On Friday we decided that cooking was not in the plans for dinner, so I ran out to get dinner. As I pulled into my driveway after getting food, I noticed one of the neighbor boys and his friend acting suspiciously in our yard.
A quick background on the neighbors: they live in the three bedroom, 1200 sq. ft. ranch next to us, and they have two adults, four children, three dogs (one about to have puppies), a cat and a turtle. How they all fit in that place is a mystery to me. The oldest child is 9, and the youngest is 3. They are nice people, although the kids are a little rowdy at times.
The kids are often playing in our yard. I can understand this a little, since our house is located on the bend in the road, so we have a fairly large yard, while they have a postage stamp sized plot of land to play. As long as they are playing nicely and aren’t coming up on our porch, or attacking our tree or shrubs, I try to not let it bother me. (Although we did fence in our backyard not only to contain Cordy, but also to stop them from using our entire backyard for football and baseball games.)
Anyway, back to Friday. This was the second youngest kid, who is 5 or 6, and his friend of the same age. They were moving along our fence slowly, eyes darting back and forth to see who was watching. I made eye contact with the neighbor boy – I gave my “What do you think you’re doing?” look, while he gave the typical young boy “I’m getting into trouble” look with a side glance at me.
I continued to watch them as I slowly gathered up my stuff and got out of the car. And then I noticed one of the boys facing the fence, and his hands were in front of him. Then his pants slid down slightly, and I noticed the fence in front of him getting wet. He was peeing on my fence!
The boy gave a quick glance over his shoulder, knowing I was watching. I was in shock – while I wouldn’t put it past these boys to do something like this, I didn’t expect them to be so bold as to do it with me watching. The boy finished, pulled up his pants, and both of them ran back into their own yard to play. I should also point out that this part of the fence was roughly 4 feet away from the neighbor’s back door, where they could easily find a toilet inside.
I walked in the door, still dumbfounded by what had just happened. “What’s wrong?” Aaron asked.
“The neighbor boy and his friend just peed on our fence!”
“What?”
“They peed on our fence. I watched them do it.”
Aaron put on his shoes and went outside right away. A few minutes later, he came back in.
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them if they needed to use the bathroom, to go into their own house, and not use our fence.”
“And what did they say?”
“They mumbled something about OK, then ran off.”
Somehow, I doubt that will deter them. I’m sure they thought it was hilarious. It made me hope that baby #2 is a girl, because I seriously don’t think I’d know what to do with my son if he peed on someone’s fence. Of course, the answer is my son would never be raised to do that. But boys just seem to be more willing to do stupid stuff like that.
Is there some kind of “hoodlum” gene on the Y chromosome, tempting little boys to pee on fences, pull up flowers, and leave their bikes right behind our cars in our driveway? Some primal urge to mark territory and destory the territory of others?
Spread some coyote urine on your fence…that should keep them away! Oh wait, that’s for deer…
🙂
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Little boys are pretty much defined by the term “poor impulse control”. I bet that Aaron calling them on it will do more good than you realize.
They probably did it for no other reason than it might save them time to get back to playing. If you ask them why they did it they probably don’t really know and the fact that an adult called them out on it probably mortified them.
You can always save this story for when they’re older and you want to embarass them.
(Blogger isn’t liking me today… I apologize in advance if this posts 35 times!!)
“Of course, the answer is my son would never be raised to do that.”
That’s the truth. You can’t blame bad behavior on being a boy. Blame the parents.
It would be like saying you want #2 to be a boy because you just saw some 8 year old dressed like a hooker and making suggestive remarks to an older boy. Gross and sad yes, but there’s some messed-up parenting that went into making her act like that.
If this is an on going problem, I would tell their parents. They need to be disciplined. If I was their parents they would be told to apologize and encouraged to find a way to make it up to you.
The possibility of a boy is one of the things that scares me about the thought of number 2!
I think there is something in little boys to want to pee outside only cause they know they can. My brothers used to love going camping, so they could pee on trees. But peeing on someones fence is just being a rude ass. I’d tellt he parents and form here on out, kick them out of your yard.
I’m sure you will be an excellent parent to either gender and able to take the good with the bad from either. Frankly, I was relieved when I had another boy because I think I must have gotten some of that Y gene at birth because I was pretty wild when I was young and I dreaded the thought of another “me” coming into this world. And of course, I won’t have to pay for a wedding or a sweet sixteen or a prom dress…
I can’t believe he peed on your fence. But then again, I’m kinda used to this type of behavior. I had two brothers who used to love to chase me down, sit on my head, and pretend to fart on me. Yeah, boys. They’re a handful.
I can’t believe he would do that with you watching! I’m the kind of person who would say something to the child’s parents. Some things are just inexcusable, one of them being neighbor’s-fence-urinating.
I’m sure that even if you have a boy that he will not behave like that. Sure, he would do lots of boy things, but he would know better than to pee on someone else’s fence!
I believe that this little peeing thing is in a boy’s blood. My husband still thinks it’s okay to pee off the deck at night in the summer. I ask him why on earth he does this and he half jokes about marking his territory.
I’ve given up on arguing with him….It’s completely weird to me, but I suppose I really can’t yell at him.
When Adam discovered he could pee standing up it was like a whole new world opened up to him.
Yeah, I think there is something on that Y chromosome. Seriously. Destruction, chaos, all that good stuff. I never understood why boys want to pull up flowers and dump things with trucks and all that jazz, but now I’m raising one and I know that a part of him may be like that, and it’ll be okay.
But the first time he pees on a neighbor’s fence will be the last, I guarantee that. So, if I were the parent of this kid I’d want to know, so I think you should tell them.
Argh! I think it is a function of your neighborhood (given this story, but taking past posts into consideration!) rather than gender.
I have two boys and I certainly hope I dont’t find them peeing on someone else’s fence.
‘Some primal urge to mark territory’
that made me laugh – we often watch the little boys playing at the park, and give a sigh of relief, but i do know some pretty agressive, grabby girl babies too.
it’s definitely something in the genes. same thing that makes them unable to do 2 things at once when they are older.
Snort. Well, my boys are pretty private, but I know that lots of moms actually ENCOURAGE their boys to pee outside while potty training! Gross IMO, but as long as they’re not doing it on my fence or making me have to see their “stuff” I guess I can’t complain.
But ew. I wouldn’t want to go into their yard to play.
As the mother of two “rambunctious” young boys I would say it’s a lack of discipline, not genetics. While my boys do tend to show signs of more aggresive, more energy to burn off than many of their female counterparts – my sons (probably) wouldn’t pee on the neighbors fence. If they did, there would be consequences, starting with going to the neighbors house with a bucket of soap and water to wash it off!!
Don’t worry so much about gender stereotypes – I LOVE raising boys. They might be a little more demanding when they’re young, but I hear that they’re a breeze when it comes to the teenage years. (As long as you don’t mind being ignored. Which for me is better than being screamed at by my daughter 🙂
I don’t really understand what it is with boys and their hoses.
I’m just glad I don’t have one.
I’m not worried about your son’s future hose either. It’s the boys with out diligent parents who waive their weapon to vandalize property.
Peeing on fences notwithstanding, I’d still like a little boy.
Someday.
You’re so funny!
I say, take a quick look at My Sweet 16 one of these days and rethink that girl wish. Oy. Oy for both of us.
i’m not surprised about little boys peeing on fences, i am surprised they are doing it in front of you! can you talk to his parents about it? they probably don’t know…
Oh well my little boy will NEVER do something like that…right?…right? Maybe it is a territorial thing. I would tend to think it has more to do with the parents though. That’s pretty amazing that he’d do it with you watching. Do you think he’s mad that you put up the fence and this is his way of vandalizing it?
I’d freak about the fence peeing. Fuh-REEK.
It’s a crapshoot either way. Boys may run amok, but I rarely hear them whine.