Neighbor sends her kids over to homeowner's pool without asking first, homeowner puts her foot down

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 21, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

This homeowner had no desire to be liable and responsible for her neighbor's kids just because she had a pool.

How would you deal with a neighbor who somehow felt entitled to everyone else's property?

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  • The homeowner's daughter has a pool party with her friends in the backyard.
    via Unsplash+ (Kateryna Hliznitsova)

    The homeowner's daughter has a pool party with her friends in the backyard.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • People with pools beware

    I have a noisy, entitled, opinionated boomer neighbor. She thinks she's a one person HOA.
    via Readithere007
  • After 15 years of, I finally called law enforcement to get her to back off due to messing with our trash, lawn people, and mail.
    via Readithere007
  • I've had to be overly re as she doesn't seem to be aware of social norms.
    via Readithere007

  • In every neighborhood, there is that one individual who has been living in the community for quite some time and therefore thinks she is in charge of everybody. In this case, this woman seemed to think she had the authority of an HOA board member. Can you imagine if you moved into a neighborhood that didn't even have an HOA, but instead you had one audacious neighbor who liked to think of herself as the queen of the community? That's almost worse!

    The fact that other neighbors in the area were willing to put up with this woman for decades without any serious backlash against her, unfortunately, meant that she felt like permission was only further granted for her to do whatever the heck she wanted. For the homeowner who lived next door, she was already dealing with having her adult daughter and elderly family member under her roof. She had zero interest in being disrupted by the entitled neighbor's raucous children playing in her backyard pool without permission all the time.

  • There is a laundry list of examples, but this is how it started:
    via Readithere007
  • Grandpa's daughter, husband and grandchildren lived with them when we moved in. Two in the afternoon on Sunday like clockwork the kids would ring the door bell. Standing there in swim suits and towels, I'd regularly tell them "not today". It was disturbing our household rest -
    via Readithere007
  • for the record I had an elderly person with PTSD and a teenager. Neither needed sleep disturbance.
    via Readithere007
  • Two of the neighbor's kids running into the pool.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Two of the neighbor's kids running into the pool.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • After a month of this nonsense, the kids got aggressive and popped off that "Grandma/Mom said they could!" I marched them home - demanded the women to come outside (joined by grandpa who opened the door). I rather enjoyed the fact mom was sleeping. With a raised voice, I
    via Readithere007
  • explained the kids weren't invited over, I wasn't a babysitter and since they claimed to be "good Christians" I asked why they couldn't observe our "day if rest".
    via Readithere007
  • Crickets. No answers or apologies just stunned looks. The parents and kids finally moved out, but it didn't stop on visits.
    via Readithere007
  • One time I found out my adult child had friends over when I was gone. No biggie as her friends were always welcome. TWO years after one backyard bbq, grandma complained she sent the kids over. (Personally, she's noisy enough to send the kids over as cars were in our drive.)
    via Readithere007
  • One of the neighbor's kids is diving into the pool without permission.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    One of the neighbor's kids is diving into the pool without permission.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The kids supposedly left because my adult child and her friends (way over minimum drinking age) had beer. (My daughter said later they wanted "swim lessons" and got upset when she wouldn't get out of her lawn chair as she was eating.)
    via Readithere007
  • When I asked grandma 1) why the kids were sent over without an invite except to increase my liability and 2) why she thought it was important two years after the fact, she looked mortified.
    via Readithere007
  • This isn't like she could claim any of the previous owners had the grandkids as guests. This is something she saved for us.
    via Readithere007

  • It comes as no surprise to us that this woman's kids were just as entitled, if not more so, than she was. As a result, these kids likely have never heard the word “no,” but thankfully, the homeowner and her daughter were not willing to let this vicious cycle continue. It was time for the kids to be told that they couldn't just play in any pool they wanted without politely asking first. After this debacle, it's actually unlikely that they'll ever consider running into the homeowner's backyard again… at least, we hope so.

  • Smithers66 Used to have this with a next door neighbor Straw that broke the camel's back was Mothers Day. We're outside on the deck enjoying the day when a gaggle of youngster invade our yard and start playing.
    via Readithere007
  • I asked them what they were doing One kid said "It's mother's day so our mom sent us over here so she could have some quiet time"
    via Readithere007
  • I told them to go home and tell their mother "It's mother's day at my house too"
    via Readithere007
  • Suckerforcats Why didn't your daughter turn them away? Don't ever allow them again. No means no and you have to be consistent in refusing them.
    via Readithere007

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hoa boomer kids house neighborhood pool Bad Neighbor karen
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