Kids knocking on doors d running away!

[Imsofatqq]

I caught one today. Have no idea who she is and asked her why she’s doing it. She responded she didn’t do it, I then showed her my ring doorbell. She looks about 12 I think.

The Mum thinks it’s completely harmless. I explained there are millions of other games she could play that didn’t involve disturbing her neighbours

We’ve all done it. We called it Knocky Door Ginger. Which is probably not politically correct now but this was the 80’s. When kids were kicked out of the house all day every day in the holidays and had to find their own entertainment before technology. It’s probably irritating but it’s definitely not new.

No she was in my garden hiding!

Right?!

I expect kids have been doing this the advent of doors.

We called it Rat-a-tat ginger in the 1950's when ring door bells would have been considered witchcraft,

We called it chappy and my neighbours kids were playing it last week. We hid behind the door and opened it to shout boo just as they went to chap the door a second time and their reaction was hilarious.

Never had any problems with vandalism or it going on past 8/9 at night. We all did it here as kids and it’s just a bit of fun. If you don’t react or answer the door they’ll move on and try another one for a reaction

We had a young lad about 10 doing it a few weeks ago. We didn't know who he was. First time I answered the door and there was nobody there. Second time I checked the Ring cam and saw him ring and run. We just ignored it and he stopped after the 3rd time and presumably went elsewhere.
It's annoying and stupid but if you react, you mark yourself as someone who is easily wound up and it's good for a laugh to provoke you.
If it happens again, just watch on the cam to see if it's the same child and to make sure they aren't doing any actual damage. I think you just have to grit your teeth and know they'll eventually get fed up. I hope they stop soon and you get some peace and quiet. Bloody school holidays eh?

What's with all the references to ginger? In the US it's usually called "ding dong ditch."

I’d have started watering the garden with my hose and pretended she wasn’t there 😂

We had someone tie thread on our door knocker and hid behind a car.
I think they were disappointed DH thought it was hilarious.

We used to play it, we didn't really have any idea how annoying it is. We had a couple of girls from our street doing it to our door for a couple of years pretty regularly, I think because they knew my daughter and there was a bit of tension there. We just ignored it until they started doing later at night. They done it one night at 10pm which is kicking the arse out it so I went and knocked on one of their doors. The two girls answered, obviously having just shot in to hide, and when I asked for the mum they absolutely shat themselves. They didn't get the mum and tried to say it wasn't them. No more ringing the doorbell though 😅

I used to do this as a child, it was what you did to amuse yourselves pre-computers. We thought it was great fun.

I can now see how irritating it is.

But there you go.

As long as it's just knocking and running away. Kicking the door at 2.00 a.m. wasn't in the rules.

Also it's called chap door run away or chappie.

We called it Thunder and Lightning. Knock the door like thunder and run away like lightning. We usually did it on back doors. The houses were terraced with back alleyways and we were too chicken to risk the front doors as most people knew our faces and would spot us through the bay window. Now that I’m an adult, I don’t like it at all. Mainly because it happened to my mum when she had dementia and she was terrified. I regret not being a bit more considerate of elderly people etc. But kids aren’t always great at consideration.

It's often called Knock Up Ginger where I am from in eastern England.

Kids have been doing this for decades, I know I was at that age

I did this back in the 90s, we used to almost wet ourselves giggling running away. It was called Knock and run for us.

These days we have technology which helps us know whether it’s worth going to the door or not, embrace that.

I’ve seen kids doing it round my area and just smile, it’s harmless and a classic childhood bit of mischievous fun, leave them to it.

It’s called various things, regionally. I think it’s called Nicky Knocky Nine-Doors in some places 😄

I vividly remember me and two friends stupidly decided to chap the door of a house right in the curve of a cul de sac. Total rookie mistake, we got caught and it was embarrassing as hell having this guy just standing there looking at us 😂

It was what kids did before sitting in front of gadgets all day. Parents didn’t have the time or money to take us out every day.

Bloody annoying, but harmless. 🤷‍♀️

That’s the best name I’ve heard😆

I don’t know. In my part of London it was always known as Knock Down Ginger.🤷‍♀️

🤣

Oh come on, teens old enough to be out at 2am causing damage is completely different to 12 year old kids doing knock and run in the daytime.

That is hilarious to be fair 😂
I am sorry you’re having such a horrible time with your mental health at the moment op. On the face of it, it seems a harmless daft game but obviously not to everyone.

I suppose teenagers aren't traditionally the best at thinking from less privileged people's perspective, though; and can be quite entitled if they're having fun.

Teenagers are far too old to be doing this. Little kids, up to 10-11, it's annoying, but still just about acceptable as kids playing. Teenagers, who are bigger and likely to be out later in the evening, it's intimidating, especially for an elderly person living alone.