Random kids in the front garden!

[Fairyfishface]

I live in a cul de sac. Next door Neighbours’ teenage kids at the end of the close have a large goal that they drag out and put on front of their house on the road to play football on the street. Not a problem.
But where we live none of the front gardens/drives have fences/walls ( 80s build) and can’t add any. As I’m on the downward slope the ball frequently ends up on my front garden/drive/under my car, and the kids( and their mates) use my front garden/drive as part of their pitch.(nb they don’t use their own).
They’ll often play outside until ten, and every few minutes I’ve got random kids( most of whom don’t even live in the street) in the front garden/drive to ‘take a penalty’ or get their ball, creeping/running around the car and next to the front windows.
Yesterday I went out and asked them not to.
Back again tonight but more of them. So I screwed up my courage and went and spoke to my neighbours ( whose kids have the goal which is the attraction).
I don’t think I was wrong, but I feel so guilty, and the adrenaline of having to go and speak to the neighbours is still making me jittery 4 hours later.
i live alone, and there is a park they can go to about a minutes walk away.
AIBU?

Well done for standing your ground. Sounds like a reasonable request (but I would feel nervous also(.

Yes you did the right thing.
I totally sympathise with you.
I have problems with children playing right outside my house in a very quiet section of the street - the ball goes into my garden too. And there is a playing field and playground with equipment a minutes walk away.
It's really stressful for you. Let's hope their interest in playing football lessens a bit after the final this weekend.

That is really not on. You are entitled to quiet enjoyment of your garden anyway, but 10pm is also far too late at night to put up with randoms in the garden.

Now you have voiced your view could you perhaps work with the neighbours to find a solution. It sounds like they already set up the goal each time so is there something they could add to the set up to stop the ball/ teens coming on to your property?

Something like https://www.networldsports.co.uk/football/football-ground-equipment/pop-up-stop-that-balltm-ball-stop-post-system.html

It won't stop the noise but it should stop the incursions.

I live down a private drive serving 3 houses off a cul de sac, with a parking area serving all our houses at the end of it. It is quite obviously not part of the road, it is tarmac whereas the road is paving, there is a row of concrete blocks set in at the start of the drive, the drive is hedged and, most importantly, we have actually put up a sign at the end of the drive indicating that it is private.

A couple of weeks ago we had three separate groups of children, ranging from about 7 to 11, come up our drive on their bikes and scooters and start to play on our parking area. My DH has to go out several times to tell them it was private and they could not play there. As we have no idea where these children live and we don't think I they even live in our road, I ended up posting on our local Facebook page asking local parents to make sure their children know they shouldn't do it.

I hate confrontation but I think I would start by asking the children nicely not to play in my garden, then it they continue I would remind them firmly that I have asked them not to play in my garden, and if it still happens after that I would speak to their parents. So I don't think you were BU to do that.

Sounds similar to the set up at my home. I dealt with it by parking across my driveway and getting the edges of the grass patch dug out and filled with annoying rockery that would make them trip/fall or they'd have to step over at the least and a big long planter under the bay window which screams "this is a garden". Some neighbours got little "stay off the grass" signs that have a stake on the end. Another got the very low sort of fancy fencing that you stick in yourself (no idea what it's called but hopefully someone knows what it means!")

If it's just a bare patch of grass, it's going to get used by kids and dogs, I've learned and parents/owners won't stop them sadly. Even now I occasionally get a very small child walking over the grass to get to any flowers in the planter and picking them while Mum stands on the pavement and smiles on adoringly.

Luckily my living room is by the front door, I grab a pair of gardening gloves or secateurs or whatever and head out and say something like, "Oh! Is there a fairy in my garden! Please don't pick those sweetheart. We shouldn't go into strangers gardens and pick their flowers. Off you go back to Mummy now!" Then smile and wave to Mum and say "it's ok no harm done! They're still learning at this age and I know she won't do it again!" Mum usually looks miffed but it doesn't happen again funnily enough!

I used to get this. My house and the one opposite have driveways that face each other and make excellent goals. Neighbours kids used to kick football across the road and if they scored it would go into my garden. They would be running up and down the driveway and occasionally the ball would hit my car. They were asked to stop as were their parents. As long as you’ve asked politely then there isn’t any issue so no need to feel bad. You are entitled to tell people not to use your private property. What happens if one of them injures themselves reaching under your car?

In my case the road is a busy cut through between two main roads which is a stupid place for kids to play. They discovered this themselves when the ball hit the window of a passing car they hadn’t seen and the driver was not amused. Needless to say that the little darlings stopped after that.

Neighbours kids always in my front garden. I don’t mind a bit but the neighbours know I don’t mind. They should ask first and you have every right to say no.