Ding Dong Ditch

[AustinTink]

Are you a “kids will be kids” kind of person when it comes to Ding Dong Ditching? Or are you a “the parents need to know and the kids needs to apologize” kind of person when your doorbell gets rung in the wee hours of the night. Some dumb kids woke us up at 2am last night ringing the doorbell and running. It’s not cool. I was not able to go back to sleep afterwards. I have work to do and Thanksgiving to plan. I’m so mad right now.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We've had an outbreak of Ding Dong ditch here, per our local neighborhood facebook page. Based on some of the responses, I would very much want to know if my kids were doing this. It's not harmless fun any more, too many people are just looking for an excuse to shoot someone.

edited to add - my kids would be apologizing.

 

[john7994]

I suggest getting a ring or equivalent doorbell camera which kind of eliminates the ditch part - cause that’s all kinds of fun to show their parents afterwards when you recognize them. And for the smarter of the mischief makers - a nice way to deter it all together.

 

[tvguy]

Never been an issue here.

 

[soccerdad72]

I would think in this day and age of Ring cameras being so prevalent, that this wouldn't be as much of an issue anymore.

 

[Genie+]

I have some tolerance of kids will be kids.

As kids we did some stupid funny stuff like swapping lawn ornaments from houses across the street from each other, or putting 6 lovely marigold plants from one staircase to the neighbor (which actually remained there the whole season). We were 12/13 years old and thought it was a hoot. Looking back I hope we didn’t start any neighbor wars

In this instance though… kids are out late in the middle of the night? I’m thinking they‘re likely young if finding doorbells funny. They are putting themselves in danger in probably more than one way. As a parent I’d appreciate neighbors making the issue known. Maybe without releasing identifying info but giving more details to parents who make personal inquiries.

 

[Bethislucy]

We've had an outbreak of Ding Dong ditch here, per our local neighborhood facebook page. Based on some of the responses, I would very much want to know if my kids were doing this. It's not harmless fun any more, too many people are just looking for an excuse to shoot someone.

edited to add - my kids would be apologizing.

I live in the country so not an issue where I live, but I agree with this if it was my kids, I would want to know. Just for that reason you never know who's doorbell you're ringing in the middle of the night and what could happen.

 

[AustinTink]

I would think in this day and age of Ring cameras being so prevalent, that this wouldn't be as much of an issue anymore.

They are so dumb they were ringing doorbells with Ring cameras. We and so many neighbors all have them on camera.

 

[jimmymc]

As someone who ding dong ditched frequently as a kid, I let them be kids. They could be doing much worse things than ringing doorbells and running away.

If you don't want it to happen again, the best way to make it stop is not reacting. Don't turn your lights on, open the door, or go outside. The houses we did over and over were the ones where somebody would come outside and yell.

 

[BrianL]

I think it depends. In the middle of the night is definitely more of an issue, and I wouldn't tolerate that. On a Saturday afternoon I wouldn't worry about it that much from my perspective, though I do think the kids should be discouraged because of the danger to them. These days people come out shooting sometimes, so I would generally want to curtail the behavoir.

 

[dez1978]

depends. Depends on the neighborhood actually IMO. Also as stated above, it would depend on the time of day and the ages of the kids. My kids are 9&12, if they were out of the house at 2 am doing some dumb stuff like this I would want to know for sure. If it's 6 pm, it's much less of an issue to me. We live in the country so not really an issue here. But at 2 am you'd likely be met at the door with a pew pew here, bc there is no good reason for anyone to be at your door at that time. Some areas you might be met with that at any time of day. So yeah, depends.

 

[tony67]

Yeah my kids would be apologizing - also why the are they out at 2AM. Not sure its really kids.

Currently I have a bigger headache that really nothing can be done about.
The kid is riding up and down the street with a noisy electric bike or dirt bike - whatever - and its not loud enough to complain about and its just loud enough to be annoying after 2 or 3 hours up and down the street around dinner time.

The neighbor is also the neighborhood problem in general so you cant talk to them or call the police for an unregister dirt bike on the road. If you do call the police again its all in the police report - I've seen that be an issue with them in the past. I've thought about calling from my Irish mobile number.

The house next to them has been sold 4 times in 5 years - including a cousin of theirs that could not take it anymore. The postman wont even deliver to those two houses at the end of the road because of an issue with the dog - and that part of the road is private so he dos not have to.

The latest family to move in next door - their kid got nipped by the dog and for some reason nothing can be done about it. I guess it has to happen more than once. They also had to put in a mailbox further up the road where it is not a private road. Its just a total headache for them and they are trapped now with the high interest rates.

So my point on that - if you did know who did it - you then have to decide if its the type of neighbors you can even bring it up with.

 

[AustinTink]

They could be doing much worse things than ringing doorbells and running away.

And I could have been sleeping at 2am but I wasn’t because of these idiots.

 

[adzfoster84]

For me it would be about what time the kids did it. Before 9 pm, oh well. After that then I would question if the parents knew the kids were out and feel it necessary to have discussion with the parents.

 

[jimmymc]

And I could have been sleeping at 2am but I wasn’t because of these idiots.

You asked for my opinion, and that's what I gave. It wouldn't be wrong of you to let the parents know what their kids were up to at 2 am, but especially if this is the first time, I wouldn't.

 

[slo]

For me….if it’s a one and done, I’ll be annoyed, but I’ll just let it go. If it’s ongoing, then I’m not going to let it go.

We do have a Ring camera, so it never happens to us.

 

[tony67]

BTW: Don't think they care if its on ring and I think its one of those TikTok challenge things so they are posting it anyway.

 

[tony67]

You live in TX where people are able to have guns. Leave a BIG sign up at night with florescent paint stating you have one and that you have no problem shooting all Ding Dong Ditchers for target practice and that their parents can ask questions once they've picked up their cold dead bodies.

well guns can be almost anywhere so not a smart thing to do - there have been a couple of cases.

Also - I know you were joking (maybe ), but never a good idea to post stuff like that on your house, car, etc...
Reason being it can be used against you later if something did happen - even in Texas.

 

[john7994]

It’s cute until it isn’t … reminds me of a Dateline episode on teens “Garage Shopping/Hopping” looking for the open garage doors in the neighborhood to steal beer from the fridges and other goods … teen ended up dead because the homeowners were lying in wait from having been victimized before …

 

[Imzadi]

well guns can be almost anywhere so not a smart thing to do - there have been a couple of cases.

Also - I know you were joking (maybe ), but never a good idea to post stuff like that on your house, car, etc...
Reason being it can be used against you later if something did happen - even in Texas.

Yes, I was kidding.