I know this seems mean but: my neighbors kids keep entering my home unannounced. They keep taking toys and eating our foods. I might call CPS on her if she can’t fix the issue

You have more patience than I would have had..

I grew up with some neighbor kids kinda like this, not this extreme, but from a kid perspective I hated them coming over all the time uninvited too lol because it got to a point where they didn't care about me and only wanted to be at our house to play with our things or eat our snacks and not actually play together as friends. My parents had to yell at them a couple different times, had to speak with their parents at one point, it sucks having to be the "bad guy" but it's what we had to do to get it to calm down

First and foremost why are you not locking your doors on a regular?

I’d be calling the cops and reporting that shit.

My brother had friends come n go daily and my mother fed his one friend who was Asian because he loved the Americanized food I guess. Boy ate like he wasn’t being fed at home. Eventually she stopped allowing him over because it wasn’t her responsibility to feed him every day and she already had 3 kids of her own to feed

You’re too nice. I wouldn’t have left that shit go after day 2

Call the cops to report it and have them talk to the parents.

Not judging im just curious why you haven’t told the parents before now?

because we don’t when we are home. Perhaps you do but we don’t and should not have to because of a bunch of kids.
When I leave my house I do lock up.
Like I said, I have a car port NOT a garage…so they have access to outside toys. My backyard is not fenced in and I’m not paying for that. I have been in my home for 10+ years and not once encountered anyone on my property. We have had kids come to my door to ask if my children can play but never have they walked in without asking or without a parent.


These children aren’t my kids friends. They just came over once day and then it all began. I have never once offered to feed them, so this isn’t like your brother’s friend situation. But they do eat a lot and want to take a lot of food home too.

Maybe not CPS but I would talk to parents and if that doesn’t solve it I’d call the police the next time it happens

You’re not mean. There’s a big difference between kids being kids (annoying) knocking on your door 24/7 to play. But to go as far as in to your home like they own the place is insane. Stranger danger anyone?

Personally I’m nosey. And I care about kids. So I wouldn’t resort straight to calling the cops. At the end of the day that can traumatize them. I would nosey around and speak to their parents first. You can get a lot by speaking to them and then go from there. Are they addicts? Do they just not care about the kids? Where are they while their kids are doing this? Is this the norm for your block? When I was growing up that was the norm for us. 10 kids on my street and we bounced around from house to house. Set boundaries with the parents first. They might not even know the kids are in ur house. They could think they are at little Timmy’s house if this is the norm on your street. You don’t want to be labeled as a child cop caller unless it’s 100% necessary.

because we thought they would have respected our request to not walk into our home or use any toys without asking us first. Because again, I want to share as along as they ask and their mom is present (liability reasons and I’m not proving anyone with free childcare).

This is where we fully acknowledge our stupidity or too much space for forgiveness/ too much patience. But this afternoon’s situation scared my husband. We do lock doors if NO one is home. But husband was home so when I left I didn’t lock up because that would be out of the ordinary for me/ us

I would definitely report them. What if they did that to someone else who isn’t as patient? We had a similar situation with a neighbor kid doing it to us but we had a pool the time so we were definitely worried that the kid could drown if we didn’t notice him in time so we started locking everything 24/7 and went to the parents

this isn’t normal for our area. We have had other kids come by to ask to play or use our toys. They don’t enter my home and generally an adult with them.
Here the thing, I have given much warning put them first…but enough is enough on us being kind and finding a soft blow for them

I never not locked my door. Ever. Shit like that or worse can happen. Good luck 👍🏻

That's insane. Where are their parents?

I also recommend locking the door. What if it was someone bad walking in and not little kids wanting snacks.

If you haven’t spoken to the parents at all yet I don’t think you should go straight to threatening to call cps. I agree that this is bizarre entitled behaviour but i think you have to let the parents know what’s going on and give them a chance to correct their kids before calling anyone else

I think this warrants a cps call. I wouldn’t call the police to come out but I would have cps open a case file and do wellness checks. If you want to file a report with the police as well for paperwork, you could. Does the mother even realize her kids are walking into strangers homes?
This is soooo scary. Some people have weapons, chemicals, cleaners, drugs, alcohol, inappropriate items just sitting out in the open at their house. Imagine what horrible things could happen or things they could witness just walking into someone’s home.

I would definitely talk to the parents and if nothing changes get police involved. If those kids get hurt in your property it becomes your responsibility even if you aren’t there. Where are the parents? How do they not care? What if these kids walk into the home of someone with a pew pew who thinks the kids are robbers

Legally speaking if your backyard isn’t fenced and a kid comes and jumps on your trampoline and hurts themselves You will be liable so if you could save for a fence, I totally would or I’d get rid of the trampoline. And I feel really bad for these kids, but I really think you should talk to the parents and call CPS something doesn’t seem right.

I'm normally not one to say call cps. But honestly I would. I wouldn't even talk to the parents. There is a reason those kids are grabbing food to take home at night with them and coming to your house. And cps is either going to light a fire under their parents ass to step up, or is going to hopefully get them in a better situation.

My brother has a similar issue in his neighborhood. A group of siblings just assuming this is all ok. Thankfully not too the level of letting themselves in!!!!

It's nice that they like you enough and feel comfortable with you... but you are right, it's not your responsibility.... but the bigger issue is that they feel entitled to help themselves - not just like "oh, you're having a snack. I'm hungry, can i please have some?" But legit helping themselves?? And letting themselves in when they think no one is there? Yikes. You've got patience. Hopefully you can resolve it with their parents and they handle it well, instead of making the kids feel bad (i don't feel this is the kids fault but rather the parents, do the kids feeling blamed would be sad)

Also, i think that calling CPS first is overkill. You don't know the situation, and you haven't given the parent the chance to fix something that they might think is fine - they might think that you are LETTING their kids come in to play with yours. I've a CPS file is open, that stays with them. That should NOT be the first step.

Parents first, for sure. Give a fair chance to not permanently screw with their lives please.

I’d be round to the parents and telling them what’s going on. it could be they don’t care or they will be mortified, but if nothing changes you might have to call someone higher up

CPS

I would talk to parent tell them if it's going to keep happening then you will have to call cps as its not your responsibility to look after her children it's the parents and the fact there always going for food aswell isn't right talk to parents first then if it still happens then call cps for a well fair check on the children and parents