Step one: UPDATE in post 14 :)

[Sirrahsim]

The satellite guy came out today and fixed our dish (for free thank heavens!!) It turns out that the LNB thingy on the dish was broken off and because of that it sent a short through the wire and blew out one of the thingymabobs up in the attic of our house.
When the kids show up for their daily football game I am going to gather them around and say something like this:
"Sometime in the past week, this satellite dish was damaged. I don't know who did it and I don't want to know, but because of the damage I'm going to have to kick everybody out of my yard. One street over by the swimming pool there is a nice park with a big open field. If it's ok with your parents I suggest you go there but either way this yard is now off limits. If anything happens to this dish again I will have to find out who is responsible and have a talk with their sponsers. Please let your friends know that they will have to meet up somewhere else"
Any critiques on my little speech are welcome

We are also planning on putting up a fence but until we can do that, talking to them and putting up signs will have to do.

That is my game plan so far

[king2005]

who are these kids?
did you give them permission to play in your yard? or did they just start & you didn't care at the time?

[Sirrahsim]

they are the gazillion kids that live in this military neighborhood with me. Mine is one of the few yards that isn't fenced yet so they gravitate to my yard to play football and such. At one point I told them that they could play there as long as they weren't keeping my son awake but now that damage has occured to my property I have no choice but to kick them out.

[Laura's Babies]

Good LUCK! I think you will have better luck talking to the parents.. We have had so many problems around here with the kids over the years I have been here that the landlord sent out notices to ALL the parents stating "No one here is YOUR babysitter. From this day on, ALL parents will be held liable for the damage done by their children and you will keep you chldren in your OWN yard to play. No children will be allowed to run free." Things have calmed down a ton and there are no more kid problems anymore unless you want to count that little girl always knocking on my door to borrow something.

Just let the parents know that anymore damage to that system, SOMEBODY else will pay the repair bills and if I had to, I would take names and picures (of the kids) every time I saw some kid in my yard, that way you would have a list of names to know who was there the day something else got broken.

[Sirrahsim]

I don't know how I could do that There are a zillion kids and a zillion houses in this neighborhood We just switched from military housing to contract housing here so I don't even think that the landlord would want to make waves quite yet by sending out a notice like that

Not to mention that some of the higher rankers live out here would NOT take kindly to a lowly NCO dictating where their precious kids can play I have NOTHING against these higher rankers but there are some that I have met that think that their poop doesn't stink

[jazzcat]

Good luck! I had to deal with the same kind of situation when we moved here. Between the neighbors on either side of us and the one across the street there were 10 kids who played in our front yard - thank goodness the back was fenced. That didn't always stop them though, they would climb our fence to get their balls or to "look around" and that was big no-no because we have an inground pool. It also didn't help that the school bus stop was suppose to be across the street at the stop sign but the kids all stood in my driveway so the bus picked them up there so everyone just assumed my yard was the stop. (I fought the school, bus driver and parents over that for years - if it rained they stood on my front porch at 7 am!!!!). Anyway, after they destroyed my landscaping and knocked a hole in my garage door playing hockey in my driveway I finally had a enough and had to chew them out. I had asked nicely for months for them to stop playing in my yard but when the parents didn't care and I was the only one with a concrete drive which made their puck slide better I got nowhere. We even had to take our basketball goal down to get them to stop coming over.

Anyway, I got the knickname of wicked witch of the neighborhood but I don't really care. It never really stopped until all the neighbors with the kids finally moved away over about a 6 year period.

[Sirrahsim]

ugh I hope it doesn't take that long!!!
My biggest concern is that satellite dish. Technically he SHOULD have charged me for fixing the dish today because it was preventable damage. I can NOT afford any repairs on the thing. My next door neighbor's kids seem like they are kind of the leaders of the pack most of the time and they seem like good enough kids... I hope we can make some quick progress...

School is out in 30 minutes and I am SOOOO nervous They will probably start to gather in about an hour I don't want to be the mean lady

I can't believe that about the school bus and everything! I'd be furious!!!

[Cataholic]

Considering that it is the Army, why not BB guns? (small joke)

I think I would consider the long term effect of your actions. I might try to 'kill 'em with kindness', and see if they can't be more careful. Talk to them like you are all in this together. "I totally don't mind you guys playing in my yard, but, now this has happened, and I don't know what to do", and see what they say.

I think if you try to run them out, and they don't go, it is going to be worse on you.

[Sirrahsim]

Considering that it is the Army, why not BB guns? (small joke)

I think I would consider the long term effect of your actions. I might try to 'kill 'em with kindness', and see if they can't be more careful. Talk to them like you are all in this together. "I totally don't mind you guys playing in my yard, but, now this has happened, and I don't know what to do", and see what they say.

I think if you try to run them out, and they don't go, it is going to be worse on you.

hmm Now I just don't know what to do... I hear the school bus rumbling down the street so I don't have much time... DO you think that if I did that they would take me seriously? I'm afraid that because we are the low rankers on the block it will be hard enough to get them to show me any respect If I play the mean woman card and kick them out then I have to be ready to call up the MPs if anything happens... but if I take your advice Johanna I am afraid that they will walk all over me

[Husky_mom]

you might be low rankers but they are kids and you are an adult, they should show respect to you, one would think a high ranker parent should´ve tought that to theirs kids.........if you want respect show respect.........

and besides it´s YOUR yard!!........you have full rights to let them know you don´t want them playing there from now on........and letting them know is kind enough........IMO and that way they can be understanding and not trying to work out vengeance......(sp?no clue about that )

[pitc9]

Stand your ground!

If they start showing up, tell them they have to leave!
OR they can stay but they all have to pay you $5 a day to play in your yard to cover any future damages that may occur.

[caseysmom]

I think kids respond to reason more than threats yelling, etc. I think if you just go tell them what happened and that you are trying to figure out a solution that would be the best way to handle it. Kids can be very reactive to things and if you are the "mean lady" they will want to do damage.

[Lady's Human]

Being that it is contract housing, and you mentioned the MP's, I'm assuming you are in on post housing?

If so, is there a mayor/military community leader? If there is, they should be able to take care of the issue without you getting directly involved.

(BTW, there is no such thing as a low ranking NCO. There ARE low ranking lieutenants, though......>LOL)

[Sirrahsim]

I did it! The kids had come out to play a particularly rough game when I gathered them all around and had a talk with them. Besides one kid who was suspiciously defensive ("I didn't! It wasn't me! It's not like you saw it happen!!" ) all of the kids did a good job of looking concerned and apologizing. They said that they would go play somewhere else and THANKED me for letting them play there for a while Shortly after that I was chatting with my neighbor (the one who helped rescue Tyler ) and I warned her that she may hear reports from her kids that I'm the mean lady on the block She said that she would have done the same thing! I'm so glad that they were all so nice. I hope that word travels and this is the end of that. At the moment I can hear and see them playing down the street happy as can be

[Laura's Babies]

Lets wait and see what happens when you are not at home now! The kids here always went to the houses where there was nobody home to pick all the flowers, break clotheslines, play on porches and by the cars.. That will be the real test!