! Iwhat Do You Think

I wouldn't like them running through my flowerbed and up onto my porch. If they were on the lawn I don't think I'd mind as long as they were just kind of "passing through." I wouldn't be happy if they decided they were going to stay and play on my lawn.

I think just simply telling them that you are trying to have pretty grass and that the flower bed is off limits is fine. They don't know where they can't go if you don't just tell them in a nice voice.

I can't imagine a mom or dad being mad at someone who asked their kids to stay out of their flower beds. Putting up some little stakes with twine between them will also be a visual reminder to stay off the grass. You can say you fertilized it if someone asks, that would help it to look nicer in the spring too.

Interesting thughts about kids "running wild".

Where I grew up kids were encouraged to play with the neighbors' kids. Kids were encouraged to play in the neighborhood. All of the moms and dads kind of kept watch so no one got hurt or got too far out of line. Every mom and dad knew everyother mom and dad and had their phone number.

Where my kids grew up, it was the same thing. It was the kind of thing that brought a neighborhood together.

Apparently today everyone suspects or fears their neighbor. How sad.

I wouldn't mind kids coming into my yard. If they got out of hand, I'd send them home. Yes, I'd say something to them. I'd make it a teaching moment, not a gripe/chew out session. If they were excited about chasing my cat, I'd tell them what I expected.

Good luck to you and yours.

I've taught my kids to respect other peoples property. When we go canvassing for Heat and Stroke, delivering flyers or Trick or Treating they know to walk up the driveway or sidewalk and never to cut across the grass. They have also been taught to ask the owner before they pet strange animals. I assume (and hope) that they are following those rules when they are out playing without me, and I wouldn't mind the neighbours reminding them if they weren't.

i think that's not okay.
every neighborhood is different. our old neighborhood, where we lived when the boys were little, had big open yards with no fences and the kids ran in wolfpacks. it was awesome, we all looked out for each other's kids, and property lines weren't an issue. but of course, that applies to the families of the wolf packs. the kids weren't haring around yards of people without kids, or chasing anyone else's animals.
our current home is very private and i would not appreciate anyone just showing up uninvited.
i'd be courteous but firm with these kids. 'hi guys. i know tabby is fun and friendly, but you may only pet her quietly if you see her on the sidewalk. you're not allowed to chase her, and you're not allowed to run around on my property. thanks a lot. go on, now!'
if they don't comply, find the parents.
khairete
S.

When I was growing up, the basic rule was that you played in YOUR yard... not the neighbor's yards, unless you were playing WITH a neighbor child.

When we lived in Iowa, our neighbor (with 2 boys) didn't necessarily follow that rule....... and we frequently had the neighbor boys playing in our yard.... I didn't really like that... they damaged our garden, and for some unknown reason, poured used motor oil down our swingset slide!

Here's one problem... if they are injured on your property, who is theoretically liable? You are...... and some people will expect you to pay for medical costs.

I'm not a fan of kids being everywhere in the world. Even when Kiddo was wee little and began to run into someone's yard, I'd take him by the hand and remind him "You are invited to stay on the sidewalk. This yard is someone else's space." We have a few neighbors who enjoy having kids in the yard, but we've already had face-to-face communication about this. Our front yard is gardened to the nth degree, so when Kiddo has friends over, they are reminded to stay on the paths or go into the more kid-friendly backyard.

If it were me, I'd probably poke my head out and remind the kids that they are welcome to play on the sidewalk... and that if I see them chasing the cat, they'll need to go somewhere else. "And if I see that you choose to keep coming in my yard, I'll need to go talk to your parents." I would try, however, to get to know the kids a little first and be friendly in how I approached them. After that first warning, though, I'd likely talk to their parents about keeping the kids out of the yard and respecting my pet's safety if it continued. It's a respect thing and every child has the right to learn how to be in the world. :) Why would we deprive them of that by allowing them to infringe on someone else's property and comfort?

I can't imagine letting my kids do this or having this happen to us. My neighborhood is a quilt of young families and retirees. The only time kids come into our yard is when they are playing with my kids and vice-versa and I never see any kids (mine or others) in other people's yards uninvited. That's just rude.

No, it's not appropriate to just run roughshod around other people's property the way those children did. My property isn't set up to make it easy. We have shrubs lining the front yard and side yard so they'd get "trapped" if they tried that. :-) We don't share a backyard with anyone, and it's fenced in besides.

As a child I was always very cautious about which neighbors allowed children onto their front yards and which ones didn't. Most people didn't care as long as there wasn't property damage and you were respectful. That's pretty much how I feel about it. I would now include that to mean "be respectful to pets and all other animals."

In your situation, I hope you reprimanded those children and warned them not to do that again.

I don't like it. I have one of those driveways that is straight down and FUN for the kids until someone gets hurt, then of course, I will get sued.

When I see them flying down my drive, I go outside and ask nicely the 1st time for them to stop and tell them why I do not approve. If I see the same child again, I tell them I will speak to their parents.

THEN, I point to our cameras and said even if I see them on camera, I will email the pictures to their parents.

I was floored 1 afternoon when I was outside washing my NEW Mercedes. This kid about 5 was on a razor scooter on the sidewalk with his mom and all of a sudden just came flying at me and my car. I screamed at him. The mom said "He just loves your driveway". I said, "Well I guess you will just love paying for any damage to any of our cars as well as the medical bills for your son when he flies through my formal living room window". She was not American and I reminded her that it is NOT ok to be on other people's property, even if it is fun, unless you are invited. I then directed her attention to the cameras and told her everything is on video.

Yes I know I was a biotch about it but as soon as someone gets hurt it will become my problem..

My daughter was taught that you only go on someone's property if you are invited.

I hate to say it, but in our litigious world, you would be held legally liable if a child were hurt on your property. If a kid fell off the porch and were hurt, for instance, the parents could try to sue. I hate to "go there" and talk about the legal aspect but it's very real.

I also think it's slack of parents to let kids run wild. Kids do not learn respect for others' property or personal space if the kids are allowed to roam free. And chasing any animal, pet or wild, indicates a lack of any empathy with how frightened the animal must be. Not a good sign. If they'd caught your cat, would they have returned to gentle play or would they, all juiced up from running and chasing, done something much rougher to kitty?

The parents ought to both keeping their kids on their own property (or at homes of friends or in public space) AND teaching their kids not to touch or chase strange animals, even friendly ones -- that's basic safety, as well as good neighborhood manners. An animal with rabies might seem "friendly" as it raced toward a child when it's anything BUT. Rabid animals often actually approach people rather than fleeing them. A kid used to going right up to animals isn't going to realize that.

I'd definitely contact the parents and in a very friendly way say, "Hey, my cat's really friendly and loves kids, but please ask your children not to approach her if they see her outside. She's loving but I can't guarantee she always wants to be touched. And please ask them to stay out of the flowerbeds and off the porch. I love having kids around the neighborhood but don't want anyone stumbling on the porch or tripping over the shrubs or anythng like that. It's for their safety." And then if it happens again, you'll need to get outside pronto and firmly warn the kids off your porch and flowerbeds and yes, your yard, and I would definitely get pretty loud and firm about chasing my cat! They may say you're the "mean lady" for doing it but your cat will be stressed and frightened if it's chased or even played with when the cat isn't interested. Even the friendliest cat has a right to scratch if it's not in the mood and someone touches it. Believe me, you'd hear about that from the non-supervisory parents.

No. I don't want them on my property unless they are invited to be there. If something should happen...

I don't allow my own kids to do it either. For example, the way our neighborhood is set up/laid out, it is much shorter for my kids to walk down the main road after getting off the bus, then cutting down the property line of the house behind us to our yard (instead of walking the long road around the back to the front of our property on our cul-de-sac). They are not allowed to do this BY US, because they do not have the right to cut across someone else's property just for their own convenience.
It's a no-no. And it really is a lot shorter. But oh well.

While I was reading this I had an image of the little old man that used to live down the street where I grew up. He was the cliché grouchy old man running outside to yell, "Git off mah lawn, whippersnappers!" of course he wasn't as PG about it.

My grandparents solved the problem of having the local high school kids cutting through their yard by peppering it with cacti. No one wanted to walk through that booby-trapped jungle anymore.

If it were me, I'd just pop my head out if I saw them chasing the cat and yell, "Hey! Quit chasing the dang cat!" If they stop for a bit but then go back to terrorizing the cat, I'd turn the sprinklers on them.

Eh. It depends what they're doing, or where they're going on my property, I suppose. If they are using my driveway to turn their bikes, scooters, big wheels, etc around, I totally don't mind at all. If they run across chasing a ball or whatever, I wouldn't mind at all. If they're running through the gardens, cutting across my yard as a shortcut to someone else's house, putting stuff in my yard (making holes) or pulling stuff I've placed in the yard out, THAT would be annoying. If they were playing with my children and running all over the property, that would be grand; it's what the yard is for.
We host little neighbors all the time to come place chase, soccer, kickball, cupball, hide and seek, army, dodgeball and its many variations, etc. That's all great but if they're tramping the front gardens and not friends with my children, I'd stop it.
We had large front yards at my mom's house and the neighbors would cut through our yard, right past our windows, going diagonally across to go somewhere else, because they were too lazy to walk through their yard or driveway to the sidewalk. That upset mom, and she made a border of rose bushes (thorns, and pretty), so that trained them to go around our house. We placed banana trees on the other side to allow for privacy from the other neighbor, just to a little bit past our porch.

It is a bad precedent for you to allow them to run into your flower beds and up onto your porch, Sassy. Even though you don't care all that much and you know that they are having fun, kids shouldn't be allowed to do that. You should go out and speak to them and tell them that running into flower beds and on people's porches is bad manners and can get them in trouble with some people. Tracking dirt from the flower beds onto your porch is bad form, and trampling your plants is something you should tell them not to do.

It is also WRONG to scare a little animal half to death by chasing it. That needs to stop immediately. You should care a lot about that. Poor kitty!

That's my two cents!!
Smiles~Dawn

What do you think a parent will do when your kitty get tired of these kids and bites or scratches them? Yeah, a screaming parent at your front door accusing you of having a tiger. I would be nice the first time and tell the kids to please not play with the cat nor run on my property. If it continues, I would say something to the parents. Good luck!

A No Trespassing sign and keeping your cat inside will fix this.
If you can't put up fences, growing barberry (natures barb wire) or other thorny shrubs as a hedge around your yards perimeter will keep out human intruders - and birds and rabbits love hiding in it.
If a kid gets hurt on your property (or scratched by your cat - even if the kid annoyed your animal and had it coming), you could get sued.
Some kids vandalize - pull up plants, tear branches off trees - or pull pranks by turning your outdoor spigots on and leave them running.
People (kids, people walking their dogs, etc) need permission to be on your property.
If they don't have it - they don't belong there.
Repeated trespassing sometimes causes people to call the police and charges are filed.
There are whole books devoted to Neighbor Law, mostly dealing with trees, fences and borders but trespassing is a major topic covered in them.

I was brought up to never ever go in someone's yard unless you're with that person. BUT, after I got married and had kids and moved onto a beautiful street I learned pretty quickly lots of kids do it. It bothered me at first but then once I got to know my neighbors and the kids, I just let it go because they weren't bothering/hurting anything. If they had stepped into my flowerbeds or my vegetable garden, then I would have said something.

What DOES bother me is I actually have a neighbor where we live now that drives her freaking golf cart thru everyone's yards!!! I don't say anything because I don't want to start a ruckus (and it's only happened once or twice) but I'm dumbfounded at the nerve of this woman!! We all have really big yards and long driveways so I get that she likes to drive around but seriously!!!

If I were you, I would just tell the kids it's NOT ok to bother your cat or step in your flowerbeds. Much more than that and you might wake up with tomatoes on your front door!! Remember, you'll be around these people for who knows how long so you want to keep the peace in the neighborhood!!

Good luck!!

My children were never permitted to do that-where are their parents? I wouldn't let my child run around alone-or in a pack-you have over 1500 registered sex offenders in your area-some cannot be accounted for:

http://www.city-data.com/so/so-Sacramento-California.html

I wouldn't be happy about kids running through my flower beds or onto my porch either! My kids are 5.5 and 2.5, and every day while walking my son to school, I have to remind not to walk in other people's yards. So, some of it may just be kids having fun, and if you decide to say something to them, you'll probably have to remind them of it.

I'm also always communicating to my kids the need to be respectful of ALL living things, and chasing animals or yelling RAH at them is not respectful.

It's unreasonable to request and expect respect for your property, which includes your cat.

I would not be OK with that. We just moved and lots of kids here, but no problems so far. In our last place, my neighbor was a stay at home mom with 6 kids - she stay in with the baby and the other 5 (ages 7-18 months) would be outside running all over. I actually liked this woman and her kids, but didn't agree with this, I thought the youngest was too young to be left in charge by a 7 year old. I have a 7 year old they like to play with. She was at school (they are homeschooled) and I work from home, so I was in the basement office working and I hear this footsteps upstairs. I go up there and it them - some where playing with the baby toys, some where in my fridge, some where in my cupboards. I chased them out and found a straggler looking for my daughter upstairs. I was soooo mad. They would often come up on my deck and peak in my glass door. Shut blinds, but we could still hear them out there. I would tie my dog up outside so he could enjoy the nice weather, he loved it out there and they would take him off the chain and put him in their house. One time I was painting a pot outside and they sprayed me with a hose and wouldn't stop - so I screamed and they thought it was funny and kept spraying me - I did yell at them to stop - ruined my pot by the way. Anyway, the kid went and got his parents - they never spoke to us again. We weren't "close" so it was fine, but it was nice having someone to talk to every now and then outside.

Not really sure if that helps or not - but no, I wouldn't want them terrorizing my kitty or in my back yard.