I often wonder what kinds of people would actually want to live in an HOA neighborhood. The answer is people who like rules and who like enforcing rules even when those rules are the ridiculous.

The answer is the type of people who like measuring grass with a ruler and ratting out their neighbor for breaking even minor rules.

The woman who wrote this story strikes me as that type of person.

Imagine going for a walk in your neighborhood, and your child is scared of a statue in a neighbor’s yard. Would you avoid walking by that house, try to talk to your child about it just being a statue, or would you ask the neighbor to remove the statue?

Keep reading to see how the mom in this story handled the situation.

AITA For Going To The HOA to Force My Neighbor to Take Her Frog Statuette Down.

Recently I (35F), my husband (34M), and my daughter (6F) started to walk because of coronavirus.

We’ve been doing the same route everyday. It is about 2 miles and there aren’t a lot of cars, so it is a really good route.

Recently one of our neighbors put up a frog statuette up for display outside their house.

I find it really creepy and so does my husband. My daughter hates it. She is absolutely terrified of it. Now She refuses to go on walks.

She decided to talk to the homeowner.

Earlier today I went to the house to ask them to move the statuette so it is no longer on display.

I knocked on the door and a middle aged man, maybe 55, opened the door. I told him the situation.

He seemed sympathetic, but he said that he and his wife really like the display, so they won’t be taking down that statuette.

She talked to another neighbor.

After that I talked to my next door neighbor. He is the vice president of the HOA so I was wondering if he could force them to take the statuette down.

He said that the statuette might be a violation of the HOA bylaws. He went to look at it and sure enough it is.

Now they’re being forced to take down the statuette and are being fined for violating the bylaws.

My husband says that I took it too far. I see it differently. The statuette is destroying the aesthetics of the neighborhood and is scaring the children. AITA?

What an awful Karen! She definitely sounds like the kind of person who loves living in an HOA and the kind of reason most people hate HOAs. I agree with her husband. She definitely went too far.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a family who is resisting pressure from the HOA to remove their tree and lights.

Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

Exactly!

Yup, she’s the reason people hate HOAs.

Everyone agrees that she was in the wrong.

I hope so too!

I feel bad for the neighbors. I’m not sure exactly how a frog statue violated HOA bylaws, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. It’s awful that they have to pay fines all because one Karen’s daughter was irrationally scared.

I also feel bad for her husband. He knows she messed up, and now the whole neighborhood is going to hate both of them because she’s like the HOA police.

I feel bad for their daughter too. She’s irrationally scared of something, but instead of dealing with the situation in an appropriate way, the mom tries to make the world change for her and succeeds. That’s not exactly great parenting.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.