| We have a family in our neighborhood who have two very small children (2 and 4)
who play on our dead end street a lot. I believe they have broken several
things like our neighbors' lamp and one of our flower pots although I have
no proof it was them. First the neighbors' lamp was broken. The neighbor
called up every family in the neighborhood with whom she was on speaking terms
(not the family with the two little boys nor the other most likely candidate
whose son had done similar things in the past) and accused the children of
breaking the lamp. Needless to say, there were quite a few upset parents and
several more families no longer on speaking terms :-)
A few weeks later, our flower pot was broken and of course J�rgen thinks it's
the neighbors taking revenge. (It was a rather expensive pot but..) Now,
I'm not going to turn about and start accusing people without proof so I told
J�rgen that I prefer to think it was vandals late one night.
My point is that if my kids break something, I want to know about it. I want to
feel that they are honest enough to own up to what they've done and accept
the consequences of their actions. But I also don't want them falsely
accused. If you had seen my children breaking your neighbors' fence, I would
definitely want you to tell me. If was somebody else's children, I would as
a parent of non offenders, prefer that you tell someone so that my children
wouldn't be falsely accused.
If it was my fence that you saw being broken, I'd want to know to undertake
action so that the offenders are made to realise that this behaviour is wrong.
And, if I were you, I'd get out there and meet those neighbors and get on the
best terms with them that you can. With all your neighbors, in fact. Good
neighbors are one of the insurances you can have.
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Personally, I would call up the neighbor whose fence you saw being
broken, and tell them about it --- Who know's maybe these kids were
asked to do it?? And if you know who did it, I would tell your
neighbor, or at least describe the kids to him/her. I would also tell
your neighbor, that you don't want your name mentioned as the one who
"spilled the beans". That way you don't have to worry about these kids
retaliating against you & your home.
If it was my child, I would definately want to know. If it was my
property, I would also like to know what happened. I had a similar
thing happen to me. I live on the corner of a major road and a small
side street. A few years ago, I was out mowing my lawn when I noticed
that my fence had been vandalized --- I have a stockade fence and it
looked as though someone was walking along and decided to pull off the
slats -- a couple were forcably broken, and one section of the fence
came completely out. I filed a claim with my Home insurance Company,
and had that area of the fence replaced, but I did have to pay my
deductable. I wish I had known who vandalized my fence, as I would
have had them pay the deductable.
Sorry to get off track, but definately let your neighbor know what
happened, and give him/her as much info as you can, so that they can
go after these kids themselves.
Good Luck
Debby
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| Recently we witnessed our neighbor's friend back out of their driveway
and flatten our mailboxes (2 mailboxes on one post, our drivways sort
of meet as in a pie wedge) First my husband walked next door to let
them know what had happened. Both young men (+/-17years) got out to
survey the damage and drove off. The mother answered the door and my
husband informed the mothere of what had happened. Her reaction was
what made him so sure it was *their* son. (c'mon get real folks!). Then
the she left in her vehicle. I called and pretty much said the same
thing to the father, who gave me much the same answer, I decided at
that point to demand that some action be taken to repair the damage, or
I'd be quite happy to call the police to report either vandalism or a
property damage hit and run accident. At this point the father said he
would speak to him.
What happened was they put the mailboxes on the ground, left them there
for a full week, I was needles to say getting a little anoyed, and
finally fixed them the following weekend.
We have decided that it's time to split the two mailboxes onto separate
posts, and will be doing that soon.
Was I wrong, I don't think so.
Lyn
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<FLAME ON>
WOW!!! I know these entries are old, but I'm just getting to read
them. Are people really THAT afraid of KIDS?!?!??? Are you THAT
afraid of fighting for what is RIGHT and LEGAL?? Is it THAT okay with
you if kids go and trash the neighborhood - just so it's not "your"
stuff? Is the world a perfect place just so you can sit in a bubble
and not be affected by it????
ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!!
Sometimes you have to "fight" for your safety and your property.
Perhaps I'm too outspoken, but *FOR SURE* I'd have been out there with
those two kids, and dragged them back home, threatening them all the
way. Folks, WE are adults. THEY are kids. These are the kids that
OUR kids have to face on the playground - wouldn't you like to have a
little control over it now? These are the kids who'll Have kids and
mug US when we're old.
No, they're not OUR kids, but then again aren't ALL kids a LITTLE bit
our responsibility?? If you're at the playground, and that brat is
there throwing sand into other kids' faces, don't you speak up??? I
know I do all the time. And you know something?? ALL kids are pretty
much *AFRAID* of Adults!!! Now THERE'S something!! Go back to ANY
kid, tell him/her to knock it off - they MIGHT give you a dirty look.
They usually shut up and try to disappear. They ALWAYS keep an eye out
for you to see if you're watching to see if they misbehave again.
My oldest is 7 years old, and since the time he's been able to crawl,
we've been at playgrounds or at the pool at the apt. or at the beach.
And everywhere you go, there's always at least One kid determined to
ruin it for everyone else. And everywhere you go, all the other
parents will try to move their kids away from the bully, and will
actually ALLOW the bully to run the whole playground/beach/pool or
whatever. Well, that's horsesh*t!! MY kid has as much right to be
there as anyone else - I'm not going to let some other kid push them
around. And if that kids' parents aren't there, then even better. And
if that kids' parents ARE there and here you "yelling at" their kid,
they're usually too embarrased to say anything. And the kid is usually
too SHOCKED to do anything other than what you say (quite obviously
they've NEVER been disciplined before!).
These kids don't need a pleasant little reminder - that crap doesn't
work on kids like that. They've already walked all over everyone
because they've been treated all tender etc. For these kids with the
fence, I'd have gone right outside (probably with a stick or something,
JUST to keep them on edge), gone RIGHT up to them, put on my meanest
face, and asked them "What the HELL do you think you're DOING?!?!" NO
question about it - they're in Trouble. DEMAND an answer, if they
start to say something else, DEMAND an answer. YOU can't back down.
They'll remember you, for sure, but they'll also be frightened enough
of you to never try to get back at you. Don't underestimate how smart
they are. If you yell at them from a window, they'll KNOW that you're
too much of a coward to come out and face them, and they WILL be back.
If they REALLY think you might hurt them or get them in trouble,
there's plenty of easier people to pick on. Trust me, coming from a
kid who used to cause trouble ... kids know the difference between the
people you *NEVER* mess with, and the ones that you CAN mess with cuz
it's fun to watch them try to make you stop.
Come down HARD on them. Kids that age, *MOST* parents are pretty
reasonable still. They REALIZE they've lost control, or are losing, OR
they don't have a clue what's going on. Take them home, try to talk to
their parents in front of them. EXPLAIN that you won't have this kind
of vandalism in YOUR neighborhood, or anywhere else you might see them.
EXPLAIN that if you see them again you'll take them straight to the
police. Another major advantage is that kids are fairly ignorant of
the laws. They KNOW that vandalism is illegal - they don't understand
the punishments, nor do they understand there'd probably be None. FEAR
is a wonderful thing for kids like this.
If you WANT to be able to go to work and know that when you come home,
your house will be intact, if you WANT to be able to walk the streets
at night, if you WANT to know that your kids can walk down the street
without meeting a pusher on the corner, then you have to FIGHT for
these things!!!!!! There's TOO MANY parents that AREN'T parents at
all. There's too MANY kids/ "bad guys" for the police to be able to
be everywhere at the same time - geez, at LEAST do your part. What
would you have done if they decided to break up YOUR fence instead of
the neighbor's?? If you're that afraid, keep a baseball bat by the
door -- but if you're not going to take a stand in your own
neighborhood, then you shouldn't expect to have a very safe one!!
<FLAME OFF>
Sorry if I've offended anyone .... but you know, if you don't protect
yourself and your stuff now, some day these little creeps will be BIG
creeps, and you won't have a chance to knock 'em back down a peg then.
Yah, it's just a fence - today. What will it be tomorrow?? They did
it once, and got away with it, scot free ... they'll be back.
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