The Neighborhood Grinch

I would love to know why in the land of the free and the home of the brave, why exactly is it that I have to explain to my neighbors why I don't want their children doing backflips and cartwheels on my lawn ? Now, I'm not talking about the instances where people share a lawn with a invisible line of demarcation between my lawn and their lawn .. I'm talking about my lawn and my neighbor's lawn being separated by a concrete runoff . I'm not talking about little Johnny throwing a ball to Billy and Billy misses the ball accidentally and it ends up in my lawn, and by nature of that fact Billy has to come over to my lawn to get his ball back . My lawn and my neighbor's lawn are completely separated by concrete . There can be no miscommunication as to where my yard begins and their yard ends . I'm trying to figure out at what point did people become so "entitled" that they decide who's lawn they want to use, when they want to use it, and without permission ?

 What I was always taught growing up, is that if you come on someone else's property uninvited, that's considered trespassing . In my opinion this isn't any different than letting your dog drop turds in people's yards ( which I also find offensive ) ! If you want to have a cute little dog or a big dog, and you feel the need to walk or run with your dog around the neighborhood, be a good neighbor, clean up after them, bring a plastic bag and a scooper with you so you can pick up their doggie turds. Ahhhh but I digress, that's too much trouble right ? Somebody else should clean it up,.... right ? 

So anyways,  I drove home after getting off of work as I'm nearing the corner,  I see children playing in the street .  I live on a cul-de-sac so I see kids playing in that area pretty often. It's not a big deal, I think it's great that children have somewhere to play. I think it's great that I live in that type of neighborhood. I draw the line at my property though. I don't want to held accountable for children horse playing in my lawn, especially when they are uninvited. The closer I got my driveway and attempted to enter the cul-de-sac I noticed, that there's a sign that says slow speed which is basically in the middle of the street almost like in construction when they don't want you to come into a certain area. Again, I completely understand wanting to warn drivers that children are at play, but you simply cannot impede traffic and act like you own the entire block. This is a residential area and people need to have free access to their driveways and alleyways.

 Once I get past the sign I notice a woman, presumably one of the mothers rushing over towards my driveway and as I'm able to visually clear my house,  I see exactly what it is she was rushing to . Children having a hay day on my lawn . I've seen them before riding up and down my driveway with their bikes which was fine, but this time not only were they riding up and down my driveway, but this time they were in my yard, playing in my grass. As a homeowner I felt like them being on my grass was inappropriate . I'll also add that none of my neighbors whoose kids were playing in my yard have ever formally introduced themselves to me . Sorry to be "THAT neighbor "( more on that later ). In that moment, I decided to give them the benefit of doubt . Once they cleared my driveway and grass I parked and went inside . I wanted to see exactly what the kids were doing on my lawn so I waited inside by the windows and watched as the kids came right back over and proceeded to play on my lawn AGAIN. 

This time they were tumbling, flipping, and doing backflips .  I think as a parent if you didn't think it was wrong to have your kids playing on my lawn, you wouldn't have gotten up so quickly the first time you saw me to try and move them . As I'm standing at the windows inside my house, it becomes quite clear these children and parents have no intention of getting off my lawn . I'm getting increasingly frustrated and trying to understand at what point is it okay to let your children play on someone else's lawn that you have never spoken to, or gotten permission from ? So I eventually go outside and stand on my porch to further survey the situation and decide exactly what the next steps will be . Literally, the moment I came outside the door, the children took off. Not too long after that a one of the parents gets up and walks towards me. The first thing that comes out of her mouth is  " " what's the problem? I noticed you had your arms crossed"  not " hi, how are you doing sorry that our kids are playing in your yard "or "how are you, my name is such and such". She immediately went on the defense, asking me what my problem was as if she was oblivious to what had just taken place . I let her know that I had a problem with her kids playing on my lawn, and she immediately says "well they werent on your lawn,  they were off to the side " and I stated back to her "no ma'am,  I've been standing outside my  window watching and they were definitely on my lawn" so on her next response she backpedalled and said "well, they were only over there for a second" which is pretty interesting considering the fact that you literally just stated that they weren't on my lawn but over on the side.  I then stated "God forbid something happens to them on my lawn you would probably try to come after me and sue me ". In which she then stated "no, we're not going to sue you" followed by "it's not like they're doing backflips in your windows". 

I find it ironic that she was so dismissive and unapologetic regarding her children's behavior but rather making excuses for why they should be allowed to continue to play on my lawn, when they have their own perfectly good lawn at their house. Once she realized that I didn't her sentiment she then went on to attempting to antagonize me stating that she's been in the neighborhood longer than I have, and that her family and friends are going to continue to play in the cup-de-sac etc etc.... The conversation continued to go down hill from there but eventually she walked away . She stated on her way out, that I will be known as that neighbor, then fine. Which I'm fine with, because if it takes me letting you know that you will respect my property than so be it ... I'll be neighbor .... Pfft.. don't even get me started on when I first moved in having people think it was ok to walk their dogs into my backyard to take a dump ......

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