DS and mates playing football in garden

[SoccerMum1]

Hey all,

First time posting but a long time lurker - in a bit of a predicament

DS 16 and 14 are having a few mates round on Sunday and are wanting to play footy in the garden (all sounds reasonable right), but here comes my problem - they're wanting to use fruit to hang up in the nets to aim at.

They've seen a video on youtube (showed me earlier, think it was ). Apparently they're gonna hang up a load of fruit and take it in turns to try and hit it, scoring different amounts of points. Apparently they'll be using the left over to practise kick ups with and use the fruit as a footy instead

AIBU to think it'll make a load of mess and be a bit expensive? Both DS are dead keen on it as they reckon it'll be fun to hit and destroy it? DS16 say's he'll pay for the fruit and tidy up but i'm not so sure - think it's messy and not a good use of his money? Don't wanna be a killjoy though - AIBU?

sounds like a huge advance on sitting inside with a playstation

pop the remains onto a bird table

let them do it

Its a reasonable request, I think

How big is the garden/how near are your neighbours? How likely is it that footballs, and bits of fruit, will end up in your neighbours' gardens?

I mean its not great in terms of wasting food but its certainly not the worst thing they could be doing and if they are paying and tidying up I dont see the harm really.

@Zosime fairly unlikely - the net is up against a garage wall and there's fencing on the sides so nothing should end up in the neighbours gardens - all the neighbours are dead friendly with us tbf and both DS's regularly play footy in the garden with no issues

God, let them at it...

I mean its not great in terms of wasting food

If they go shopping late on the day before, they might be able to get stuff that's past its best and would otherwise be thrown out.

That would be fine by me , mine were up to much worse at that age and it hasn't harmed them

I was out shagging constantly and getting fucked off my face on eckies at 15. I think you can allow this.

Morning all,

Bit of a stir here - all the comments saying go for it and the vote the complete opposite - any other opinions?

If I do let both DS's play tomorrow, reckon I should set a cap on how much they can spend on fruit or what they can get?

Should I maybe limit what they can do with it? ie hanging fruit in the net and taking shots would probably be messier then practising their kick ups and using it as a footy? Just wanting to limit the mess + the amount wasted - pretty sure none of the fruit will be any good for use after it's been kicked round the garden by both DS's and their mates?

Any other advice / opinions before DS's moan i've ruined their fun - anyone else's kids ever played / asked to play the same game?

I would let them buy as much as they wanted on the proviso they tidied up after themselves.

Let the wildlife have the used fruit; don't throw it away.

If they buy and pay for the food themselves I would just let them go for it, my only rule would be that they tidy up after themselves by picking up the big bits of fruit and that they wash and dry their own kits afterwards. The small bits of fruit will be eaten by wildlife and washed away once it rains so it won’t be a mess for long. There’s much worse things your teens could be up to!

I would be beyond thrilled if my DC wanted to do this, instead of vegitating in their bedroom watching mindless crap.
If you’re worried about waste, perhaps visit a local greengrocer and ask if they have fruit they can’t sell for whatever reason (wonky, bruised?) and offer a donation to a charity.

Let them do it. You are an adult a long time so let them enjoy being kids. It's only a bit of fruit, and you can normally get the kids packs of fruit quite cheaply, plus side the birds and squirrels etc will think it's Christmas.

I don’t get why this is even an issue

I would 100% allow this on condition that the garden afterwards looks how it did before

And needless to say - it wouldn’t impact neighbours

I suggest you take yourself off for a coffee whilst it’s on op

and let them really go for it

I’d arrange for a pizza delivery to arrive around about the time I get back. That will wrap things up quickly!

okay cheers everyone - i'll just let them get on with it lol. Might even ask them if they wanna go out later on together and get the fruit once they're awake. To make up for it, i'll pay for it too - what do you reckon is a reasonable amount to spend? £10 / 20 / 30 / 40?

four lads all together and they usually spend all day in the garden when they play as they get really into it - would have thought this would have gone on for a few hours too (if they've not destroyed it) so need to get enough

Only other thing (and not worth starting a separate thread), would be it be okay to ask them to not use their proper footy boots - don't want the lawn turned into a mud bath and ruined - they've both got some airforces or vans they can use (hopefully they'll clean up too)

votes are almost split down the middle - who knew this would have caused such a split opinion

But in terms of people actually bothering to post? Unanimous

As for reasonable spend… no bloody idea of your financial circumstances! Surely you can work out by yourself amount you’re ok with spending on this?

And very reasonable not to ask for footy boot but be prepared for them arguing they need them.

I think you don’t interfere at all and let them get on with it.

My only rule would be the garden looks the same as it did before they started.

Maybe your AIBU is a bit unclear. I voted YABU to stop them, are other voting YANBU to let them. So probably 100% saying let them do it.