How would you feel if your friends kids did this?
Answered 3 years ago
We went away on a weeks holiday. Upon our return we discovered that a friends 3 kids and another mutual friends kid had been hanging out in our house while we were away! The smallest one squeezed through the dog flap and let the others in! They wrote notes and put them around the house, took Polaroid pics of themselves doing things in our house and worst of all they cooked (made a cake) and left it on the bench as a surprise for us...... the mum thinks it's funny and its kids creating memories. I am beyond furious and even days later a bit stunned still. These are good family friends and I'm very welcoming and inclusive of my friends and their kids popping over whenever, but this feels like a big invasion of privacy, crossing a boundary, taking advantage, pulling the piss and not to mention dangerous! What if they'd left the stove/oven on or set something on fire while cooking??? Dont think my friend would find it funny if it was the other way around. I really dont know how to handle this. These kids range in age of 10-15.
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The so called friends treaspased
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I suggesttrd locking the pet door with an obvious lock & adding a security system (even a cheap one). That'll speak volumees. If they say something, say they've highlighted how easy it is to break in to your hime, you don't feel safe so you're fixing that right now. Next time you go away, if they try to break in call the cops & the alarm will groghten them. You can choose not to charge of course but they'll get one hell of a fright.
You can choose to see the small positive - they have shown you you're house isn't secure. Burglars will happily use children to break in.
Ask what would they think be would happen if they'd caused a fire. Who'd be responsible? If they thought it was ok why not ask instead of breaking in? They need to know it's not ok, regardless of friendship status. If they bring up kids making memories then ask if it's a nice memory to find your house has been broken into.
Then I'd be getting a lock for my pet door & ensuring an alarm was installed. It may hurt the friendship but I wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye to it.