Neighbor Kids Vent

I'm going to post here since my boys are closer to 5 and the neighbor kids in question are older.
 
So in our HOA complex 4 houses down live a family with 7 year old twin girls, a 2 year old girl and a baby. I like to think I'm a Free Range parent and laid back about kids needing to move/be outside but have never really cared for kids in the road or kids who are completely running wild in public. 

The twins and 2 year old are outside all the time. I have never met their mother as she has NEVER been outside when I'm out. I do allow my boys outside in our 'yard' and our driveway without me, but I don't let them play in other people's space as it's not ours and I don't think it's a good idea to play where cars can hit you on someone else's driveway. 
 
My problem with these kids is that they have no guidance/boundaries/big people caring for them. School got out a week ago and they are ringing my doorbell during naptime and other times asking my kids to play. Both times they asked I told them it's our rest time, please don't ring our doorbell until after 3:30. When we are out, they come over to play and will play in my garage until I ask them not to and play in my driveway whether we are outside or not. Yesterday our complex-wide lawn service was out and they were frankly in the way of the people trying to cut the grass. There are times when I've had to close our drapes as they will stand outside our dining room window staring at us while we eat dinner.
 
Gah! I would normally address these issues with the mom if I ever met her, but she's just not outside. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to go over and ask that she keep her kids from knocking on my door at rest time and not looking forward to it.
 
What do you think? Am I nuts or justified?

 

I'd speak to the mom too if you've already asked them repeatedly not to knock on the door at certain times. 
 
I'm pretty free range in our gated complex. And unfortunately, some of the only paved areas for them to ride their bikes and scooters are driveways where all the garages are. (Think something a little wider than an alleyway with garages on either side. It can fit 3 cars wide.) There are speed bumps and most everyone knows there are lots of kids out playing. We do have rules on where they can't go- mainly the dumpster and the area by the gate. But other than that, they are free to ride. 
(I'd like to point out that they were NOT free range at 2!)
 
I know a few moms in the area, but not all. I'd want to know if my kids were being obnoxious. I teach them rules and manners, but they are kids too and sometimes make bad and annoying choices. So I'd want to know if there was something I needed to correct and work on and maybe rein them in a bit. 

 

I don't think you're crazy at all.   Kids need to learn boundaries and to not be on others' property.   And to not creepily stare into people's windows!
 
We live in a neighborhood but we're on a cul de sac with only 4 other houses.  We've been here a while so there are certain kids that I don't mind playing in our garage.  But those kids that I don't mind are the ones that are well behaved and listen.  We did have to tell one kid not to knock on our door before 10am on weekends, but we only had to tell him once.  

 

OMG I. Love. The. Country!!! No you're not crazy and yes you need to just walk over and ding dong her door and explain everything they are doing and that they are not welcome at your house without prior invitation/permission!!

 

Michelle, I think you are justified.  We do not live in a complex but we live in a neighborhood of row homes with connected driveways and no one really has a front lawn and both my husband and I go out of our way to teach our kids respect for other people's privacy and property.   Especially if the mom is not outside, then she probably has no idea how her children are behaving out there and this gives her the opportunity to address it with them.

 

Definitely need to talk to the parents. And letting a 2yo outside supervised with two 7yo is really irresponsible IMO. But again, I don't let my kids play in the front yard alone at all, I'm just too paranoid, even if we're in a pretty quiet neighborhood.

 

I love it when I see a kid in diapers (maybe 14 months) playing smack dab in the middle of a fairly busy road.  Grr.. Definitely talk to the parents.  Knock at their door, give their kids a note from you to contact you asap.  Good luck!  The kids NEED boundaries.

 

Yes we had a little girl (about 7 or 8-years old) like that on our street who tried to be "cool" like her older sister and started ringing door bells of houses where she saw kids playing outside during the day.  After waking our twins up during naptime repeatedly for about 2-weeks (they were about 2-1/2 or 3-years old) we had to figure out which house she lived in.  We followed behind her on her bike one day, she saw us, jumped off her bike, DH parked in her driveway, and rang the doorbell.  The older sister came to the door, so he asked for mom and he explained what her young child was doing on the street unsupervised.  BTW we did not want to become "those people" telling others how to parent.  Anyway, the mom became angry at her daughter, brought her down to apologize to us and the twins, and she was punished.  The mom gave us her phone #'s if it happened again and explained she is a work at home mom that must me on her computer, logged in, so many hours per day and the girls had been "telling her they were playing together".  Sometimes I think the parents just do not know what is happening because later that week the dad went out of his way to tell my husband how sorry he was that his child created such chaos in our home during naptime since he was at work during those hours.
 
It is difficult to go down and knock on a stranger's door or ring their bell to essentially "tell" on their children's behavior, but I think in your case it is definitely warranted.  The staring through the windows would freak me out.  If after that things do not change in a given period of time, like 2-weeks, then I would start keeping a log and call the local authorities to deal with a trespassing issue.  We were lucky in our case because she never did it again.  Boundaries need to be set and you have every right to tell the children to leave your property; especially if they are peeking in your windows.

 

I have pain in the butt neighbor kids too...they make me nuts!  But I just deal with it.  If it gets too bad I'll text the parents-we know them well.
I think you should talk to the mom if the kids are bothering you.  I'd want to know if my kids are being obnoxious or inappropriate.