Father catches neighbor giving his son’s basketball to their kid, claims it’s a birthday present: 'I felt bad for the kid, so I let him keep it'

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Aug 20, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

Most of us remember childhood as endless hours playing outside and running through yards, shooting hoops, or tossing a frisbee. Inevitably, something always goes over the fence into the neighbor's yard. And when it does, suddenly a simple game becomes a small moral dilemma. Do you sneak back there and grab it? Do you knock on the door and politely ask for it? Or do you weigh the consequences of both and hope it magically disappears?

It's a scene straight out of The Sandlot, where a simple baseball ends up in a backyard guarded by a terrifying dog, and a handful of kids risk life and limb to retrieve it. Every kid knows that mix of fear, curiosity, and determination for the sake of whatever made-up game you and your friends were playing.

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  • That’s why the situation with a kid's basketball is so relatable. His ball went missing while he and his dad were playing outside, and their neighbor claimed he couldn’t find it even though it clearly went into his backyard. A month later, the ball was spotted in the neighbor’s yard, with their child playing with it. 

    Apparently, the father had given it to his own kid as a “birthday gift.”

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    via Ahmet Kurt For Unsplash+

  • "Neighbor stole my son’s basketball and gave it to his kid as a birthday gift"

    Me and my son were playing catch with a basketball in our backyard. We recently moved into this house because my wife was assigned to work in the area. While we were
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  • playing, my son accidentally threw the ball too hard and it landed in our neighbor's backyard. We rang their doorbell but no one was home. Later that afternoon when they returned, we told them what happened.
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  • They said they would look for the ball and give it back if they found it. A month went by and still no ball. When I asked again, they claimed they
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  • never found anything. I just gave up and bought my son a new basketball. A few weeks later, we were playing again when I saw a kid in the neighbor's backyard holding our old ball. I
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  • asked him about it and he told me his dad gave it to him as a birthday present last week. That "present" was clearly my son's ball, the same one they told us they could not find. I felt
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  • bad for the kid because he thought it was a gift, so I let him keep it. But the fact that my neighbor took something that belonged to my child and passed it off as a present. to his own kid is beyond entitled
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    via Ruslan Ruslan For Unsplash+
  • Green-Dragon-14 Write your sons name on this new ball. Just in case
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  • kyllikkil Tacky. Do you have a fence? If not, I wouldn't leave anything out.
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  • JThereseD Your mistake was in not insisting on going back to look for your ball or waiting at their door until they brought it back.
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  • phonograhy for tat. He took your ball, you take his son. #bloodfeud
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  • Late_Ask_5782 Just wait until it goes back over your fence and then you will have it back
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  • No-Hospital559 Tell your son to be more careful, he learned a life lesson that day. Unfortunately the world is filled with people.
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  • 18k_gold Look at it as a small price to pay to know how your neighbor is. You know they are not trustworthy and never do them a favor.
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  • lee216md That's why you put your name on everything with a permanent marker or engraver. Seems a lot of tools suddenly become someone else's.
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  • Something borrowed becomes ownership, oh its mine I have had it for a while. Clear marking eliminates all that.
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  • New_Day_New_Disaster As I have told my kids when they were younger, you cannot force adults to be honorable. Just realize what you're dealing with, and keep away from them.
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  • Duckr74 Next will be tour hoop!
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  • owhg62 "A month went by"
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  • stumblewiggins You were playing catch with a basketball, then it went into your neighbor's yard and you just forgot about it for like 6 weeks?
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  • Tsu_na_mi I would lose more things over the fence. Beer bottles, dog rotting vegetables. If dad confronts you, point to the basketball and say you thought this would just vanish into the void too.
    via Tsu_na_mi
  • Waste-Job-3307 The next time your ball goes over the fence and they aren't home, climb over and get it. No need
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  • to deal with lying neighbors. How sad is it that the neighbor that he can't take a half hour to get his kid a new birthday present.
    via Waste-Job-3307

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neighbors stealing kids birthday Awkward neighborhood-drama parenting entitled people karma dad basketball Bad Neighbor Father
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