How to Deal with an Annoying Neighbor Child

Have you ever felt like a prisoner in your own home due to a Dennis the Menace wannabe living close by? You may be ready for a change if you have envisioned running over their BMX bike with your car or shredding their football with your riding lawnmower. When excuses do not work; even your two-year-old can see right through you and they know its not nap time, something else needs to be done.

The first approach to take is try and talk with the child or parent. Addressing the child and letting them know that it is not okay to come over when ever they want is important. Some children actually need to be told, "NO." With the middle school crowd stay calm and give respect. If you get on the first name basis with them you may have a little more pull. Or at the very least you may be able to invoke fear in them because they realize you know who they are. With older teenagers sometimes inviting them over for a few minutes can actually help. You can say something similar to, "I see you are always hopping the fence into my backyard, why?" If they tell you its because your yard is the short cut to their friends house perhaps you can come up with a compromise. If you are in the back yard and they ask, then they may walk through your fence and go to their friends house. Yes it is not your responsibility to compromise with them but sometimes being neighborly is just the easiest thing to do. Showing respect, especially with teenagers, is a way to diffuse a potentially out of control situation. By no means would all teenagers resort to some sort of mischief but it is definitely something to keep in mind. Lets say the next time they go to vandalize property, throw eggs on Halloween, or steal a garden gnome they most likely will not be doing it from your yard since you took time out to be nice to them.

If all of those approaches fail you can talk to the parents of children. Hopefully you will encounter a parent that is receptive, but keep in mind some will just shrug their shoulders. Countless times parents have made excuses or just said the age old line, "Kids will be kids." Never approach a parent and accuse their child of being an obnoxious little punk even if that is the case. Instead try and diffuse the situation. In a rational manner explain to them that their child is ruining your flowers by jumping over the fence or your afraid your dog will follow them out. Just remember to tread lightly; after all you do not want to make enemies with the people you have to live next door to. If all else fails you can always report trespassers to the police.

If being direct with the kids and talking with the parents does not work you can always just get up and go inside when the child enters your yard. You also have the option of sending your children inside and explain to the little trespasser that your children cannot play right now. Go on to explain that you have a lot of yard work and they are more than welcomed to help you will it. Hand them the shovel for scooping up dog poop. Most kids should get the hint and leave. If not hey its a free helping hand. Sit back and enjoy a lemonade while they clean up the yard. If you are afraid that the bad behavior of the children will rub off on your own children then use the situation as a learning example. Explain to your children the difference between right and wrong. We are not always going to be able to sensor our children from the world. We have to give them the right tools and a solid foundation to make their own conclusions.

You can also set guidelines for the neighborhood children. Tell them that on school days between the hours of 4 and 6 if your children are outside then they may come over. Tell them all other time is family time and they cannot come over. You can also invite them over once and set up ground rules. Tell them that when they are welcomed to come over and play, your children will display a signal; it could be a flag up on the swing set to a simple sign stating, "Welcome." Word of mouth travels fast around any neighborhood so hopefully they will catch on soon.

If all other methods have failed there are more serious things to try. More drastic measures include; motion activated sprinklers, anti climb paint, the mosquito sonic device, and planting large bushes. Motion activated sprinklers are more commonly used to deter wildlife from your yard, but can work great for those pesky neighbor kids. When they jump over your fence they will sure be in for a surprise. Let them go home and explain why they are all wet to their parents. Anti climb paint is another interesting option. What you do is coat your fence in this paint and when it dries it stays oily and slippery. The best thing about it, depending on the color of the paint, that color will stay on who ever attempted to climb over the fence. The mosquito sonic device, which is a small device that sounds off at a high frequency, is another option. Think of it as a burglar alarm that only children and teenagers can hear. Large bushes can be planted right by your fence line. When the intruder jumps over they are sure to be in for a shock.

Perhaps, its not the kids that are invading your yard but their toys. Ever get sick of collecting those balls and tossing them back over the fence? You have a few options. You can secretly go out and collect the balls at night and dispose of them or keep them into your garage until they come over and ask for them. Place all the balls in a bag and place them with a note back in their yard. Or you can poke small holes in the balls before returning them. Soon the balls will be too deflated to fly over.

At times dealing with an annoying neighbor kid can be very frustrating. You may even be tempted to jump over the fence and set up camp in their yard. Regardless of the situation remember to always stay calm when addressing the children or their parents. You do not need to put up with kids trespassing, but unfortunately unless we live in the country we have chose to live next door to neighbors. We cannot rid the world of rude, obnoxious, and inconsiderate people. All we can do is deal with the situations that are presented to us in the best manner that we can.