To buy this to deter people from turning up unannounced?

[HelpfulAlex]

Very lighthearted, but how brilliant is this?! Lol - popped up on my FB feed.

Oh dear. Seems I did parenting teens wrong

No - just differently.
Nobody parents exactly the same.

I'd offer DCs' friends something to eat &/or drink and briefly exchange pleasantries, but realised they were there to see the DCs.

Perhaps because my own mother saw herself as a bit of a "cool mom" and would hang around chatting for longer than I felt comfortable with.
I was probably being over sensitive and my friends probably didn't even notice 🙂

If my teen was busy they would have told their friends they were busy. They would go out to other people's houses and their friends would come to us, just normal teens really, not forever 'mooching' (whatever that is ) in the house.
If they were sitting in the kitchen and I was in the kitchen I would chat to them and make them food or drinks.
I think this is not as complicated or stressful as people make out.

But I don't want people to come and sit in my house while I get on with what I'm doing!

If guests come over, I want to be free to entertain them and spend time with them, not be in the middle of doing something else why the sit around waiting me to finish.

Oh I never considered my self a cool Mum that's for sure. But if they were chatting to me then I'd chat back.
They could go into another room if they didn't want to.

When I was a teen, I never once turned up at someone's house without arranging it first. Equally, I would never have had friends over without running it by my parents.

Well I'm definitely a bit socially awkward and not a fan of unexpected guests, but to bring this thread back to lighthearted as the OP started, this is the sign I have!

It just depends on so many things doesn't it? Layout of your house, who else lives there, personalities, time of day, jobs people have, how many people are popping in....

I understand both sides of the receivers (liking or not liking it) but I don't understand the point of view of the guest who things it's ok and convenient regardless of the situation.

(Also challenged by technology it would seem, apologies for the sideways picture!)

Different times I guess but some of my friends didn't even have a landline phone so if i was going to see them or them me then it was always going to be unannounced. No 'arrangements' were possible. Lots of just dropping in by everyone really, my parents were fine with it.
Maybe that's the reason I was quite relaxed about it all when my DC were doing the same, even with mobile phones.

Same here. I always met my friends outside after making it home or spent time with them immediately after school. The times I did go to their homes, parents were asked beforehand so everyone knew where we were and what was going on.

Plenty of people always post on these threads to explain that they personally aren’t bothered by unannounced visitors.
What I’ve not seen ever is anyone saying “I prefer not to text before visiting because…” That’s the bit I don’t understand - it takes a few seconds and you can be sure that the other person’s in and happy to have you. Literally no downside that I can see.

There used to be a regular advert for doormats that just said “Fuck Off” in Private Eye.

Phones have existed for about a century

You think everyone had a phone a hundred years ago? I was still using a phone box in the mid-seventies.

*brilliant

My grandmother and great-aunts all did the same!

Ok but that was still 50 years ago! Times have changed.

Different times I guess but some of my friends didn't even have a landline phone so if i was going to see them or them me then it was always going to be unannounced. No 'arrangements' were possible.

Lots of just dropping in by everyone really, my parents were fine with it.

Were they fine with it, or did they just put up with it because there wasn't another option?

Oh I don't mind people who call around unannounced to my house but I don't assume everyone feels the same. So with the exception of my parents and siblings who i know feel the same as me, I do text or call ahead to others.

I have heard of that tactic before. I remember reading about it re ago in a letter to a magazine. My mum used to do the same!

Were they fine with it, or did they just put up with it because there wasn't another option?

They were fine with it because it was the norm. I still am.

I wouldn't turn someone away just because they hadn't text - but I lead a busy life and if I am at home I'm probably busy (run two businesses from home and have to cook/clean etc) and if I'm NOT busy, maybe I want a couple of hours to read or watch tele.

My dad's favourite is to come round on a Sunday morning, early, and knock on the door to get us out of bed.. and then make comments about why we're not out of bed yet.

Drives. Me. Mad.

Eons ago, when I was about 13, I once walked into the hallway to see my mum crouching behind the door and saying in a high, childlike voice to the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the other side: “sorry, Mum’s not in and I’m not allowed to open the door to strangers”.

Still shocks me, years later. She was such a dignified woman usually!

(It wasn’t in the UK, it was in the sort of country that Brits come back from enthusing about the friendliness of the people and the weather. Downsides being it is full of poppers in, a woman is supposed to keep a perfect home at all times and even Jehovah’s Witnesses are supposed to be welcomed in to immaculate surroundings and biscuits and will judge your housekeeping and bitch about you all round town if they’re not).

I do love England.

The point is that you can, but you don't have to. Your teens and their mates are perfectly happy to talk to each other and go and get kfc to eat, they're not coming to visit you. They're visiting their friend who happens to live in the same house as you. Your voice if you cook for them.🙄

How does this work in practice though? In the summer when coats aren't required?

Anyone got a link?