To think kids should be able to play outside on the street?

[Anon171880]

So we live on a little cul-de-sac and sometimes the kids from all the nearby houses play outside together. Neighbours have been complaining however about children, even reported some to the police for anti-social behaviour.

If my children are acting like idiots I will tell them to get inside but all the kids around here just usually play on their bikes and don't cause any problems other than getting a bit loud and excited.

When we were growing up we used to play on our estate with all the neighbours children and nobody ever complained.

They just get scalded from a neighbour for playing outside at 8pm, he said he has already reported to police. I was outside finishing some cleaning up so was supervising and didn't realise the time but then it is also the school holidays.

What crime are your children committing? His crime - being a grumpy arse. Being serious, if he keeps going on about your kids and their perfectly legal activities he could be guilty of harassment. What a dick he is.

we lived on an estate and the neighbours often complained about the noise and we were often bullied by other children. So pleased mine grew up playing in the safety of our own garden.

It's such a shame. The problem is that the media are so obsessed with feral kids that people can't tell the difference between that and youthful high spirits.

@Rocknrollstar the gardens are really small so can't do much and of course kids want to socialise. Even on the gardens they can be noisy. Where we grew up nobody minded as it was a family community. I would understand kicking balls at houses or knock a door run but it's just children playing together. And nicely!

Are they screaming? I could see how that would be irritating tbh.

Some neighbours have already called the police in the past and this evening another one did?

And they're just playing on the street?

Does he really throw boiling water over them??

I was actually outside the whole time and they weren't doing anything other than riding on their bikes and laughing. It is the end of the school holidays and the dark nights are creeping up so there won't be much time outside soon.

🤣

No screaming just laughing. I have four kids and can't stand screaming myself.

Whilst kids should be able to play outside 8pm is a reasonable cut off

I live in a cul-de-sac of 10 houses. There are 9 kids aged between 4 and 13. They all play out on the street, often with some friends too. They generally ride bikes and scooters, play football or do chalk drawings on the road. They are never any trouble and no one has ever complained, they're all nice kids. I'm sure if they were trouble things would be different.

Remembering how noisy we were as a "gang" of 10-20 kids playing outside... I wouldn't wish to be the neighbour now! I'd get the rage 100%!

However, it was great to be a child then. Out all day. Loved it! But those poor neighbours 😩

Yep, the whole neighbourhood has had letters posted from the police about children. Not sure which kids. There is some horrible, nasty kids around with no respect and I can understand when they are causing trouble but kids just playing outside really?

Wdym?

As I said in my post, I didn't realise the time. Been at the gardening all day whilst I can.

If I see any trouble I'm the first one telling them but they honestly don't do anything to cause trouble. There is some horrible kids a bit further up but the ones down here are all nice kids.

I am considerate of neighbours and I'll tell my kids to keep their noise down but at the end of the day I want my children to be children too. I'm not going to tell them off for laughing.

Ignore the neighbours they are pathetic

I was a very nice kid. However, I rode my bicycle into someone's parked car (my wheel slipped in a puddle) and bent their number plate. I never even fell under suspicion. God only knows what was "achieved" by other equally nice kids. I know that someone lost a window pane to a ball for sure!

These days, there's many, many more parked cars out front and I bet that many people don't like children scooting/biking/kicking balls around their £££££ vehicles. I know I wouldn't!

Of course not, who would! My kids don't play football, even though they are boys they aren't interested so window panes are safe. And they know not to play near anyone's cars as I don't fancy footing the bill. But that is not even the issue here. It's noise from the children playing outside that's the issue. Since when did everybody become so uptight and miserable. What happened to community spirit! I'm sure when his kids get bigger they'll be adding to the noise on the street. There are so many things that could happen with kids playing but does that mean they can't be children. I'm not a parent that just has my kids doing whatever they please but I am not going to stop them laughing and having fun because of miserable people

I feel really sorry for kids these days not being able to play out. I was out all day & well into the evening when I was young. We probably were loud & annoying but the neighbours tolerated & were always friendly. Kids are part of the community too - I hate how people suddenly expect them to be neither seen nor heard. My kids played out much more during covid but there’s just too many cars up & down the road for them to do it safely most the time.

I sympathise with your neighbour tbh. We live in a new build cul de sac- the house at the end have a few DC and are mates with all the neighbourhood kids from the other through roads in the estate. In the summer they all congregate outside our houses riding bikes and scooters up and down, all day, all summer. Our driveways are only the length of a car, so we’re right on the road and it’s really loud. It might seem a bit Hyacinth Bouquet to complain about how crap it looks with multiple bikes, scooters and other outdoor toys left out for days on end, but it’s also not cool to let your kids think it’s ok to treat the shared road as an extension of your garden.

To be fair at the moment most parents will supervise most of the time, there will be occasions when kids of 3, 4 years old are trailing after older siblings and it frightens me. As the children get older and there’s suddenly no one there to enforce the apparent “no ball games” rule I foresee damage to vehicles, but I am genuinely worried about one of the kids getting hurt by a car. They’re bigger and quieter than they were when we were kids, and excited kids don’t always have the best road sense.

The poster was making fun of you for writing scalded-which means to be scalded by steam/hot water. 😐

Anyway. I do not find the noise of kids joyful or community spirit, and so I chose to live rurally. That neighbour can report all he likes, he’ll end up getting a warning for wasting police time.