Jess Hardiman
A woman was left raging after her neighbours’ kids used their trampoline to stare into her house, saying she feels like she no longer has any privacy.
Relationships with neighbours can often be tricky to manage... especially when kids are involved.
After all, there are only so many times you can remain friendly after next door’s eight-year-old has pelted a football over the fence and smashed one of your plant pots.
And what about old Betsy from number 10, who constantly lets her cat poo all over your back garden? She may come over with cakes from time to time, but that doesn’t mean you’re happy picking up faeces every day.
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One woman found herself with a similar quandary after noticing her next door neighbours kids had started peeping into her house while on the trampoline after school, saying she’s started to find it ‘really annoying’.
Taking to Mumsnet’s 'Am I Being Unreasonable?' forum, the woman said: “Neighbours have decided to get a trampoline, it's literally the biggest thing I've ever seen, takes over the whole garden... whatever they want in their garden that's not my business.
“But what's annoying me is anytime the kids and multiple kids’ friends are on the trampoline, which is for hours after school, in the evening... they can see straight into my house.
“So I'm in the kitchen or trying to have dinner, or just relaxing on the couch, and the kids are bouncing and trying to get my attention or wave or just constantly staring in.”
She explained that they don’t even need to jump to see into her home, as it’s a ‘very very high trampoline’.
"Even just sitting on it they are able to see straight in,” the woman said.
“I know they're only kids and they are only having a bit of fun, but it's just really annoying me and now I feel I've no privacy
“AIBU to be annoyed by this?”
Many people agreed she wasn’t being unreasonable in the matter, with some saying they could ‘understand the irritation’.
Someone else said they ‘wouldn’t want to be the one spoiling their fun’ if they were in the same position, suggesting the woman speaks to her neighbour to see if they could come to an agreement over ‘when/how long for the trampoline is used’.
Others said she could either try and install higher fences, or use other privacy measures like voile curtains or frosted windows.
When someone asked if the garden was big enough for the trampoline to be moved further away, the Mumsnet user responded: “Unfortunately they can't move the trampoline anywhere else in the garden as they have a shed at the other side.
“We have roller blinds, but get all our light and sun through those windows in the evening so I don't want to be living in darkness now that it's finally started to get bright.
“I might look at getting some sort of plants or shrubs to try block the view.”