Seriously?

[Sirrahsim]

Missy, call their mother(s) explain two small boys at home, and hopefully she'll remember how vital naptime is and scold the kids.

I thought about doing this but decided to just let it go most of the time. If I ask them to leave but tell them they can come back after whatever time they will usually respectfully leave and come back. They don't get out of school until close to the end of naptime anyway so it isn't a huge deal. I try to be a little cool about it

[joycenalex]

...or you could send donna (moosmom) after them...just a joke, really

[Sevaede]

...or you could send donna (moosmom) after them...just a joke, really

*snort* Good idea!

[Barbara]

Guilty in the 60s- seems to be an international thing
And while being at it: anonymous phone calls to neighbors pretending something weird, stealing fruit from their gardens, playing soccer on the street and hitting a window with the ball...............
Consequences: some really big scars on my knees because when you ahve to run away quickly you can easily fall

[moosmom]

I remember years back (in the 60's) my cousin and I used to spend Saturday nights at my grandparent's house. We used to call this phone number where an elderly African American gentleman would answer, "Praise the Lord and glory to God, how may I help you??" We'd give him all sorts of pathetic stories about how we were orphans and had no food (we were about 9 at the time), any sorry story we could come up with. He'd say a prayer with us, talk to us for a while and then the call would end. So I guess I'm guilty too.

[Medusa]

I think every "kid" is probably guilty of playing some sort of prank. How many of us can remember dialing a number at random and when the person answered, ask "Is your refrigerator running?" and when they'd say 'yes', we'd say "Better go catch it!" Oh, har de har har! How hilarious. Not. That type of prank is harmless. We didn't think about the poor little old lady or man who had to take forever to get to the phone, only to find out it's a prank call. However, once vandalism or theft enters the picture, a whole new dynamic sets in. When I first moved into this house a little over 3 years ago, some kids from the next neighborhood decided to help themselves to my firewood. I thought I might be imagining things when I realized that my firewood was dwindling until one day when they thought I was at work, I saw them come into my yard and scoop up as much as their arms could carry. They were having bonfires every night in the autumn. When I approached them on it, of course, they not only denied it (Hello, I've caught you redhanded, you idiots!) but they said words to me that no kids should even know. I didn't know where they lived, so talking to their parents was out. Long story short, I called the cops and they handled it for me. Their families eventually moved to another neighborhood to terrorize someone else, no doubt. Kids will be kids but theft, vandalism, disrespect? No. No way. Ever. I would never have tolerated it w/my own kid and I won't tolerate it w/anyone else's.

[Karen]

I thought about doing this but decided to just let it go most of the time. If I ask them to leave but tell them they can come back after whatever time they will usually respectfully leave and come back. They don't get out of school until close to the end of naptime anyway so it isn't a huge deal. I try to be a little cool about it

Hmm, maybe start keeping a tally - and for every time they ring and run, they need to repay you with doing a chore for you! Something innocuous but tedious, like washing windows or something ... That'll take the fun out of it.

[Medusa]

It's been my experience that if you say something to the kids about it, they'll graduate to something worse. They'll eventually stop if they see that it doesn't bother you (even though it clearly does). I've had far worse things happen to the point where I, like Donna, freaked out one day, charged right into the kid's house where his mother was sitting in the kitchen drinking a coke, I grabbed him by his shirt, pinned him up against the wall and said some things that I shouldn't have. (No, no foul language, but I spelled out exactly what would happen to him if he came on my property again for any reason.) I don't know who was more shocked, the kid, his mother, my son or me. Try to let it go.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I'm sadly guilty of dorbell ditching too...we did it to my neghbors grandmother as she was babysitting us while our parents were at work. Sigh, in retrospect it was mean to have her get up and answer the door while we hid in the bushes and laughed...but as a kid it was oh so funny.
I wasn't exactly a nice little kid though, I pulled quite a few pranks. Nothing overtly destructive though