It’s not just my stuff they take, it’s everyone’s stuff. My neighbors across the street consist of Mom, Dad, a boy who’s about 17, twin boys who are 15, a girl who’s 14, and a boy who’s 11. I noticed when they first moved in (about 7 years ago) that they have a penchant for stealing, especially bikes. I saw the youngest one once, riding a bike that I clearly recognized as belonging to a friend’s daughter, and I confronted him about it. He took it down the street to the shopping center, and dumped it in the parking lot. :rolleyes:
Three weeks ago, there was a block party on our street. One of the twins showed up riding a blue bike. Now, I don’t recognize their bikes (they seem to get new ones a lot), but one of his brothers said “Hey, where’d you get that bike?” He said “I found it”. I asked him where he found it, and he said “Down on Elm St.” I told him he should go put it back before someone reported it missing. He didn’t. He was outraged a couple of hours later that someone (it wasn’t me) had called the cops and reported him for riding a stolen bike “I didn’t steal it! I found it!”
I call them the Demon Children. It’s gotten to the point where, if anyone in this neighborhood calls the police, the first thing the police say is “Is it one of the Demon Kids?”
So, yesterday afternoon, there’s a knock on the door. It’s one of the twins. He wants to borrow our new push mower (you know, the kind with no engine) to cut the grass for someone else in the neighborhood; the neighbor is going to pay him. I tell him no, he may not borrow the mower. I explain to him that the more the mower is used, the sooner the blades need to be sharpened, and I don’t think it’s fair that I should have to pay to have the blades sharpened so he can earn money cutting someone’s grass with my mower. A couple of hours later, he knocks on the door again, and tells me his little brother has my mower. I look across, and yep, there’s the youngest Demon Child, with my mower! I holler to him, twice, and he ignores me completely! Finally, I go over, touch him on the shoulder, and tell him firmly to go put the mower back. He does so, sullenly. I tell him if it happens again, I’m going to call the police. “Go ahead”, he says, “It’s not like they can do anything to me”.
And therein lies part of the problem. The kids are young enough that there’s really nothing the police can do, short of talk to them. And talking to them does no good at all.
Another part of the problem is the kids have too much time on their hands. Their behavior got them first kicked off the school bus, then out of school altogether (well, the three younger boys anyway; the older boy just graduated, and I never see any trouble out of the girl). Their behavior has gotten them kicked out of every recreational program they can get into.
The biggest part of the problem, though, is their parents. That’s why this isn’t in the pit. More than anything else, I feel sorry for the kids. Their parents are no more fit to raise kids than I’m fit to be the Queen of Russia. Mom’s approach to parenting is to stand on the front porch and scream at them. Dad’s approach is to track them down, drag them back to the house and scream at them. From Dad’s behavior, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s violent. My middle daughter once heard him screaming at one of the twins “I hate your guts!” 
I mean really, how sad is that?
I know they’ve been investigated by social services. I’m also 99% certain those kids would have been taken away by now, if social services had anywhere to put them, but they just don’t.
The whole situation is just frustrating, annoying, and sad beyond belief.
Just wanted to get that off my chest.
