Neighbour fed up with spying child: 'I'm entitled to privacy in my own garden'
By Merryn Porter |
While many people embrace having a close relationship with their neighbours and their children, sometimes their actions can prove annoying.
A woman who called herself NorthernMoon took to the mumsnet forum recently after becoming fed-up by her young neighbour 'spying' on her family while in their backyard and her mum's refusal to stop it.
The woman explained that while their homes don't share a common boundary, the child, 6, comes down the lane behind their houses and peers "through their back gate or a crack in the back fence, quietly watching us, with her nose up against the fence."
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She said she knew the child was doing it because "her mum has told me" and the previous day she could "see her feet at the bottom of the gate."
"My child is friends with her and she comes to play sometimes. I don't mind her coming in to play when we've arranged it, but I do mind being secretly watched in my garden, and the parents thinking it's ok to let them," the woman said.
"Also it's awkward knowing they're there watching us when I don't always want to invite them in."
She asked if readers thought she was being unreasonable to think parents should "stop their child from staring through a crack in someone's fence/gate because it's rude" or "to think I'm entitled to privacy in my own garden."
"I know she's only a kid but it's mostly about the parents not stopping it and also about setting boundaries with neighbours as I don't want to have to invite them in every time the child appears at the back gate," she said.
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In a reply, the woman said an adult always accompanied the child on her spying trips.
The post drew a lot of comments, with everyone agreeing that the child and her parents were in the wrong. Many suggested she take action to stop the child's bad behaviour, whether that be plugging the gaps in the fence, planting some bushes, or worse!
"Grab a ladder, prop it against their garden fence, climb to the top and just stare at them when they're in their garden. Fully stare all crazy eyes. They'll never darken your doorway again," said one.
"Open the gate and tell her off every time she does it. Take her back home if necessary. It will either embarrass her or embarrass her parents enough that they stop her doing it," said another.
"Every time she does it you open the gate, say kindly but firmly 'Off you go now, it's rude to peer into peoples gardens' and if it persists, you start bringing her back home and telling her parents not to let her do it," wrote another.
"Just shout 'peeking pervert' loudly again and again. Pretty sure the parents won't want to explain that to her," was another suggestion.
"Quick blast of the hosepipe will solve this," said another, with a few others making similar suggestions. "A lad along our back street used to do this. One day whilst hosing the yard bit down he got wet ... Never did it again."
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