If you have been having problems with the neighborhood children next door climbing your fence and trespassing your property to retrieve balls or for the sheer fun of it, it is high time you find a lasting solution.
You’ve probably tried all the basic solutions –
- speaking to the kids
- speaking to their parents
- the landlord of their block
- and even calling the cops
– without success.
If the kids are aged 10 and below, the police may never take action.
And if there’s no HOA (homeowner’s association) in place, this may continue to happen almost indefinitely.
So, How Can You Prevent Neighborhood Kids From Climbing Over Your Fence?
Increasing the height of the fence sounds like the next obvious thing to do if you don’t mind the extra costs that come with it.
You’d be within your rights to make adjustments to your fence as long as it doesn’t hurt the kids, so building a higher wall/fence with smooth sides would be great.
There are other effective methods too.
Five Ways Of Combatting Trespassing Children
1. Taking legal action against the parents
You should seriously consider suing the parents for their kids’ trespassing.
That’s virtually the most effective method and probably the last resort if everything else has failed.
The young age of some kids (especially those below 10 years) may be a red herring.
Police officers in most states subscribe to the “attractive nuisance” doctrine which restricts them from taking an action if the kids are very young unless the court intervenes.
Texas is one of a fistful of states where this doctrine is applied.
Basically, this theory asserts that the parents of young children that continually trespass may hold you liable in the event of injuries sustained while trespassing on the property.
In normal cases involving non-minors, the trespasser has no protection if, by bad chance, gets injured while trespassing on your property.
However, the attractive nuisance doctrine elements that protect homeowners.
To avert the enforcement of this doctrine, you must take every possible action to prevent the children from accessing the property.
The best thing to do is to sue the children’s parents for trespassing.
Taking this avenue would then mean you will not be liable if a child sustains injuries on your property because you have done everything you could to keep them away.
2. Talk to The Parents
Do they often climb up the fence then into your compound? That’s not a vantage point as far as the law is concerned.
- If so, yell at the kids that if they keep climbing over the fence you’ll call the cops. Remember to take pictures while they are on the act.
- If their parents are reachable, tell them their children are disturbing your harmonious enjoyment of the property (show them all the pictures you took.
- Tell them the number of times the kids have done it and why you won’t take it anymore unless they restrain them.
- Remember to mention one or two legal terms to scare them into keeping their little ones away from your fence.
- Also mention that climbing the fence or peeking over it is very much like harassment, stalking, and can even attract “peeping Tom” accusations.
- Obviously, this is just a conjecture, but you still have sufficient legal grounds (as mentioned above) if they are actually climbing on the fence to do any of these. If you make up your mind to stop it this way, you can bet the parents will work extra hard to restrain their kids.
- If you don’t prefer confrontational approaches (let’s say you would let neighbors do all the stupid things just to keep maintain the harmony of the neighborhood), then your only practical recourse is to seek the services of an attorney.
- However, unless the annoyance has become frequent with no lasting solution at hand, it would be great to simply scare them.
- Either way, the parents are more likely to be upset with you, because being their “nice” neighbor doesn’t work. You have two choices: either to be abruptly and directly confrontational or choose to be confrontational using a third party.
3. Get yourself a dog (should not bite)
Unless they are challenged, children seldom stop annoying on their own.
A big scary dog may save you a few trips to their parents’ house or contacting an attorney. A big bulldog or properly trained Alsatian will charge at the little intruders and help keep them at bay.
The best thing is that you can hire a dog just for this purpose and return it to the owner after a few days of discouraging the kids.
The sheer body size of large breeds is enough to intimidate the little offenders. The grinning sharp teeth can scare even adult invaders and trespassers be it teens or grownups. And their loud barks will alert you and passers-by, or even your alarm system.
A sizable German shepherd with a masculine body and great big voice can let out a bark that will scatter even the most disobedient children out there.
There are many different dog breeds perfect for guarding your fence or house against trespassers:
- Doberman pinscher
- Scottish terrier
- German shepherd,
- and Rottweiler.
Ensure that the dog is trained not to bite the unfortunate among the kids.
4. Good Fence Makes Great Deterrent
Robert Frost learned it earlier – a good fence makes good neighbors.
It’s about time you make adjustments to your fence by making it a bit taller to avoid the unnecessary squabbles.
A taller fence can be an effective deterrent for small children because it makes them struggle climbing over. If your preexisting fence is the waist level, it’s a matter of extending it or replacing it with a taller alternative.
Better yet, you can plant natural barriers and cut the costs of extending it.
Hedging plants such as those from the euphorbia family of trees grow extremely fast, meaning they can deter the children within a few months of planting.
Before you even plant a natural barrier or purchase artificial fences, it is important to consult your local government agencies to obtain relevant information on the matter.
5. Motion-Activated Sprinklers
There is an effective and harmless way of deterring children – motion-activated sprinklers.
Install these sprinklers along the fence or in your lawn facing the fence or any specific point where the annoying children frequently land after climbing over the fence. Remember to accompany the setup with a sign of warning.
As the sensors detect the movements made by the kids on the fence or lawn, step on the sprinkler, the sprinkler will be triggered to spray water which can be enough to startle small children and scare them off.
However, before taking this measure (which can be interpreted as a bit extreme by some parents), try talking to the parents first by letting them know you their children’s activities.
Summary
Short fences and children don’t mix – if they are not climbing on the fence and jumping down for the sheer fun of it, they’ll form a habit of letting the ball fall in your property which will require them to climb the fence to fetch it from time to time.
How can you prevent neighborhood kids from climbing over your fence?
- Extending the height of the fence sounds like is the right thing to do if you don’t mind the extra costs that come with it.
- You’d be within your rights to make adjustments to your fence as long as it doesn’t hurt the kids, so building a higher wall/fence with smooth sides would be great.
- You should consider suing the parents for their kids’ trespassing if everything else has failed.
- A lawsuit is the most effective method and can be the last resort if everything else failed.
- Yell at the kids that if they keep climbing over the fence you’ll call the cops. Remember to take a picture while they are on the act.
- Tell them their children are disturbing your harmonious enjoyment of the property (show them all the pictures you took.
- Remember to mention one or two legal terms to scare them into keeping their little ones away from your fence.
- You can talk to the parents with picture evidence in your hands and ask them to restrain their kids lest you take the matter to the next level.
- A big scary dog may save you a few trips to their parents’ house or contacting an attorney.
- A taller fence can be an effective deterrent for small children because it makes them struggle climbing over.
- If your preexisting fence is the waist level, it’s a matter of extending it or replacing it with a taller alternative.
- You can sprinklers along the fence or in your lawn facing the fence or any specific point where the annoying children frequently land after climbing over the fence.
- Remember to accompany the setup with a sign of warning.
- Better yet, you can plant natural barriers and cut the costs of extending it.
- Hedge plants such as those from the euphorbia tree family grow extremely fast, meaning they can deter the children within a few months after planting.