Imagine owning a house right next to a family with a bunch of little kids. If the kids were constantly playing in your yard, would you be okay with that, or would you want them to stay in their own yard?

In this story, one woman is in this exact situation. She doesn’t want to be seen as a scrooge, but she’s also worried one of the kids could get hurt on her property. What should she do?

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

WIBTA if I told my neighbor I don’t want their kids on my property?

I’m 33F, so I’m wondering if I’m just an old man yelling at clouds at this point.

Where I live, I have a busy road in front of my house, and a big oval alley behind with a few houses.

In the alley directly behind my house is my neighbor, Jack. Jack is in 60s and his adult son, Art, daughter in law and their kids have moved into Jack’s house.

Art has quite a few kids, and they aren’t all well behaved.

Art has 5 children: 2 boys, 3 girls all in different ages, but definitely ranging from 5 to 13.

I think only the 2 boys are Art’s biological children, and I mention this because the kids in question are only the girls.

I’ve never seen Art redirect or discipline the girls. Unlike the boys, who Art usually steps in to parent and is more hands on.

I’m not sure though.

She thinks the girls are pretty disrespectful of others.

I don’t know the wife’s name, or anything about her, but she really rubs me the wrong way.

Aside from Wife being a bad dog owner, her girls are a handful. They run around the alley screaming and yelling, run through everyone’s yards, touching things in those yards.

I’m all about kids having space to exist, but I think a lot of that involves being respectful and responsible.

They do not have permission to run amuck in my yard, or anywhere on my property. Neither I nor my husband have been asked or approached about permission.

She didn’t want the kids to get hurt.

Back on Halloween, it got dark and Art’s family congregated in front of my house on the busy road side.

No big deal, it was dark and my porch light was bright enough to make it a safe place.

Until Wife told her girls to run through my yard back to their house.

I stood up and said, “Please don’t, I don’t want anyone falling down the hill.” This hill in question is small, but extremely steep like almost a drop off. The ground isn’t level, and my dog loves to dig and we haphazardly fill in the holes because we don’t really care. So it’s not a safe place to be in the dark.

Wife didn’t like that, rolled her eyes and told them to use the access road to the alley instead.

Then there was another problem.

Come this past weekend. Art is having a birthday party for one of the kids and they have an excess of young girls running around.

And in my yard.

These girls were racing up and down the hill, hiding behind my garage, and generally playing in my yard.

I asked my husband if they had permission, he said no, no one asked.

She’s not sure what to do.

It really upset me.

Not only am I worried about their safety, but any legal issues that might happen.

And just ask! It’s not hard to catch me, I practically walk my dog every 30 minutes.

Would I be a jerk if I approach her and tell her I don’t want her kids in my yard for safety reasons and to protect myself legally?

I’m really worried she’ll make a fuss about me being a Scrooge and not letting kids play. I also don’t want her blasting/doxxing me on the internet.

I’m slightly confused. If the mom had asked if the kids could play in her yard would she say “yes”? If the answer is “no,” then asking isn’t even the real issue. It might be time to put up a fence.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Here’s a recommendation to talk to the neighbors.

Or put up a fence.

Here are some more good ideas.

Even if they put up a fence, it may not solve the problem.

This really is a big problem.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.