Should my husband stop letting our kids climb the neighbour’s fence?

Penelope says she was shocked to learn that while she was at work during half-term her husband, Spencer, had let their children hop over the fence into the neighbours’ garden to retrieve balls. The neighbours are a middle‑aged couple with no children, and Penelope says the children have done this “four or five” times without her knowledge.

She calls it a flagrant disregard for boundaries and property rights, and worries about the message it sends and how it would look if the neighbours came home to find their children in the garden. Penelope says she has told Alex and Georgia to be more careful and that Spencer should be the stricter parent when she is not around.

Spencer responds that no harm was done – it is “just a lawn with a few shrubs” – and that the children are quick when they retrieve the ball. He says he was juggling running his business from home and trying to keep the peace, that he would apologise if needed, and that they also share responsibility for the fence.

fence, neighbours, children, garden, balls, property rights, boundaries, half-term, spencer, penelope