At the end of my rope!!

[3mama]

A little history: My DS is 4 and my DD is 7 and I'm expecting another DD in 8 weeks. They are not always the best behaved but they are manageable. I got out of an abusive relationship in feb and am living with my parents (surprisingly enough that's not the problem). This neighborhood is not the best, but it is improving rapidly.
My problem: The neighborhood has many young kids who are allowed to run wild all the time. These children get no supervision and are outside from 8 in the am to 10 or 11 in the pm. They tend to gravitate to our house. I get pounding on the doors (front and back) at all hours and they never let up. Even if there is no car in the driveway they still pound on the doors. When I tell them no they can't come over or play with the kids, they'll hang around the house and yell at the windows. They are usually not nice and now my kids are picking up the bad attitudes. I feel like I have no control at this point.
I'm always yelling at the kids: for them to stay away from the windows, to only say nice things and to stop hitting people for no reason. I get back talking, and even hitting from my kids. I am getting resentful of this place. And I'm starting to hate all the neighbors. I know it's not really the kids' fault, they just have dumb, lazy ,stupid parents!!!
I hate that my kids can't even play in the back yard without the whole neighborhood over. I can't put up a pool, the veggie gardens get trampled, and the toys get broken. And I worry that we will be accountable for these little monsters getting hurt. I'm having a lot of trouble with this pregnancy and I don't need the added stress of dealing with other people's unruly kids when I don't offer to. I am starting to feel like I need to really do something about this problem.
We have this large fenced in yard with plenty of toys, but I'm carting my kids to the park on the other side of town everyday all day. It's tiring me out.


What am I supposed to do???!!!!

[mommy of 4 kids]

hm your kids are starting to pick up on this kind of behavior i would like to say ignore them but that wouldn't work out so well would it? hmm i don't know what to say and your at your end of your rope um i have no clue what to even say. well if you have to live in another area or move to a new house out of that neighbrohood i don't have that problem. but i can say this when they pound on the door go to the door and answer the door and if they say "can your kids play" say "no" and shut the door they do it again do the same thing answer the door and if they say it again say "where do you live?" and go tell their parents. of if not just say "you stupid kids won't leave me alone or my kids alone as well i keep saying no to you dumb stupid kids and you won't leave me along not please leave me alone. if that doesn't work of you don't want to use that kind of words to the kids. i can say just ignore it and if the kids go near the window don't scream at them they will block you out that's why your yelling doesn't work any more.

[Zack_Jenn]

I saw a Supernanny once where someone was having a similar problem and she suggested that they speak with the other parents in the neighborhood. Explain to them what your situation is and you would appreciate their help (you have to do it in a way that isn't offensive). She also set up a system for them with a sign that showed when it was okay to come over and when it wasn't.

[mommy of 4 kids]

good idea zack_Jenn my idea was alittle bad. but said that you watch supernanny i love that show :D and i also watch nanny 911 and all those other parenting shows.

[mar_at_only4moms]

Sounds familiar. Had the same problem. Went over to talk to the other moms as nicely as possible. All the other mothers, except one, were agreeable. One dumb *ss mother told me where to go. The agreeable moms and I came up with a plan (although it was pretty lame, it worked.) When our children could play, we would hang an old burp cloth on our doorknob. The kids knew the drill, except for Mrs. Nasty's bratty kids. When the neighbor kids would occasionally forget, we sent them to Mrs. Nasty's house (with small pots and wooden spoons to bang, tehe) to bother her.