<p>ebeeeee…I just saw your post while I was drinking my coffee. Now I have to clean off my screen. Thanks for the laugh.</p>
<p>Happy to oblige. All of you have given me some great laughs…</p>
<p>Yes, Good job! You made "anxious"mom laugh.</p>
<p><<it never=“” occurred=“” to=“” me=“” (to)=“” take=“” my=“” d=“” the=“” neighbor’s=“” on=“” a=“” sunday=“” morning=“” or=“” in=“” evening.=“”>>.</it></p>
<p>IG- therein lies the problem. You are operating under a different moral code. The same thing happens to me. I would never dream of being intrusive to other people or going out and walking my dog in front of their house, or sitting on someone’s wall or in front of their house, so I am always amazed when people do it to me.</p>
<p>There are people like this, who take advantage of your good naturedness, you have to expect this now.</p>
<p>redbluegoldgreen, I have no idea what you are trying to say. Why shouldn’t people walk their dogs in front of your house if it’s a public road?</p>
<p>because they walk their dog to do their business on our front lawn and don’t stop to pick it up.
My point is that some people can be nervy. They are ready and willing to take advantage of a good thing, to the point where they don’t see they are imposing.</p>
<p>I would never think to let my dog “go” on my neighbors lawn, have my kids making noise on a tire swing on a Sunday morning in my neighbor’s yard, set up lawn chairs in front of someone’s house (they may want their privacy), etc. sorry if I’m not being clearer…</p>
<p>my point is that you may not even think of imposing yourself, but lots of other people don’t feel the same way. I am pointing out that I never stopped being surprised by the rudeness of others. I would never think to trespass on someone else’s lawn, but others think nothing of trespassing on mine, letting their dog do poo etc.</p>
<p>Wow, just wow. What a really American thread. I <em>totally</em> get the OPs issue about mronings and cat with the dogs… but all these comments about liability, good fences, only when you are there. I absolutely can not relate to this.</p>
<p>Give them that “I’m Angry Look”. It always works for me.</p>
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<p>Even as a dual citizen, starbright, I often have difficulty relating to legal issues in the U.S. And that’s with a husband who is a lawyer! 
It’s true, though, Americans are extremely litigious and with a society that is saturated with lawyers and a legal system that does little to discourage litigation, the possibility of being sued is what immediately leaps to mind for many.</p>
<h1>20 ^^ I was rooting for the simple discussion to end the problem. What did the mom say?</h1>
<pre><code> I’m curious about this cat, what is it doing? Watching the kids swing?
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<p>After reading the thread, my two cents is that it is impossible to gracefully pick and choose which neighbors you allow to use the swing. It’s really something that can be used by invited guests (like your friends), or by the general public. But saying the general public can use it except for the person who owns the cat will cause heartache. </p>
<p>Nobody likes feeling singled out. Nobody likes being the only person on the block who can’t use something. Nobody likes feeling disliked by a particular neighbor.</p>
<p>The OP says she really likes it when kids use it. Just not those three kids. Those three kids will never understand what they did wrong to lose swing privileges.</p>
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<p>That seems really sad to me. </p>
<p>Is it really the case that people are more likely to sue, or more of a general fear of lawsuits (even though they might not be more likely south of the border?). I find that Americans worry a LOT more about crime by others too (and act upon it accordingly), even though statistically they do not have more crime than where we live. Still they lock their doors from the inside when they are at home, and we do not.</p>
<p>Iglooo,</p>
<p>I would probably mention that you enjoy sleeping in on weekends and would like the kids to not play on it before a certain hour. That would get the message across. Not sure how to address the dog barking at cat issue. Although if you open your windows or doors and it’s annoying enough, they may opt not to use the swing, at all.</p>
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<p>I think you could just explain the problem to the family. Say we love it when you use it, hope you do, but that the issue is the dog barking problem. Everyone can understand that and I’m sure they’d be very apologetic and come up with a solution to it. And this way it’s not creating rules that include or exclude anyone, it just fixes the underlying issue with some creative problem solving.</p>
<p>I think the OP would have addressed it long ago if the problem was solely the dog barks at the cat. You really don’t need to go to an online message board to figure out the solution (hi there, I was wondering if you’d be able to leave the cat at home because my dog goes crazy when she sees it). But perhaps the OP is just timid.</p>
<p>More than likely, there are a few other things that she is not as fond of (like the fact it’s the whole family rather than just one kid).</p>
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<p>I think it’s a general fear of lawsuits. </p>
<p>One of the best anti-lawsuit treatments that I know is to not carry insurance. The only reason lawyers get involved is when there is a large pot of money (insurance coverage). The lawyers disappear pretty quickly when there is not a large pot of money to go after.</p>
<p>cottonwood, It should have. The mom just repeated how much her kids liked it. I had to spell out what hours are acceptable to me during the week and explicitly forbid weekends. It probably took care of it. I regret it had to get so explicit. The cat? Yes, it was watching the kids swing.</p>
<p>redbluegoldgreen, In our neighborhood we have a kind of unspoken rule about dogs;If it’s on someone’s lawn, you pick it up. If in the ground cover, it’s ok not to. It works. Everyone is on speaking terms as far as I know.</p>
<p>Can other kids use it on the weekend? Or can now nobody use it on the weekend?</p>
<p>No one ever used it over the weekend or in the evenings as far as I am aware. I never had to bother setting up the rule. They are all quite discreet not to intrude.</p>
<p>About bringing pets to someone’s house. None of my neighbors come into my yard if they are walking their dogs. I have to go out to the street to chat.</p>
<p>Some people are just clueless or think they are exempt. It can be a case of bad manners or true oblivion. </p>
<p>I have a neighbor that qualifies as “oblivious”. Recently, one of her pets has been making his home under our house. She pulled the screen barrier off and has been using this as a place to feed and water her cat. It’s to “provide shade”. We barricaded it back up and she came to our house asking where her cat was. She saw nothing wrong with this. This is not the first thing that has happened - we have a continuing problem with her 20 something kid who is mentally imbalanced and has “quirky” behavior that we hope never ventures into the “dangerous” kind. It’s annoying and has caused issues over the years. We just try to keep a polite distance with her, now.</p>