I don't know. Were they 5 year olds playing touch football or 15 year olds playing tackle? Details matter. Haha. I've let people teach their kids how to ride their bike in my backyard. Everyone else had dormant bermuda and mine was PRG. It gave the kids a nice soft landing free of rocks.

Good for you to let them play.

 

Would y'all let 'em play?

I can see where you're coming from and I have pondered similar questions. Is creating a beautiful lawn an end in itself, or is it a means to some other end? If we treat it as an end in itself, and get angry when someone else steps on our lawn or finds happiness taking a picture on it, it means our priorities in life are not right and they need an adjustment. However, if we treat lawns as a means to an end, small things that affect our lawn should not disturb us if they are done to give someone else a bit of happiness, or help someone else out. If kids played football on my lawn, I would bite my tongue, even if I was a bit perturbed that they might cause some divots in the turf.

 

I just started my lawn obsession last year. First reno this fall so next year I will face the same kind of thing with kids living next door.
I've already decided not to care about that kind of stuff. I like fixing things anyway, so if they do something to hurt the lawn, it gives me something to do.
I'm hoping for a tier 2 eventually. If I ever got to a tier 3, I THINK I'd still feel the same way.

If I ever had teens tearing it up playing football, I'd probably just role play an NFL groundskeeper, without the salary.

 

I have a beautiful front yard for my family and friends to enjoy. I willingly allow it, all the while knowing the work I'm gonna be doing afterwards. it helps that my front yard is bermuda and is dormant exactly 2 months a year.

 

I would let them play! Yes, it may cause some internal pain, but it is just grass! It will grow back

 

Embrace it. Surprise them and mark out field lines.
Personally i think their parents should be ashamed for not apologizing. Maybe, just maybe you could embarrass the parents by upshowing them.

ps. Mark any hazards you might have.

 

Congrats on the upgrade to "working turf".

Think about what a golf super goes through. They create and maintain the best turf most of us will ever see and it gets abused daily. It will recover, and elite lawns are so much better when enjoyed for more than just looking pretty.

Nobody plays golf/football/baseball/cricket/croquet/soccer/or does donuts in their NASCAR on a wildflower meadow.

 

I would 100% let them play. I would take photos to post to my collection of walkers touching the grass. The photo below is my latest.

 

I would 100% let them play. I would take photos to post to my collection of walkers touching the grass. The photo below is my latest.
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This is just excellent!

 

Kids still play outside?

 

My little kids do. Thats what I create the nice lawn for

 

Reading these responses gives me joy. I know we are all obsessive about our lawns, otherwise we wouldn't be reading an internet forum about them. It's good to hear y'all would let them play as well.

I would guess the kids were 10-12 years old...so not big enough to do much digging up, and they were not playing tackle. And, they did not have on cleats, just tennis shoes. I did check it out after they were gone, and there was no damage. Maybe it's not quite as smooth as it was before they played, but I hope they'll enjoy it again.

I admit, I am not so amenable to someone parking with their tires on my grass. That really gets me going.

 

I admit, I am not so amenable to someone parking with their tires on my grass. That really gets me going.

Tires on the grass get my goat along with owners not cleaning up their dog poop but I really love seeing the kids play in the grass. We should covert this thread to showing photos of kids in the grass. I'll start... check out these whipper-snappers in my front yard! @Humbert810 @WillyT

 

My dog and the neighborhood dogs always end up going ballistic and chasing each other on the front lawn while all of us hang out in the garage or driveway. Kids and dogs running all over it tearing it up. I always have a feeling of joy and try to remember that this is why we want such a nice lawn, for these very moments. I try to remember it’s only a lawn in the end and these moments will last forever for kids especially!

 

hell yes it's there to enjoy, not to take pictures of to post on the internet

 

I did have to put a stop to this, to an extent. These were bit older kids (12-13) and some would wear cleats, tackle (one kid broke his arm). It was an almost daily thing. At one point several spots were looking rough, eventually said I didn't have an issue with them being outside playing but they couldn't do it everyday.

 

 

I figure its a yard. If kids choose to play on it that is the ultimate compliment. i made the turn into my cul de sac once and saw the kids making diving catches onto my yard. They all apologized and I asked them why, to enjoy the turf. It's not like I didn't occasionally take a divot with my 8 iron out of my lawn hitting out into the green belt.

 

All of you are far nicer than me! I don't care if my front yard was nothing but dirt, I wouldn't want random people showing up and making uninvited use of my property. If it was my kids with their friends then fine, happy to see it. Guess I'm the crotchety guy!

 

My lawn is for people to enjoy. I just did a renovation, and I hope that next year my kid will play in it. The only time I'll care about people in my lawn is if a dog takes a shit in it and the owner doesn't pick it up.

 

I have my 8 year old and the 5 neighbor boys ranging from 7 to 12 years old and 2 other 9 year olds play on my kbg side yard daily in the summer. They beat up some spots of it pretty badly but they are having fun. It's also made me learn how to truly take care of a lawn that is used instead of one for looks. It takes a little more fertilizer, water and planning. When I would water or fertilize, I would tell them to use another area for the day and they were fine with that. There will be days at some point where they are too old to play football or baseball in the yard with their friends and then I can make it look really nice but now I enjoy seeing them have fun playing together.

 

Sorry, no. Not unless they’re guests and my lawn is well established. Assuming they live in the neighborhood…why aren’t these kids playing on THEIR lawn? Would you also be fine if you woke up to someone working on their car in your driveway?

 

Lol, I think you've got a point as well. I think most of us were imagining an ideal scenario of little 9-year-old boys seeing a large, flat plot of beautiful turf to play a game on so they don't have to play on the street one day. Those are sympathetic kids. However, we can also imagine a scenario in which 15-year-old adolescents could play on their own lawns, but let's say one of their dads told them to go mess up a neighbor's lawn instead because he didn't want to have his own lawn ripped up. And let's also say that those kids are loud, hit your house with their ball, and come over on a repeated basis to play. In other words, in this situation they're not so sympathetic.

 

I was almost afraid to comment here since I am not as nice as you all! I live on a main street and don't like when people cut through my yard. There's no sidewalk so I don't mind them walking on the street side of the ditch where technically a sidewalk would be but when they cross over and just start cutting through my yard I'm more thinking... "What the heck? Why are you walking on my private property? What's next? Come over and just hang out?"

Nah. I'm not that sociable.

I'd never say anything but it just irks me. I was taught to stay out of other people's stuff. It would never have crossed my mind as a kid to play on some random neighbor's yard. Not unless I was playing with another kid who lived there.

Now, if I had kids and they had friends they could definitely be playing in my yard. Maybe I might pick one special extra pretty spot that was off limits or something but otherwise I wouldn't have any issues with that. It's your yard. Play in it.

Also, don't walk through my pristine snow. 😂 😂 (in my defense we hardly ever get any snow here so when we do, I like to look at it all pretty and smooth for as long as possible.)

 

My only concern would be an injury and then someone tries to sue me because of a hole or something in the yard.

 

Just another excuse for more sand

 

Yesterday I heard kids playing outside and there was a pickup game of football on my front yard. They were having a great time, and I just thought how nice it was to see them playing outside on a beautiful fall day. I admit, the little voice in my head made mention that if they damaged some turf it may not recover before going dormant, but I told the voice to be quiet. Would y'all let 'em play?

It’s a lawn. You know how to make it look beautiful again. It’s only grass. It will grow back.

 

I lived in a house about 10 years ago that had a corner lot. It was where the bus stopped. The kids would be all over the lawn and even sitting on my porch. After a while, I gave up because it just made me look like a jerk even though I was in the right. 🤷‍♂️

In my current neighborhood there’s a guy who gets irritable with parents (mostly mothers) who park on “his” street waiting for the bus to pick their kids up. I get it…but he’s a jerk. LOL.

 

Yesterday I heard kids playing outside and there was a pickup game of football on my front yard. They were having a great time, and I just thought how nice it was to see them playing outside on a beautiful fall day.

I admit, the little voice in my head made mention that if they damaged some turf it may not recover before going dormant, but I told the voice to be quiet.

Would y'all let 'em play?

Yes, I would definitely let them play.

 

I read on here in i believe the PGR section, there were some studies done by a institute that simulated grass that was used and abused. If I'm not mistaken, I think they were also testing different brands of PGR. They simulated football cleats going over and over and one section that did not get the abuse. The area that was abused actually did better. I guess grass is a bit of a submissive and likes to be dominated. Just like some humans do.

 

The area that was abused actually did better. I guess grass is a bit of a submissive and likes to be dominated. Just like some humans do.

My favorite quote from the LSU field superintendent is "You gotta make it look really bad before you can make it look really good."