Imagine owning a home near a green space where a lot of neighborhood kids play. What would you do if some kids were playing soccer but kept kicking the ball in the direction of your house?

In this story, one homeowner was in this situation, and he found it especially annoying because the ball hitting his house was really distracting while he was trying to work from home.

He confronted the kids and their parents about the situation, but then he did something that he thinks might’ve been a little crazy.

Now, he’s wondering if he went too far.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

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

I live in a small suburban neighborhood with a shared “greenspace” 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.

Now we get to the real problem.

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.

Enough is enough!

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.

Ding-dong-ditching is different when you have a Ring doorbell.

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.

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, he met the kids’ mom.

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.

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

Wow. The mom is getting a little too emotional over this.

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.

At that moment I saw her husband power-walking toward me.

He had to explain again.

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.

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

He really went above and beyond here.

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).

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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.

But the goal has yet to be used.

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?

He definitely didn’t do anything wrong. He even bought a goal as a compromise so the kids could play without hitting his house. The kids are the problem, but really, the problem is that they’re apparently not old enough or responsible enough to be trusted with a soccer ball without parental supervision.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person calls the kids “ill-mannered hooligans.” I love the word usage!

Another person shares what happened in her neighborhood.

It does seem to be a parenting issue.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a landlord who took action after a resident refused to respect an assigned parking spot.

But this person suggests returning the soccer goal.

If he can’t return the goal, maybe he can donate it to a school or soccer club. The kids don’t seem to be using it, so he doesn’t seem to need it.

Hopefully, the fact that the kids haven’t been back means that the parents have wised up and realized that their boys were the problem after all.

Bad kids are often a result of bad parenting.