Neighbor drama alert! We’re diving into the wild world of suburban clashes between adults and neighborhood kiddos. From annoying entitled parents to full-blown meltdowns from children, we’re investigating whether these times residents snapped at the local kids were justified or if they went a tad too far. Grab your popcorn and let’s dissect the boundary lines in this hilarious saga! All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. “They Were The Most Annoying And Obnoxious Children”
“My neighbor had four kids, ages 5 through 10, and they were the most annoying and obnoxious children I had ever met.
My sister, who was 8 years old, played with them sometimes. Recently, they showed up at the house and asked my sister to play.
I replied, ‘She can’t play right now. She needs to clean up before she can play, and it’s supposed to storm soon.’
I thought they would just go home afterward, but I was so wrong. Instead, the kids started banging on the windows, yelling through the screens, non-stop ringing the doorbell, pounding on the door, and screeching. They took my sister’s bike, scooter, ball, and jump rope and started using them. When they were done with an item, they threw it in the road. One of the kids even tried to open the front door and come into my house. This went on for 10 more minutes. Eventually, I thought they had left.
I took my dog and sister outside to collect the toys from the road, and the kids swarmed.
One of the older kids taunted, ‘You’re not her mother. You can’t tell her what to do!’
I was my sister’s caregiver for the last 3 years, so I thought I had pretty good authority over her. This all happened while the younger kids screamed at me for not allowing my sister to play.
At this point, I lost it. I yelled, ‘You aren’t welcome at the house if you keep destroying my sister’s toys and banging on the door! Do it again, and I’ll call the police!’
During all of this, they were trying to pet my dog even though I told them not to repeatedly. I had to physically block their hands, and even that didn’t stop their efforts.
My sister and I went inside not long after their mom showed up.
The mom looked at me and screamed, ‘How DARE you treat my babies so badly! You’re a terrible person who hates kids! I need to speak to an adult!’
Well, no luck for her, because I was the closest thing to an adult at the house. I walked back up to my house and closed the door because she wasn’t worth my time. I would have loved to tell her how I liked kids, but just not hers. I wouldn’t have had to yell at them if they didn’t have a terrible mother who never watched them.
I didn’t think I was in the wrong, but the mom wound up calling my stepdad and multiple neighbors and saying I was rude and ‘a danger’ to her kids. I have thought about apologizing to the kids, but not the mother.”
2. “She Cussed Me Out”
“My father bought a house in the 80s and held onto it as different developments sprung up around it. I inherited it 3 years ago and have been living in it since. Two acres surrounded the house while my neighbors have ½ an acre if they’re lucky. The house is fairly small, so I have a very large front and back yard. I only use a little of the backyard as a garden, and the rest was an empty field. I’ve always loved kids, so I was happy to let my neighbor’s kids play in the field with the understanding they would respect the property. Most of the kids were great, very respectful, and understood it wasn’t their backyard. The problem was with my neighbors to the right.
They had five kids. A 1-year-old, a 3-year-old, two 5-year-olds, and a 7-year-old. They let all of the kids run around unsupervised. They didn’t come to my yard to play very often unless the other kids played soccer or baseball. The 7-year-old was ‘in charge’ as much as a 7-year-old can be but obviously, he couldn’t replace parental supervision.
Five days ago, the kids were playing baseball and the oldest lost track of the 5-year-old children at some point. When I came home from work, I found their names written in Sharpie on my wall along with some rude drawings. All on the side of my house.
I found the children’s parents the next day and asked, ‘Hey, can you buy some paint? Your kids drew all over my house.’
They replied, ‘We don’t believe you. Our kids would NEVER vandalize someone’s property. We aren’t paying a dime!’
If this had been the only thing their kid did, I probably would have let it slide, paid for the paint myself, and covered the drawings. However, one of the 5 year-olds decided it would be funny to throw rocks at my house the next day. There were several dents in the siding where the rocks hit, and two of my windows were broken. When I got a quote to fix the damage, it would cost almost $1000. I talked to the parents, but again, they didn’t believe me. They just thought I was trying to make their kids look bad.
Going forward, I decided to not allow my neighbor’s children in the yard until the damage is paid for, which I thought was more than fair. When they came by to play soccer recently, I politely explained the situation and told them to leave. The 7-year-old was extremely sad, but the 5-year-olds were livid.
About an hour later, their mother stopped by my house and started pounding on my front door. She cussed me out and yelled at my doorstep about how I was a horrible person who ‘hates children’ because ‘I’m bitter and can’t find a husband.’ I stood my ground either way. The most annoying part was how other neighboring parents came by demanding an explanation about why those kids aren’t allowed to play anymore.
Eh, you can’t win them all.”
3. “I Threatened To Call The Cops”
“I lived in my childhood home I rented from my dad after my mom passed away. The home was in a nice, mostly blue-collar neighborhood. Since I grew up in the house, it had a lot of sentimental value.
My neighbor, ‘Todd,’ was a single dad in his mid-40s. His child was a boy, who was about 12 years old. They used to rent the house on the other side of me before they bought the house they are in now. We had been neighbors for a few years, and we never had any issues. I only talked to Todd a few times, but he was always friendly.
Last week, I kept hearing noises like something hitting the side of my house and my roof. I went outside and looked around. From over the fence, I saw the neighbor’s kid swinging a golf club directly at my house, maybe 10 or 15 feet away from it.
I walked over to the neighbor’s house and asked the kid, ‘Do you know what just hit my house?’
He replied, ‘I’m hitting rotten apples from the tree. One ricocheted and hit the side of the house.’
‘I think I heard more than one,’ I said.
The kid was sheepish, but he apologized. I nicely asked him not to do it again, and I honestly thought the situation was resolved.
Throughout the week, I heard stuff hit my house again, but I never saw the neighbor’s kid in the yard. Well, today, I found golf balls in my backyard near our shared fence. There was only one place the golf balls could have come from. I saw Todd so I went and told him what happened.
I explained, ‘I’m not trying to get your kid in trouble, but I thought you should know. If it happens again, I hope you would pay for it. Apples are one thing, but golf balls could break my skylights.’
‘You talked to my kid?!’ Todd screamed, ‘NEVER speak to my kids! You should have come straight to me. If you speak to them again, I’m calling the cops on YOU!’
Todd didn’t seem to care about how his kid was wrecking my property, so I threatened to call the cops on his kid if he did it again. Bad move, especially because Todd worked for the city, but I would never actually do it unless the kid caused damage to my house.
Todd was nearly frothing at the mouth he was so angry. I didn’t care because we never talked, but seriously? I didn’t think I was in the wrong. I didn’t see a reason to get Todd involved, his kid was old enough to know what he was doing was wrong.
At the end of the day, I felt like I did the right thing.”
4. The Terrible Toy Thrower
“Recently, one of my neighbors, ‘Sarah,’ threatened to call the cops on me. Why? I stole our other neighbor’s children’s toys off the patio and brought them to my place. Our patio was huge, and everyone on the second floor of the apartment building shared it. It was supposed to be a nice, peaceful place to go outside and relax. Plus, it had a beautiful garden. The apartments were low-income, so it was just about one of the only nice things we had.
For years now, a kid lived on the fifth floor who threw their toys out of the apartment window. I didn’t blame the kid. However, I did blame the parent who never watched her kids. Her kids don’t respect their toys or their parent’s belongings. Most of the toys the kid threw out of their window broke.
At first, I tried returning the toys to the mother, but then she threatened me. She also kicked someone else’s door down. Not wanting to put up with the mother’s attitude, I started giving the not broken toys to other kids or thrift stores. I even gave some of the Hot Wheels I found to my son since he loved cars. Nobody ever noticed the toys went missing.
However, my OTHER neighbor, Sarah, almost reported me to the police. I knew stealing was wrong, and many times, I didn’t even touch the toys thrown out of the window. The sad thing was that there were so many kids in the apartments who wanted toys but couldn’t afford them. The apartment managers refuse to step in, so I took matters into my own hands.
I didn’t think I did anything wrong. I DID think the mom should have watched her kid better, though.”
