I live in a small townhouse row where the sidewalks are shared, but each front step and little walkway area is basically right in front of our own doors.
There are a few kids on my street who play outside most afternoons, which I don’t mind at all. They ride scooters, draw with chalk, leave little hopscotch squares around, normal kid stuff. I usually just step around it and don’t say anything.
Last week though, I noticed they had drawn a bunch of chalk arrows starting from the sidewalk and pointing directly to my front door. At the end, right by my step, they wrote “scary house” and drew a little monster face. I know it was probably just kids being kids, but it felt weird having my door turned into part of their game.
I washed it off with water that evening. The next day, the arrows were back, this time with “knock here” written near my door.
I went outside and asked them, pretty calmly, to please not draw things that point to my house or tell people to knock. I said they could draw on the sidewalk, just not directly in front of my door or about my house.
One of the kids looked embarrassed and said okay, but later their mom came over and said I made her son feel bad over harmless chalk. She said it washes away and that I was acting like some grumpy old neighbor.
I don’t think I yelled or was mean. I just don’t want my front door used as a prop in whatever game they’re playing, especially when it encourages random knocking.
AITB?