What should I do about some kids using our sidewalk for a skateboard ramp?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live in a townhouse community with kids of all ages, which is fine. I like kids, and I like to hear them playing outside after school. There are some boys, however, who have apparently decided that our front walkway makes a “cool” skateboard ramp. Our townhouse is situated on a corner, and the yard is open, because there’s no tree in the front yard like there is in most everyone else’s plot. We have a sidewalk that goes past everyone’s house, and a couple steps up to our front sidewalk, then a couple steps up to our little front porch.

This morning, I woke up to the sound of skateboard wheels on the front porch- it’s a sound I have grown to recognise. I got up and looked out the window. There were 2 boys, they looked maybe 10 and 12 years old. I thought about going downstairs and confronting them, but as I had just rolled out of bed and my hair was all disheveled, I figured they’d probably just point and laugh when I opened the door. I watched them both skate down the front steps and the walkway. They left for a moment, and I went back to bed. A couple minutes later, I heard voices. They had come back with another boy, this one looked a bit older- he was sporting a ponytail and a goatee. The smallest one did his thing, and then the goatee’d kid did it. I heard him say, “Man, that’s hard.” as they walked away. I watched them walk across the parkinglot, but I couldn’t see which house they went into because the other half of the lot is obscured by trees & bushes.

This is not an isolated incident. During the summer, in the middle of the afternoon, I heard footsteps on the front porch, and as I walked to the door, I heard the wheels. I opened the door and just looked at the kid as he was going down the sidewalk. His friends were standing across the lot, and I heard them laughing at him. I watched them for a couple minutes, then closed the door.

Here’s the thing: We rent the townhouse. If the concrete got chipped somehow I’m sure the landlady would hold us responsible for the damage. If one of the kids fell and hurt themselves, they could probably sue us/the landlady. And what’s more, YOU JUST SHOULDN’T GO IN OTHER PEOPLE’S YARDS!!
Much less up on their front porch! What is the deal with these kids? We also have a couple kids who think it’s funny to ring the doorbell and then hide, mostly at night. There are a lot of kids riding bikes/scooters etc, and there’s a couple who always “seem to” ride behind my husband when he is trying to pull the car out of its space. Once, there was an older man further down the sidewalk watching the boys, and when he saw them do that, he hollered at them.

I’m worried that if we find out where these kids live, and then go speak to the parents, then the kids will somehow try to “get us back”. All of them are boys, and most of them look pre- or early teens, and I guess that at that age, boys get into mischief. My husband is going to speak to the landlady, I don’t know if that will do anything. Should we try to confront the boys, or find out where they live and talk to the parents? These things are minor annoyances, I can live with them, but I don’t like the idea of kids coming up onto our front porch and all, and there is the potential of one of them getting hurt.

Any suggestions? What would you Dopers do?

2

I’m slightly weird so you might not want to do this, but you did ask…

I personally recommend the “weird cat lady” or similar act. If you act sufficiently disturbed, you can scare anyone off.

3

Sorry, but you already know the answer:

a) Next time you see them, go tell them not to do it. They’re likely to say “sorry” and move on. You will have to repeat this every once in a while as new kids discover your porch. In the off chance they don’t move on, tell them you’ll call the cops. If that doesn’t phase 'em, call the cops.
a) If you get new kids violating your yard regularly, put a sign on your front porch that says “No skateboarding”.

4

Sorry, but I’m sure this is also obvious to you:

If you don’t do anything, they will continue to do it. Worse, as time goes on, they’ll begin to assume that everything is ok and there’s no reason to stop. They’ll bring additional friends. Soon there’ll be late-night parties complete with crack and cold forty-ouncers, and tunes from the likes of Suicidal Tendencies will ring out to the early hours.

And even worse, you won’t be invited!

5

Actually I already am a “weird cat lady” due to the fact that I have 5 cats (although they are indoor only)!

Bill H., I agree with you. I think that next time I will go out on the front steps and calmly ask them not to skate on my steps etc. I guess what happens next would depend on their reaction to me. We do have police/security do a drive-through of all the neighborhoods in the evening, because apparently there was a large group of teens congregating on the corner near the entrance to the complex.
And I’m not sure if it’s even the same boys each time that are skating on my front walk. I guess I’ll have to surprise them in the middle of the day again- I think when I caught them before, they didn’t think anyone was home!

6

You didn’t really describe what makes your walkway cool to skate on, but I know that they look for certain features for certain tricks. Is there some way you could modify the terrain to make it less appealing?

Obviously, you can’t pour some new concrete, but maybe you could put down a dormat in the way [sure, they could move it, but most would hesitate to do that], or plant a bush in just the right place, or whatever would make the trick they use your porch for impossible.

This is of course a long-term solution. In the short term, confronting them and asking them not to is the best way. As long as you don’t treat them like criminals, most skaters do respect adults.

7

Ah, if you are a hearing person, just call the cops on a business phone number. they come out & give the kids a lecture about it & you won’t see them again & they won’t know who called.

8

Saltire has a good point. If this becomes a real problem, there are physical things you can buy that make your porch undesirable to them. The basic thing they like to do is “grind,” which requires a long smooth edge, like a step. There are companies that sell small blocks that are mounted on the step so it can’t be used that way. And they’re not all that ugly. You’ll see them occasionally on concrete benches where skaters have become a problem.

Of course, I don’t think it’ll come to that. The thing is they’ll probably be apologetic when you confront them. They just assume noone is home and they’re just having a good time.

9

I agree with most of the other posters. Confront them in a nice way. It should work.

But if you need another way, pick up some gravel at a local garden supply place and sprinkle it on area being used and the surrounding area. It will interfere with the smooth rolling of the wheels. It may take a couple of applications, but it should work also but it’s not nice.

10

By all means, you should try simply asking them to skate elsewhere. They may have assumed that, since no one has suggested otherwise, you don’t mind.

Another idea (if a gentle suggestion doesn’t work), in re: making your walk and front steps incompatible with good skateboarding…

You could get a few of those largish planters, fill them with mums, and place them strategically. I’m thinking that a couple on opposite edges of consecutive steps (if your steps are wide enough to accomodate them) would make grinding along them difficult. Perhaps a couple along the walkway would interfere with the nice smooth runway you have unintenionally offered?

11

I semi-agree with the ‘confront them in a nice way’ posters, but I do have a cautionary tale to tell. When we first moved into this house, the next door neighbor teenagers were AWFUL. They held loud, loud parties every night, weekends and weekdays, in their garage, which happens to be maybe 25 feet from our bedroom door. It kept me awake, so I went out one night and asked them politely to turn down the music and maybe, y’know, keep the noise level down after midnight.

That was a big mistake; I should’ve just called the cops. The kids turned it into some kind of game, or more like some kind of war, seeing how annoying they could be, being deliberately threatening, harassing us, urinating on our property, etc. I talked to their father, and he said, well, gee, he’d love to do something, but he had to let them do this, because otherwise they’d be off at a party elsewhere and doing god knows what and maybe doing drugs or whatever. (Their father, btw, was a high school teacher. And he couldn’t even handle his own children.)

Eventually, I did what I should’ve done in the first place: called the cops. But only after much misery and sleeplessness and stress. And, of course, by that time they knew exactly who had done it. The cops made things a little better, but not much; the only thing that solved the problem after all that was them selling the house and moving.

So, if I had the problems you’re having now, I’d try everything BUT talking to them. Sure, it probably would solve the problem, but there’s a chance it would make things much worse - and if it does, you’ll be stuck in the middle of a war, and everything you try after that point will be guaranteed to make things worse. Instead, I’d try modifying the porch to make it a less desirable place for them to skate. After that, I’d try calling the cops. (And don’t bother with their parents; odds are good that they won’t care as long as the kids aren’t causing damage to their property or costing them money.)

However - if you think these are decent kids, or if you know their parents to be decent parents, then it might be worth trying to talk to them. (It would especially be worth it if your husband is big and threatening, and you can get him to do the talking.) It’s just that you should remember that once you talk to them there’s no going back.

12

Follow them home and start skateboarding on THEIR front porch. That should do the trick.

13

If you ask them nicely, they will probably move on. If you treat them with respect, and explain the whole situation about having to pay for the repairs to the concrete, they will probably be cool with it.

14

I live in a townhouse area, and have run across a wide range of behaviours that I felt I had to interfere in. Mind you, I only interfere if it affects my kids. The day a bunch of them were playing with power tools unsupervised while my kids were in the house? Left 'em alone.

The point is that I usually start off with talking to the kids. Or yelling. Whichever seems appropriate. “Go do that on your own step”, “Stop swearing in the front area”, “You touch that again and we’re going to have some problems” are some of the phrases I’ve used with great success. If that doesn’t work, I get another kid to rat out the problem kids address, and I go have a talk with the parents. Some of the parents I’m sure are lousy parents. I can see it in their profane, thieving, violent kids. Still, they generally seem pretty embarrassed to have another parent stop by, and have always been cooperative.

Of course, I am never timid when I stop by another parents house either. Authority. Look 'em right in the eye. Not angry, but very firm.

If you rent, you can always stop by the landlords place as well. We have rules about what kids are allowed to do in the common areas, and people who don’t cooperate are dealt with by management.

Although I can’t guarentee your results, I haven’t had retaliation yet by the little monsters. After a while, problems decreased, probably because I got a reputation for being the cranky lady who complains to your parents. The really bad ones just totally avoid our entire area.

15

The front porch is about 5’x 5’. There are 2 small steps leading down to the front walk. They start on our steps and then skate down the walkway. I guess the walk has a slight incline or something. Since it is our front walkway, I can’t really do the things people suggested like put down gravel. I could do the planter thing, though. I have a couple pots on the porch, and I’ve got a few large-ish pots that I can fill with some nice thick mums or something.
I’m kinda still of 2 minds, though- I think asking them nicely is the way to go, but considering that they are teenage boys, I’ll still be worried about the retaliation factor. We often get candy wrappers and trash in our grass/front bushes, but that could have blown in from the parking lot.
My husband is tall, and can appear quite imposing, so if it happens when he is home, he would definitely go talk to them. Problem is, they seem to do it during the day, when they think no-one is at home. Although it’s not going to be as much of a problem because I think they are all in school now during the day.
Thanks for everyone’s input and advice!

16

Despite deepbluesea’s unfortunate experience, I think the way to go is to start with confronting them. However, practice what you’re going to say ahead of time, and try to find a tone and approach that is respectful. Kids hate being yelled at and threatened and made to feel sheepish or defensive, especially in front of their friends.

17

I had a similiar problem early this summer. We had some dirt work done in our front yard last year (tree roots had grown into the pipes and the toilet kept backing up… yuck!) and part of our front yart was just dirt and not level by any means. There are 3-4 little boys about 8-10 years old in our neighborhood and they ride their bikes all the time. Their parents don’t keep an eye on them either so it would’ve been worthless to try to talk to them. These boys thought that these dirt mounds in our yard were cool to ride their bikes over. I watched them do it a few times and then went out and said,

“Hey guys. We just had grass planted here and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t ride in our yard anymore.”

They just said they were sorry and that was that. A couple of weeks later they started doing it again and this time I went out and said,

“That’s enough guys. Stay the hell outta my yard. There’s a whole freakin’ sidewalk across the street you can ride on. USE IT!”

I must’ve sounded pretty scary or something that time because they took off down the street and haven’t done it since.

18

A garden hose works wonders. Try it! It feels fantastic.

Zette

19

Land mines.

20

That’s your solution for everything.