There's a thread here somewhere (I think Yachtie started it) about kids playing in front of their house. There's plenty of divided opinion in that.
No harm IMO in asking them to move on but some parents won't like it.
I live in an apartment and last night at ten o'clock I had a gang of kids out shouting and playing really loudly immediately below my apartment windows. There is a big green a few yards away so I asked them to go and play there as it was getting late and they were making a lot of noise. They went reluctantly and I got a pretty dirty look from a woman who I know is one of their parents this morning when we were both getting into our cars to go to work. I just smiled and said hello and she said 'you know, the kids are entitled to play on the Green'. I said 'of course they are. I actually asked them to go and play on the Green. I just didn't want them playing right outside my windows at that time as they were making a lot of noise'. She just muttered something and got into her car.
I feel awful now and don't know what these kids have told their parents. Just wondering how people would handle it. Should I just grit my teeth and put up with the screeching and shrieking rather than have hassle from the parents? Just a bit taken aback as I would have thought asking them to move onto the Green at that hour was a reasonable request.
I can understand the kids being a bit huffy about it, but I would have thought parents would understand that a big gang of kids playing right outside someone else's house or apartment at 10pm is unfair, when there's a large empty green a few short steps away.
I asked a couple of the children where they lived as this was the second time in about five minutes I'd had to go out to them and said I'd speak with their parents if it happened again.
I've heard, via a neighbour, that one of the children went home crying about that and their dad is very annoyed about the incident being so 'confrontational'. I've sent him a message, via our neighbourhood forum, explaining what happened and apologising for upsetting his daughter but trying to explain the context and how kids are constantly congregating right beneath my apartment and making loud noise.
I feel a bit sick, actually.
Therein lies the problem these days, let them hang around their own parents' homes and the matter would be resolved quickly.No harm IMO in asking them to move on but some parents won't like it.
I would say the eldest kid was eight. I realy don't understand it. I want to say it is lazy parenting but I don't know...
Anyway, don't worry about it. If your neighbours have a problem, let them come to you.
True. I just feel that maybe I'm now going to be perceived as the big bad wolf by kids whose parents just don't seem to understand how annoying it is to have a gang of other people's kids constantly screaming outside your home on sunny evenings, forcing you to close your windows etc.
Most parents automatic response is to get very defensive when people give out to their kids.
Sooner or later (if this kind of anti social behaviour continues) you will have to contact the Gardaí, like you should have done first instant and anonymously.
If you've any concerns, just go talk to the parents and explain the situation. Most will be reasonable and you'll feel a lot better. Most parents automatic response is to get very defensive when people give out to their kids.
From my experience:-
1. Talk to the Parents:- Probably a great waste of time. They will see you as a crank.
2. Talk to the offending kids:- Probably a greater waste of time and will raise hackles from the parents and the kids now have a target.
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