Sometimes a little shade can attract more than just a cool breeze.

So when a homeowner’s front yard became the go-to hangout spot for the neighbors’ unsupervised kids, bikes, balls, and pool noodles started turning her lawn into the neighborhood playground.

And eventually she had to decide whether being the “nice neighbor” was worth the daily chaos.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for having a talk with my neighbors about their polite children

I have two grown daughters who are out of the house. I’ve been working from home for over a year.

My office is at the front of the house looking at my front lawn. Most of the street has gone to rock or similar for front yards because we are in Southern California and water shortages, etc.

I have grass and a nice big tree in the front yard.

The homeowner describes the neighborhood kids.

My neighbors have two boys—around 11 and 13. Across the street there is a boy around 5 and a girl around 8.

There is another boy around 11 further down the street, and beyond him a girl around 8. I am at the end of a short cul-de-sac.

They’re better behaved than some kids, but not without their flaws.

These are polite kids who hang out together, but they are kids who are largely unsupervised. They are loud—that’s fine.

They are kids and they have every right to play and be loud.

The homeowner’s dilemma lies elsewhere.

Here is the issue. My yard seems to be the gathering place for the kids because they can sit and be under the tree in the shade.

I had to speak to the parents of one of the 8-year-old girls because they were in my yard bending the sprinkler risers.

Parents took action and it hasn’t been a problem since.

The boys, however, have continued to be disruptive.

Twice I have asked the 11-year-old boys not to ride their bikes across my front yard. They also frequently lose their lacrosse balls in my ivy and bushes.

Instead of reaching in and grabbing it, the two of them use their lacrosse sticks to hatchet at the shrubbery as if the ball will pop out. It never has.

The homeowner has had to discipline them in lots of other ways too.

They—around five or six kids—also have really, really loud pool noodle fights in my front yard when I am on conference calls. I have had to ask them to find somewhere else to play.

Previously I had to ask the neighbor parents not to let the kids stand on the top of the wood fence (that I just replaced) to get into my back yard to get their balls—about a dozen times a day.

The homeowner worries they might be held liable if something were to happen.

They can walk over and come into my back yard to get them, but I didn’t want damage to the fence or liability for injury.

I also had to ask the parents to ask their kids not to bounce the basketball right next to my front door as they were going back to their house.

The door is in a covered alcove, so the sound reverberates through the house and I am right next to the door.

So the homeowner tries to reach out to the parents, who are nice enough.

I’ve asked the parents next door to ask their kids—who are the leaders—to tell the kids not to ride bikes on the lawn, to not hatchet at my plants, and to take the pool noodle fights elsewhere until after 5 on weekdays.

Each time I asked the parents to talk to their kids, they were polite. But I got the feeling that they felt I was being a PITA and unreasonable.

Now the homeowner wonders if this is the right decision.

Now I am questioning myself.

AITA for not wanting my yard to be the neighborhood playground? Or for not wanting excessive noise on my property?

Sometimes it’s harder to enforce trespassing rules when the perpetrators are just kids.

What did Reddit have to say?

Maybe it’s time for a little hostile landscaping.

This homeowner has every right to be protective of their property.

The parents definitely aren’t innocent in all of this.

It’s time to be as direct as possible with these parents.

It could be worse, but it could also be a lot better.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.