Imagine living near a park where kids like to play. If some of the kids started kicking a soccer park in the direction of your house, would you be okay with that, or would you tell them to stop?

In this story, one homeowner is in this exact situation, and he tries to nicely ask the boys to stop kicking the ball towards his house. What follows is an emotional battle with the neighbors and an impulse buy online.

Let’s read all the details.

AITA for confronting neighborhood kids kicking a soccer ball at my house?

I live in a small suburban neighborhood with a shared “green space” across from my house; walking path, tiny dog park, trees. Kids play out there a lot, unsupervised.

Usually fine, minus one menace kid who full-swings golf balls and drives a loud go-kart through the grass.

2 weeks ago, 4 boys (10-12yo) were playing soccer, using two trees at the edge of the greenspace as goalposts.

The problem: my house was the backstop. I WFH and my office faces the street, so I see/hear everything. These kids are old/skilled enough to kick with some force.

He had to say something.

They hit my garage door twice, flowerbeds twice, my wife’s car in our driveway once.

I hate conflict, but had had enough. I stepped outside and said, stern but not angry, “Hey, find somewhere else. You can keep playing, but not with my house as your backstop.”

One kid muttered a sorry, I said it was fine and went back inside. They walked off.

That night we got ding-dong-ditched 4x. Who cares, kinda funny. My wife & I chuckled at the Ring footage – we did that as kids.

Their mom has some nerve!

Saw the boys outside the next day, so I walked over to “call a truce”, even complimented their DDD’ing (which they denied lol).

Then the mom of one kid drove up. She got out and asked if there was a problem.

I said no, just talking to the boys.

She said they told her what happened and had reenacted me “yelling” at them. She said they’re just kids and asked “wouldn’t I rather they be outside than on an iPad?”

Then literally told me I was “stealing their joy.”

HA.

The mom is really overreacting.

I said yes I want kids outside, just not kicking soccer balls into my house.

She said I should have expected this when buying across from a greenspace.

Me, now irritated: “It’s not like I bought a home facing a golf course.”

She asked if there was any damage (no), said they’d pay if there ever was. She got emotional, repeated I was “stealing their joy,” and started sobbing.

Here comes even more trouble.

At that moment I saw her husband power-walking toward me. I had met him once, knew he worked in a faith-based job, so I assumed he wasn’t about to swing at me, but he came in HOT.

I managed to de-escalate, the wife left, and he and I walked off as I explained I was not trying to be an AH, I just don’t want soccer balls fired at my house.

We parted civilly but w tension.

He didn’t have to do this.

This part will sound fake, but it’s true, and shows I suck at personal conflict.

It bothered me enough I couldn’t focus on work.

Admittedly a bit selfish to buy back my focus (not pure altruism), I bought a $30 soccer goal on Amazon to give as a peace offering (3’x4′ w net; legit enough to aim at instead of my house).

Shortly after, my doorbell rang.

I assumed another DDD, but it was the dad.

He apologized, so did I, I showed him the goal, he offered to reimburse me (hasn’t), we ended on fine terms.

He’s not sure what to do with the goal.

Two weeks of good weather later, haven’t seen the kids out once. The goal is assembled in my garage.

My conscience is mostly clear, but it still nags at me enough that I’m here asking: AITA?

Is the goal weird or unnecessary where should I return it?

The goal is weird and unnecessary, but it was a nice gesture.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

The kids were completely in the wrong.

This is horrible!

The parents need to parent.

Yes, the goal should be returned.

Those kids need to learn some respect.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.