We had an incident yesterday afternoon with the neighbor kid who lives in the 4-plex in back of our house, the next street over.

He was throwing rocks with his friends. Said neighbor is approx. 15 years old.

I let the dogs out into our fenced backyard to have a potty break.

Of course, the dogs bark, because they hear noise coming from across the fence.

DH looks out the window and sees the kids throwing rocks.

All of a sudden.... SMACK!! - A rock hit a large piece of wood that we are using as a makeshift fence on an area of the backyard, where the dogs are standing. (during the wind storm last year, a tree hit our fence, and we are looking into replacement fencing - can't decide between chain link and wood fence...)

DH storms outside and yells at the kids to come over. They refuse. So he goes and talks to the neighbor kid's mom.

Backing up a minute, this neighbor we have had trouble with in the past. He threw rocks at our shed a couple years ago, destroying part of it, because he "was bored" (his exact words). And he is constantly trespassing in our yard/next door neighbors yard. Even though the neighbor put up a "No Trespassing" sign. The kid is a "latch key" kid, whose mother does not supervise him. This is the same kid who rides his 3 & 4- wheeler up and down the road at high speeds with friends and no helmet on.

Neighbor kids mom said that our dogs were barking at the kids, and DH let her know that is no excuse for throwing rocks. She showed no remorse at all as to what the kid did.

So DH called the police and requested an officer stop by for him to talk to.

The officer showed no concern for what happened at all. He said that "boys will be boys" and that if we have not had any trouble with the kid for 2 years, than we are lucky. He showed no concern about the kids trespassing or throwing rocks or anything.

He went and talked to the mom, and she told him that she brought her kid over to apologize to DH. She flat our LIED to the polic officer.

We are furious!! "Boys will be boys"???? Boys like this will be future inmates!

Are we acting ridiculous or do we have a right to be ticked? We just want the kid to stay out of the yard, stay out of the neighbors yard (the neighbor is disabled and has a hard time walking and asked DH to tell the kids to stay out of his yard - the kids literally tore down the "No Trespassing" sign that his landscaper put in the yard, sprayed it with spraypaint, and threw it in the ditch), and stay out of our way. Following the rules will be good too - especially when I know that one day the kids (neighbor and his buddies) are going to end up in the hospital taking a turn way too fast in a 4-wheeler with no helmets on.

Am I just petty???

No, and I would go one step above the officer's head. "boys will be boys" is not an excuse or a reason for any destructive behaviour.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

An electric fence sounds appropriate........

Hmm..your husband stormed over and yelled at the kid to come over?? I wouldn't have come over either if someone was yelling at me. You called the police because he threw a rock at your fence and no damage was done?

Granted, you have a history (albeit a minor one) with this kid. However, it sounds like you need to make a decision and fix your ramshackle fence with one that a couple of rocks will not damage. There's a reason they say, "good fences make for good neighbors."

I remember being that age and doing stupid stuff like TP-ing, which while not totally destructive could have been considered vandalism/littering, etc. Try to remember back to when you were that age and all the stupid, senseless stuff you did (and didn't get caught for.) I'm not saying that excuses any bad or destructive behavior from your neighbor kid.....but maybe next time, your husband could talk to him calmly and rationally and from a "I was once a boy too" perspective.

The kid threw a rock where the dogs were. If he would have thrown it higher, it could have gone over the wood and hit our dogs. That is why DH was so ticked off.

DH only yelled at the kid because of the problems we have had in the past with him. And the fact that the kid knows better than to be throwing rocks at our dogs (or the wood right in front of our dogs).

As for hitting our shed, to get to the shed, they had to throw rocks against the wood fence and make a hole in it, THEN the could start hitting the shed. So the history is not so minor when you consider the kid had to throw enough rocks to break a hole into a 6 foot tall wood fence before the kid could throw rocks to start putting holes into our wooden shed.

DH is still furious. And I will speak to him when he gets home, and see if maybe he feels like talking to a different officer.

Had the kid hit our dogs (which he may or may not have wanted to do) this "minor" vandalism would have gone far beyond minor.

It sounds to me like both the mom and the boys have been hit in the head by a rock.

LOL, or need to be!

There is no excuse for not respecting other people's property whether it's a delapidated fence or a garden or a vehicle. Point is that is is not theirs.

No I don't think DH should run out and yell at them, they probably were threatened and scared. (My husband would have done the same thing)

Point is boys will be boys, but it's our job to teach them right from wrong.

If they were throwing rocks at the police barracks, would they have gotten in trouble? You bet.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

IMO a 15 year old is not a kid...he is on the way to being a young adult. Even my six year old knows we don't throw rocks! Boys will be boys without proper training and raising...which it sounds like this young man gets none of!

What to do? I haven't got a clue. I wouldn't hesitate to call the police in the future if he does indeed cause property damage or trespass for that matter.

I would suggest that you request to speak w/ the Shift Commander, Shift OIC (Officer in charge), or a Cpl, Lt. or Sgt., another "officer" will probably not feel the need to do anything different. Someone who is in charge will more than likely feel differently (hopefully).

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Well If it was me I would be pretty mad also...The police really can't do anything except talk to them since your property wasn't damage.

Depending on how mad you are ..I would get a video cam and film them from the house "inside only" If you have a video of them trepassing and throwing rocks..Maybe then the police can do something.

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Angels may not come when you call them, but they'll always be there when you need them.

I wouldn't have yelled at the kids to come over b/c my children have always been told never to go near a stranger that is calling for them. I would have gone to the adults who belong to that child and tried on that level first. The police officer can't really do anything b/c there is no property damage but, I'll bet that did scare the parents and the children. So, at least that will be good for them to know you guys aren't going to mess around and let the situation go unnoticed.

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Vicki


TLJ Women united in Spirit!

The child could have been charged w/ disorderly conduct, cited for trespassing and/or disturbing the peace(depending on how the law is written in the OP's state of residence). Those charges are at the discretion of the officer. If you have a lazy officer, he/she will not pursue those charges against a juvenile--because it means a lot of paperwork for the officer. That is why I would suggest speaking to a ranking officer, or shift commander. They may be able to give you more insight as to a) what could be done now 2) what can be done in the future.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I would be ticked off but it doesn't sound you like you will get too far if the mother shows no concern about her sons actions. It's sad but with no supervision it's not surprising he's bored enough to be throwing rocks around.

M

We used to live near a family with four boys. OMG......they were totally unsupervised and acted like heathens. But, one look at the parents, and you would clearly see why!!! One time , DS went over their house to play with one of the older boys, who was actually a bit more behaved then the rest. WEll, the two younger ones....hmmm, like 6 and 3 yo, I think. Anyway, the younger boys pooped in a cup and put water in it, and started flinging it around the room trying to "splash" the other boys. Oh, and the father was downstairs. DS didn't tell us, the mother of another boy that was there told us. Well, when she did, DH went over and talked to the parents, calmly (DH is OVERLY calm sometimes) and the parents said "boys will be boys". OMG, if my "boy" was acting like that, I'd be a "mom" and whoop his ^%$!!!! I don't go for that line for one second.

Bad behavior is never tolerated around here. I know kids will make some bad choices, but,it's all in how the parents handle it, IMO.

If all else fails, file a Restraining Order against them, so they have to stay away from your property. It's to guard against harassment. Beware, tho, they will probably do the same to you, and it could get ugly. But, it is an option.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.