What to do about neighbours who are very disrespectful of my son...

The trampoline thing is probably for liability reasons. I don’t blame your neighbor but if she is going to be that way about it she should just not have one.

Stop the driveway parking practice. Tell your son to quit playing with these trouble-makers. Let the neighbors know you are doing this and why.

have you ever sat down with this woman and talked to her about the issues? Both those relating to your young son and her driving-aged son.

You both need to set up mutually agreed-on ground rules; I hope you can do that amicably. Don’t let the resentment escalate either. That makes future solutions tougher.

@ARE_you_kidding_me We don’t live in a country where there are ‘liability reasons’ for anything. Other neighbour kids are on it all the time.

@Dan_Lyons Yes, I believe I will be blocking my drive and telling him he can’t use it anymore.

@gailcalled I have tried to talk to her. She’s not a very bright person and she has accused my son of being a danger and it will ‘only be a matter of time’ when he hurts someone ‘or worse’. She has written letters to child protection services and caused all amounts of grief for me and my son. Because I am a foreigner here, and my son is a bit different from other kids, (he shows shades of autistic behaviour and has been diagnosed with ADHD) we are an easy target, I’m afraid. I think I’ll rebuild the fence this summer, as well.

Oh, dear. That doesn’t sound very promising. Does her older son’s wish to park in your drive give you any kind of new bargaining chip?

@gailcalled I could come right out and ask that he cut my lawn for the privilege of using the car park, gods know, I could use the help. But the kid doesn’t even cut their lawn, the Dad does it, so I don’t like the chances of it ever happening. I think I would just rather block off my drive way and say that it is no longer available to them. (And it isn’t like they don’t have space themselves, but they are too lazy to get up and move their cars when the mom or dad wants to get out of the drive way.

I have horrific neighbors too. I find getting tough is a last resort (if at all). The bad vibes from neighbors can make a person ill. Perhaps tell your son not to go near them. Build a lovely fence or put up plants to block your view of them. I want to do that myself. (Long story). Today was a really bad day for me with my neighbors today. They are like a disease, so I know how it feels and how it can get to a person.

Perhaps try not to give them the power to upset you? Put a huge pot plant in your driveway so that they can’t park. Put some water fountains in your garden to create peace. It is going to be a long summer here I can tell with my two hunchback fiends that live next door :(

I’m just curious.. What is the age difference between you son and the ones he wants to play with?

@johnpowell one of the boys is in his class at school and the other one is two years older. I was really hoping that he would get along with the one his age, but he was already well settled in and had a best friend in the neighbourhood and a party of three playing together isn’t a great combo.

I like the idea of putting the pot in the driveway, but that’s passive aggressive and a more direct way to deal with it is to just tell the son “I no longer want you to park in my driveway.”

It’s sad that they don’t let your son play with them. I would say to get him a trampoline and put it in your yard, but I know it’s probably not as much fun playing solo as playing with a group.

I would probably take my son to a park if I were you.