't think the chalking is the issue, it is more about children being outside on the pavement. That would be off putting for a potential house buyer; even if the kids were not out the front when someone came to view, the chalk would be evidence that that happened. In any case there is no need if they have back gardens
Children playing out would put off a buyer??
I’m incredulous that anyone thinks like this, children should stay in their garden?
Christ what a miserable petty minded way to live.

@burritofan

It’s a gateway drug, though, isn’t it. At first it’s children chalking rainbows and hopscotch. Then it’s babies laughing. Next come the friendly neighbours, the community street parties. Before you know it, everyone’s taking in parcels for each other. Where will it end? Play dates in the garden? Jumping in muddy puddles?? SKIPPING????!

I was on the chalkers' side until you've explained it could lead to street parties, this is my worst fear

It is a fact that many people do not want to see kids playing in the street

Aren’t you too busy skinning Dalmatian puppies to be worrying about kids on the street.

Seriously, anyone who thinks like this should just go and live in a cave and stop bothering the rest of us.

@Plumtree391You can’t be serious 😂🤣

Don’t worry, my children are never on the pavement. I encourage them to stay in the middle of the road in case they put off a potential house buyer.

We had an old neighbour who was the most miserable knob ever. It was a block of flats.he moaned if we connected the hose to the tap inside bin area (which we were allowed for car washing etc.) he tried to say it was for the fire service.... It was a garden tap!
He even kept tkaing the top screw bit off.

Then one day my ds and a neighbours boy used chalks in OUR own car park and our spaces. The many git didn't have a space nor any need to gonin the car park.
Ds was about 8 and on my space wrote 'no parking' and a funny face and 'team' is the best. Harmless. The guy came down and had a go at the kids.. Needless to say when ds told dh, dh went and had words.
There was a long list of issues with the guy. However his grandkids could go out and be little terrors!

Ds then wrote 'moany manives here' on the driveway to our car park that ran next to his property with an arrow.
I did get him to wash it off. But not b4 the guy saw it.

Couldn't wait to move. Now my kids Chalk in our drive or garden. It's a busy road so not on path. However in lockdown all the kids did so when people went for walks there was things to see or even do.. Hopscotch. Few mental math questions. And random things

Moany man lives here even

I bet no bugger would complain if Banksy did it.

The moaning bastards would be the first out there trying to dig up the pavement and sell it on.

@HerMammy

I don't think the chalking is the issue, it is more about children being outside on the pavement. That would be off putting for a potential house buyer; even if the kids were not out the front when someone came to view, the chalk would be evidence that that happened. In any case there is no need if they have back gardens Children playing out would put off a buyer?? I’m incredulous that anyone thinks like this, children should stay in their garden? Christ what a miserable petty minded way to live.

It's not, it's quite normal!

My neighbours and I all had children and they played long and happily in each other's back gardens in good weather, sometimes until quite late, but not one ever went out into the street to play. It wouldn't even have been thought of. As they got older they would go out to other places and on their bikes but, honestly, nobody played in the street. Why would they?

@AgentProvocateur

I genuinely can’t imagine having so little to occupy my mind that I would give a shit about this.

me either 🤣

@MidnightMeltdown

Oh wow, I'm amazed that people think it's ok to allow kids to do this. In your own garden maybe, but not in the streets. I remember doing similar with my friends when I was around the age of 6 or 7. When our parents found out, they were all really angry. We were all sent out with scrubbing brushes and buckets and made to scrub it all off!

Maybe it will wash off in the rain, but that's not really the point. Kids should be taught that it's not ok to graffiti in the streets.

I actually felt bit sorry there for you kids. 😳 It's not damaging anything. I am all for keeping kids to their spaces but this is ott. Only time I got told off for anything was when our snow building blocked the road.

@burritofan

It’s a gateway drug, though, isn’t it. At first it’s children chalking rainbows and hopscotch. Then it’s babies laughing. Next come the friendly neighbours, the community street parties. Before you know it, everyone’s taking in parcels for each other. Where will it end? Play dates in the garden? Jumping in muddy puddles?? SKIPPING????!

Oh. My. God.

You are so right, @burritofan! The scales have fallen from my eyes.

For the last 15 years we have encouraged first my children then the young children of our neighbours to play with chalks in the pavement and garden walls.

We have already had FOUR annual street parties (pre-Covid) and I hadn’t linked out decline to that chalk.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

Fine on pavements but I wouldn’t want it on my walls.

@Plumtree391
It’s NOT normal to think kids playing out in the street is uncouth and disgraceful, surely the fact everyone is disagreeing with you is highlighting your attitude is the odd stuffy one?
Do you live in an area of multi million £ gated houses? a street where only posh folk with their well trained kids live?
You are in a minority of your own.

I wouldn't blink an eye at inoffensive chalked drawings.

During lockdown, my sister took chalks out on every walk with her kids. They decorated a lot of pavements, drew hopscotch grids, etc. I think its lovely.

The late Les Dawson, a famous and successful working class comedian, bought a swish new house in a vair nice area. Mrs Dawson did some washing and hung it out on the newly installed washing line. "Er, Mrs Dawson, we don't hang washing in our gardens here" said a helpful note through the door. Mrs D took every item she could find, curtains, bedclothes, underwear, who knows what else and hung it all in her garden. I doubt she was a pavement washer.