Should I let this wind me up?

This evening, there I was in the living room playing with my son, when I noticed two young kids outside, watching through the window, clearly waiting for me to notice them. When I looked round, they made the hand signals clearly meant to offend. I naturally completely ignored them and made a show of continuing as I was as though they weren't even there.

When their initial efforts failed to have the desired effect (I presume they were after a chase), the larger of the two walked into the front garden, bold as brass, and knocked on the front window and waited for a second or two. I continued to ignore them.

Then there was a knock at the door. I wasn't going to play their little game but at the same time I wondered if maybe they really did want to speak to us, so I let the wife answer the door, and guess what, they had of course legged it.

As a kid, I played knockyhido just as all kids do/did, but I wasn't so bold as to walk over someone's garden and stare into their living room window.

Should I let this annoy me, or should I just remind myself that 'kids will be kids'?

 

Keep a camera handy in case they decide to take it further in the future. Hopefully they were just messing about.

 

Depends from the kind of kid. Some find it fun if you react so therefore it is better to disregard it, whilst some would find the same intimidating.

 

Chilli paste

 

By and large, we get little bother here considering there are so many kids in the area.

Last winter, we had a few snow balls thrown at the window, and a few months ago we had an egg. Then there was tonight's little episode.

I don't think its personal, as I've seen kids throwing snow balls at other people's windows too. I think its just because our house stands out a bit, as we don't currently have a hedge at the front.

I can't speak to the parents for two reasons. Firstly, I don't know who they are, and secondly, I see no point, I guess they wouldn't see the problem (or at they might be the other extreme, that overreacts with their kids).

I guess I'm going to have to just put it down to one of the down sides of choosing a house in a neighbourhood that is predominantly young families. Oh, and grow a hedge at the front to give us a bit more privacy.

 

Probably doing it so you chase them.

 

Silly question, but do you have curtains or blinds you could close? If these children know you're there and can see you, they'll try and get a reaction. Old fashioned they may be, but there's a lot to be said for net curtains.

 

However galling it may be, I think small incidents are best ignored, lest they build into something more serious. Unfortunately kids love to get a rise out of adults and this isn't anything new. A hedge is a good idea, along with a garden gate. Somehow a gate has the power to repel invaders which is disproportionate to its actual size. In the longer term, consider moving somewhere which isn't stuffed full of young, ill-behaved families. You can never really win, because as one lot of kids grows out of being a pain, the next generation rises up and chucks things at you.

 

There you are, Clueless. Just borrow Gypsy for a day or two.

 

Clueless.....being the same age as you i too used to play "bobby knocking" (as we called it....lol) but back then it was just a bit of fun (being an adult i now see why we got a few unsavoury words shouted at us.....)....you can't be too careful these days though!!
I also used to play "hedge hopping" :OUCH: ......those poor peoples hedges!!!! :o .....
I would just wait and see if the same kids do anything else......then go out and express your thoughts in an "out side voice" :WINK1:

 

Thanks for the advice and opinions folks, much appreciated.

That's what I reckon, and its why I made a great show of letting them know that I'd seen them, and then casually continuing what I was doing.

I don't think they were really bad, because they could have trampled the flower bed, scratched my car, let my tires down, stuck a banana or potato in the exhaust etc, but none of that happened fortunately.

Very good point. I must admit that has occurred to me. When we had a few snow ball incidents last winter, it did occur to me that by putting the light on because it was getting dark out, forgetting to shut the blinds, and having my favourite sofa right in front of the window, was a bit of a silly combination.

I liked the blinds at first, but I hate them now that they've all gone wonky (as blinds do), and curtains are cosy, so nets and proper curtains will be replacing the blinds soon enough.

The layout of the houses round here is such that they all have the lounge on the south side. So on my side of the road, the south side is the front, on the other side its the back, so those houses are less of a target (they have their kitchens at the front), plus there's only my house and one other (the old lady next door) on my side, before the church grounds where all the kids play, then much newer houses further down, so I guess my house is the one that stands out the most. Some modifications to the front garden should help loads, along with the curtains idea.

Its worth noting that although there are a lot of kids around here, the vast majority behave themselves very well. In fact its quite a likeable yet old fashioned neighbourhood, where kids play out in the street and build ramps for their bikes out of old wood etc. or play footy in the church grounds.

 

A nice row of Berberis or Pyracantha should do the trick, or it will do when they foolishly try to pull it up.

Edit. Although Blackthorn may be better for long term pain.