Small problem that I see becoming a big one - kid playing football

edellc

Just a quick question I live in a courtyard of 14 houses its very quiet and nice to live in however the next door neighbour who moved in after me has two kids one is a boy and football mad which is fine however there is a patch of grass that runs from my house down infront of two other houses beside mine and across the courtyard to the three houses adjacent.

I have no problem with all the kids of the courtyard playing there thats what it is meant for but the kid next door plays football and uses my house, and the two neighbours beside me at the grass area as the goal post and slams the ball against the walls narrowly missing windows when ever he gets the opportunity. He drags the brown bin belonging to my neighbour out in front of his window and kicks the ball again and again against this bin it is getting to the stage i want to put a knife through the ball (but wont as dont want to turn into the neighbour I had as a kid but now know how she felt)

I have a young toddler and his window is directly above this grass area and he goes to bed at around the time this all starts at between 7 and 8 pm, I have tried to speak to his mother but she is as common as muck and his son is an angel , I have tried to speak to my landlady who is the sister of her landlady about it but she seems to want to do nothing as my neighbour is a hairdresser and my landlady seems to be getting her hair cut for free in my neighbours house

so I am at a loss as to what to do, I dont want to nor do I have the means to move, but I just can not put up with this going on again this summer...last summer it started around 10am and went on until 8pm most nights only stopping in the rain, or for food or when his mother brought him out

any suggestions as to how to handle this one

yellowlabrador

Maybe go out and engage with the children who are out playing and maybe involve the other parents too? your toddler will grow up and want to go out to play too. I live in an ordinary street and a couple of years ago, all the local children would be out and congregate in the laneway next to my house. We adults mucked in and 'supervised', ie kept an eye out and got to know the children as little friends. The balls would often hit my house and the children would come into my garden .The children have now all gone, grown up and emigrated. I really miss them. If you are very concerned, maybe you could put up a metal grille at the window?
This stage will pass and that little boy will grow up and move on to other things. Living in a culdesac is a marvelous opportunity to have a great community.

cyberblade 918c

yellowlabrador wrote: »

Maybe go out and engage with the children who are out playing and maybe involve the other parents too? your toddler will grow up and want to go out to play too. I live in an ordinary street and a couple of years ago, all the local children would be out and congregate in the laneway next to my house. We adults mucked in and 'supervised', ie kept an eye out and got to know the children as little friends. The balls would often hit my house and the children would come into my garden .The children have now all gone, grown up and emigrated. I really miss them. If you are very concerned, maybe you could put up a metal grille at the window?
This stage will pass and that little boy will grow up and move on to other things. Living in a culdesac is a marvelous opportunity to have a great community.

Thats all well and good... but when your trying to put a baby to bed at 7/8pm and there is a ball being hopped of your walls it aint to easy to put up with. I have the same issue here... big day care facility with a car park beside me and during the summer it is impossible to get my 2 and 3 year olds to sleep. The side of my house is used as is the front of the other building. Bloody nightmare

djimi

Is it no longer PC to stick your head out the door and let a roar at him to get away from your house? Its what we would have gotten when we were growing up; we got the message fairly quickly...

edellc

I would roar out the window only your one is a rough as sand paper and I really dont want to go there and the child is a sneeky little sh*t, and it looks like her mate and her brats are moving in across the courtyard and she has a kid that age too (around 12) they are big enough AFAIAK to go the the field over the road we have so many fields with football goals in them around here its a joke but no her kid chooses to use the front of our houses as the goal and the bin....

The next door neighbour is a single middle aged man and he keeps himself to himself couldnt even tell you his name and he get home quite late each night and the neighbour two doors down is lovely she has two young children also but is in the process of packing up and emigration to OZ, we have a roma family across the way but they dont speak english and a traveller family who I am not dragging into this as they already have caused war over their side....I have spoken to my Landlady as she is also the head of the mgn committee but as I said her sister is the Landlady of your one next door and LL gets her hair done for free as your one is a hairdresser so I guess my hands are tied

Its going to be a long time until my fella can kick a ball like your man next door at least ten years so I suppose I am just venting as nothing can be done other than look for somewhere else but really like the house and the courtyard it was great until she moved in, oh and she has a voice like carla connor in corrie and it just cuts through the walls you can hear everything and she roars her head off, suppose life is full of them. I just want to keep myself to myself and have a quite and peaceful existence but no matter where you go there is always one

Del2005

Ask your landlady if it's OK to paint the side of the house with this? May stop them hitting your house if their ball is manky when it returns:D

edellc

Its not the side of the house that he is kicking the ball off of its the front of the house at the front doors and windows or as he is a sneeky sh*t just under the windows and at the bins that are either side of our windows

the communal grass area starts directly under our windows too there is no pathway between the houses and it, we are in a courtyard its not a cul de sac its a rectangle area with 14 houses and an archway out the area for the cars is over the other side and the communal grass area and barbaque in over here

its lovely really and but this kid is a nightmare with his football he kicks it with such force there is a long stone wall at the house two doors down which runs the length of the grass area and it would be fine if he kicked the ball against this but he wont he just keeps kicking it against the houses my landlady lives in the courtyard too and i am sick of saying it to her as i said she gets her hair done buy this kids mother for free this kid also lives in my landladys sisters house so it all nicey nicey and meanwhile i cant get my baby to sleep with the banging of the ball at the front of the house nor can you hear the tv or yourself think with the noise and the sound of it hitting off the brown bin is just unbearable i just want a stress free peaceful life and this little sh*t is ruining what i though would be a really great place to live

djimi

Why dont you just go out and take the football off of him? Deal with the mother later if needs be but sort the immediate problem when and as its happening.

SteppingStone

It might help to ask him nicely to play elsewhere with the ball because of your toddler. Try getting to know him and having a chat with him in your garden even if it's to hand him out a packet of crisps or a fizzy drink the odd time. Kids love that.That will have him thinking (she wont give us a fizzy drink if we kick the ball at her house) It's kind of bribery in a way:-D but it's worth it if it works. You might even become to like him. If the Mother is as you say, you will get no where with her. Best of luck. Hope he stops for you and you and your toddler can enjoy some peace.

slarkin123

I had a similar problem with a bunch of lads hanging around practically outside my door. One night they were really loud and before.i put the baby to bed i went out. All i said to them was "lads could you move on a bit, the baby's going to bed now". I've never met a more apologetic bunch. Have a word with him. Im sure he'll be able to find somewhere else to play