To find pavement chalking by neighbour unreasonable?

[Hanji83]

We are in a row of houses which have a footpath running in front of the road with a grassed area either side. One of the neighbours has two kids, who for the past week have been drawing on the pavement using chalk. It looks an utter mess. Would it be wrong of me to say something to the parents?

I highly doubt the pavements are owned by your husband, so the drawings were hardly "inflicted on him" 🙄

ODFOD

This thread is making me feel a bit sad that I didn't take a photo of the road network my DD drew on our patio over the course of the summer before we came away.

Unless they’re drawing dicks and writing slurs you absolute should not say anything

I can kind of see a little of your point. On the one hand, it's a cute, fun and creative thing for kids to be doing that gets them away from screens and encourages them to really fly free with their imagination - an absolute win and a v good thing.

On the other, it can be annoying when you end up with coloured chalk on your shoes or furniture if you've not realised you've got it on the bottom of your trousers, or your dog has stepped in it etc. I used to live in a terraced house and my NDN's son would chalk in front of their house and mine. I personally would have encouraged my child to only draw on the pavement in front of our own house and to swerve the neighbours' but I wasn't overly bothered and never said anything about it. I didn't really care - until it got all over my dog's fur. He's quite short with a bushy, waggy tail - it's like a sweeping brush that doesn't stop. We always wipe down his paws after a walk but didn't realise he'd got LOTS of brightly coloured chalk in his tail and it ended up ALL over my sofa, floors and rug.

We could only go out of our house through the front door (back door led onto the teeniest yard ever, then that led onto the bin alley which was gated, locked and often filfthy) so it was completely unavoidable whenever we left our house. It did get annoying. Kids should absolutely be encouraged to be creative but I also think it shouldn't lead to extra cleaning for other people. I still never said anything to NDN, but I did have to use the kettle and wash away the chalk on our front step - I waited for hours after he'd finished hoping the rain would do it for me but when it didn't happen, I had to do it. Got on well with NDN and her son, so there was no drama but yeah, it can get annoying having to do extra cleaning in your own home.

Take the chalk off them ... draw a hopscotch, and bloody well join in!!!!

And in english?

Really?

Jesus. It's chalk.
It'll wear off with foot traffic in a couple of days, or the next shower of rain will wash it.
Personally, I enjoy seeing kids chalk drawings on the path! A bit of fun and colour to a slab of boring concrete!
Get a grip OP.

Yes

The only time this upsets me is when the children don’t let me walk past without playing hopscotch and I have arthritis. It’s annoying on my way out to the shops but on the way back it’s worse because I have to jump about carrying heavy shopping.

I remember getting into deep shit as a kid for doing this. I can kind of see why. It’s basically graffiti. Yes it washes off, but it takes a long time, especially during hot summers like this when there is no rain.

Trouble is, parents these days don’t give their kids any boundaries.

I don't think it looks nice but it's temporary. It will wash away with the rain, and I guess if we'd had more rain this summer it wouldn't have been such an issue.

Graffiti, now! That's a different matter. I hate graffiti on buildings/hoardings, but especially on buildings of stone, brick and wood. I love these natural materials and I wince when I see lovely old brickwork (or modern brickwork) covered in horrible 'tags' from drug dealers and gangs.

I was coming home on the tube last week and I saw some new flats built in the ochre-coloured London stock brick - really attractive - and some idiots had already started on them. Someone's actual home, which they're paying a mortgage or rent for, and some vandal is already devaluing it. It's really hard to get graffiti off brick - it's never quite the same afterwards...and the next day they just do it again.

I hate the elevation of graffiti to an art form. Just because some of the perpetrators can draw doesn't excuse it. Put it on a hoarding, or go and buy a canvas and do it on that.

It usually looks awful and you have to walk on the road to avoid getting on your shoes. Unfortunately it’s just one of those annoying things that children do.

Bet you wouldn't resist a hopscotch though.

I know, I hate the soles of my shoes getting mucky. Awful.

When it rains it will go. It's only temporary. My sister's and I used to chalk on the pavement outside our front door 50 years ago so it's not a new thing.

Only a psycho could resist hopscotch!

A couple of years ago my friends had a party and some of the kids did a supersized hopscotch in the road (they live in a cul de sac). IIRC it went up to 20 and was a hulluva lot of fun.

Oh, get over yourself!🤬 It's CHILDREN'S drawings, not bloody graffiti! Wind your neck in.🤬

What is wrong with getting a bit of dry chalk on the soles of your shoes? Compared to say......dog piss, spit from grim bastards, spilt drinks etc?

My mother was as uptight as they get (middle class by accident and very much "What will the neighbours say") and even she didnt have a problem with us chalking!

I can promise you I would indeed resist it - I don’t think I have bothered since my age was in mid single figures!

Grow up.

I bet you also moan that 'kids these days' are always on tablets.

Bless your heart man. I couldn't let myself get old in the mind as well as the body. It steals little moments of joy and makes people cynical.

I’m not remotely ‘old in the mind’ and am quite capable of moments of joy. Just like I’m capable of understanding that moments of joy are different for everyone.

I don’t deny being cynical though, I was born like it.