Naturally, you want to get on with your neighbors , but sometimes neighborhood relationships just don’t work out as planned, especially when kids are involved.
Sometimes neighbors end up butting heads over how their kids are being raised and, as a result, struggle to find common ground. One woman has taken to Reddit to share how she’s fallen out with her neighbor due to her kids’ naughty behavior.
The poster explained that she lives in a suburban area, in a homeowner association development. And revealed how the community in which she lives has their own Facebook group that has around 4,000 members, as well as a smaller one with 180 members for the particular area of the development that the poster is in.
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She also explained that "they are both private" and each requires "proof of residence for admission". After becoming fed up with how some of the kids in the neighborhood behave, the poster explained that she posted a photo of some of the kids in the private Facebook group.
She said: “For like a year now, there have been a group of kids using my property as their personal hangout since I am at a corner spot of 3 roads with a large area of grass and steps. While those bits are the HOA's property, everyone signs an agreement with the HOA to maintain their adjoined common area.
“If it was just the hangouts, I would be fine. Kids are kids and all that. However, they dump their trash, leave their toys, turn over paving stones, damage plants to the point of needing replacement, all on both my lawn and the HOA's lawn I am responsible for.”
The poster explained that she had not "said anything to anyone about it because of the nasty attitudes towards complaints" but that she eventually "reached a snapping point". She said: “I reached a snapping point when two of the younger kids I sort of recognize from this group smashed a glass ornament on my front porch, then ding-dong-ditched. I could care less about the latter, but that glass ornament was something sentimental I'd saved from my mother's house.”
She explained how she "tried to run out and talk to them" but that they ran off too quickly and, as a result, she wasn’t sure where they lived or who their parents were. She said: “I posted a photo of them from my doorbell cam to the smaller of the FB groups, with their faces partially blurred. All I said was that I didn't expect a reply, but this has been going on for a while, and could whoever please talk to these kids and maybe inform the parents of the other kids who these two hang out with.”
But shortly after she posted to the group, the woman revealed that she received a direct message and a knock at her door. She explained: “The mother of the boys yelled at me for having posted their photo 'to the entire internet' and went on for about 10 minutes straight without letting me get a word in edgewise.
“I took down the photo as asked, but I never got a chance to explain the rest of what I was hoping to achieve. She said something about how if I wanted recourse then I needed to 'be a neighbor' and magically know who to talk to, I guess.”
The woman revealed that the boys’ mom did offer to pay for the damage, but she refused as she didn’t care about the cost, it was simply the "sentimental value" of the item that had upset her. She added: “I told her that I understood her privacy concerns, but that's why I blurred their faces and kept it to that smaller group, but she still claimed it was public to the whole internet (it's not.)
“The other was mentioning that her own FB profile was public with photos AND names of her kids - seen from her DM. She now thinks I am stalking her, that I am claiming the HOA area as mine (I wasn't,) and weirdly still hasn't changed her profile privacy?”
Other Reddit users were quick to comment on the situation, with one writing: “Next time, just call the police and let them deal with Ms. Mama Bear who has all the time in the world to defend her kids' actions but no time at all to teach them in the first place.”
A second said: “I'm a mother who prefers to keep her kids off the internet, but if either of my girls damaged someone's property or caused upset to anybody in any way, I absolutely want to know!! Kids misbehave and do stupid shit, it's all part of life, but there are lessons to be learnt, and how can I, as a mother, reprimand and educate them if I don't know about their actions? She should've spoken to her kids, apologized, gotten them to apologize, and learn that they are accountable for their actions instead of making you the enemy in this situation.”
And a third added: “She is just mad that her kids were called out. But she never apologized for their actions. Get a sprinkler system. Make sure it turns on with motion. Bet that stops the kids from hanging out.”
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