Get out of my yard you darn kids!

[miss_thenorth]

Can't say that it did. Four years ago, I lived in a subdivision like the one you describe. I had kids playing ball or tag or whatever in my front yard all the time. BAckyard was completely fenced, and I had a cow bell they could ring if they wanted to come into the backyard. ( WE had a pool) They respected that rule, for their own safety and our privacy. We made friends with the neighbourhood kids, and in turn met alot of the parents. All was good and if there was a concern, we could easily talk to whomever about whatever the problem might be. sure beats the heck out of getting upset over it. IMHO. YMMV

 

[Beekissed]

That could very well be the solution right there, Toulle! You might want to invite those kids into your yard and see if they are interested in any SS endeavors like gardening and project building. Might kill two birds with one stone.....you might get to know them and form a mutual respect, might be someone to whom they can come to for guidance and advice, and you may get the help you need on your projects.

Could be those kids are just waiting for someone like you to show them respect for others, for property, for life.

 

[k0xxx]

I just stopped in for a moment, and I had to read this thread because it's a subject dear to my heart.

AND, I had to add this:

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[Beekissed]

 

[FarmerChick]

yup
you are giving yourself a headache for no good darn reason...lol

de-stress

those pines are about 16 foot tall now. post a big sign near them....warning these trees were sprayed with very harmful chemicals to combat 'the pine weevil'. Do not touch. might work

 

[k0xxx]

Ok, now that I have more time. Personally, I wouldn't post any signs about harmful chemicals or such. Society today is just too d@mn litigious. Some kid comes home with a rash and pine sap on them, and you can bet who they'll blame.

I understand the pain that thoughtless kids (is there another type?) can be. We have had our mail box "attacked" three times since June.We're the only house on this stretch of road, and our mail box sits 400 ft. or so from the house and out of view from us. The first time the used an huge, old text book to knock it off of its' post. Of course the name in the text book was marked out. The second time the mail box was knocked off the post and we found it about 500' down the road. This time (last week) the mail box has just come up missing. We've bought a replacement box, but I've also bought a game camera to keep watch over the box. I've secured the camera up about twenty feet off of the ground and it's hard to spot unless you know where to look. Maybe I can catch the PITAs if they keep it up.

 

[pinkfox]

My biggest issue with kids like this, climbing the pines ect is that in many places you can put money on it that is the kid was to climb your trees fall out and hurt themselves the parents would be coming to you for the bill...unfortunately that's the way things go these days.

Post no trespassing signs so if something were to happen any liability is reduced otherwise all you can do is be diligent about keeping watch when you are home...I agree it's annoying, I also agree life's too short to stress out about it so post signage to protect yourself and maybe is a little poison ivy was to get established..wouldn't hurt either lol

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[colowyo0809]

I'm sorry, but seriously???? Were they climbing on the easement side or your side? JMO, but there are alot worse things kids could be doing. I get the privacy thing and all,but.....

Talk to the parents, post some signs if you feel the need, but there are more serious things in the world to get upset over.

This is true to a point, but there's also a bigger picture thing here. They are not respecting the fact that he worked hard to plant those trees and cultivate them so they will grow. Plus, if they get hurt, like other people have said, they can sue him and win. Thats enough of a headache right there. Plus, it is his property. Just plain walking on his property, and breaking stuff like that actually does lead to larger things later in life. It shows a blatant disregard for other peoples property and does, in fact, lead to things like careless driving, hit and runs, and so on. The more kids are allowed to get away with small stuff the better the chances they will escalate to large stuff. I'm not advocating shooting them or anything, but if nothing else, posting no trespassing signs and even going door to door and asking parents to remind their children that those trees are off limits might be a way to go.

 

[2dream]

All I can say is "I feel your pain". I was in your shoes for years with my neighbors kids. But they were doing much worse things than breaking pine trees. I won't go into all the drastic measures we took before it all finally stopped. But I will say, No Trespassing signs, a game camera and few visits from the Sheriffs Dept finally put a stop to it. Plus, as they aged they moved on to other more grown up crimes. The local Deputies know their names well. What made it so horrible for us was that we have always had neighbor kids hanging around. Eating homemade cookies, running around, playing ball in our yard, etc, and they pretty much had free run of the place. It was just one neighbor that created the problems.
So maybe if you get to know all your neighborhood kids, you can pick out your trouble makers and just keep an eye on them. Plus, if you make friends with the good ones they will put pressure on the bad ones. Or it worked like that for me.