AITA for posting a video of the neighbours kids to a local facebook group?

One homeowner’s simple request for neighborhood courtesy turned into an unexpected confrontation that no one saw coming. What started as a minor inconvenience quickly escalated into a full-blown drama, leaving everyone wondering if a simple act of kindness could ever be enough.

I went to leave my home today and when I opened my front door (which opens directly onto a street), I was greeted with a shopping trolley that had been ditched right in front of it. Not exactly blocking the path but directly in front of my house. I have a doorbell camera so I checked the footage and it was some local kids (around age 12-13 I’d say) who dragged it there, played around with it for a bit and then ditched it.

I don’t know my neighbours very well as I keep to myself, but our estate has a facebook group (It’s private and only the people who live on this estate are part of it ~70 people or so). There’s a fair bit of crime on our estate, we’ve had a spat of car break-ins and such and many of the houses have cameras, people post the footage in this group of anything dodgy, so I posted the video there asking if anyone recognised the kids and knew who the parents were.

That was apparently the wrong thing to do.

The grandmother of one of the kids replied demanding I immediately take the video down, that you shouldn’t be posting videos of kids to facebook, that “Kids will be kids”, that I should get a life, that the kids were just playing, that I should have better things to do and so on.

All I asked was that the kids take the trolley back to where they found it and not leave it in front of my house.

A couple of hours later, the mother of that kid was at my door, screaming and shouting at me much the same things. There are “worse things” going on in our estate, that I am picking on her children (It’s the first I’ve ever mentioned any of the children on the estate), I should have better things to do, that they’re “Just kids” and “it would be different if it were adults” and so on.

Meanwhile, the trolly was right next to her.

I remained calm and explained that I just wanted them to remove the trolley they had left there and was told that I should just do it myself. She said “If it were me, I’d have just pushed it down there” and pointed further down the street.

I have taken the video down as it’s clear the parent(s) couldn’t be reasoned with anyway and all I wanted to do was talk to them, but AITA for posting the video at all?

Here’s how people reacted:

panic_bread

NTA. It’s clear those kids learned that bad behavior from their parents. Don’t take it down. Leave it up for the whole neighborhood to see.

Kyaesa

NTA

It is small private group for residents only, so very different from posting images of kids publicly.

Plus it is not like they are angels… kids will be kids is just not an excuse for shitty behaviour and lack of parenting. They are assholes here

BakeExtreme888

NTA. But that entire family are AHs

kellcait

NTA, I bet that wasn’t the first (or second, or third time) those kids have gotten called out for causing trouble, which is why their parents are flipping out. Maybe they even stole that shopping cart. She’s trying to intimidate you so her little monsters dont get in any more trouble.

ImpressiveCollar5811

If it’s a public street you’re in your right to record. You have no expectation of privacy while on a public street. It goes for juveniles as well. They’re just mad because you called them out. NTA

hurling-day

NTA. Push the trolley to her yard

UMCorian

ESH. The overreactions from grandma and mom are pathetic and kinda show where their mind is… they sound like the perfect caricatures of parents to spoiled, overprivileged children… but it sounds like they just left an empty shopping cart in your doorway? How much damage did they really do here? Maybe I’m not picturing this right in my head.

You posting the vid and effectively naming/shaming them in a reasonably public way over this seems a little overkill to me. Surely a private note and a link to someone with authority in your estate would have been enough?

LengthinessThink3129

NTA they are probably embarrassed they got called out on Facebook. If you do illegal things then except consequences.

Errvalunia

ESH, the family is clearly an issue and they shouldn’t be screaming at you

But… they left a shopping cart in front of your house, really? Who tf cares? It would never occur to me to try and track down some kids for leaving a shopping cart in front of my house. Like yeah they should move it instead of abandoning it in the way but it seems like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill

Reindeer-Street

Going against the grain here. ESH. Do any of you petty people posting comments even live out of home or are you still residing in sheltered situations with your parents? When you’re out living in the world you have to be really careful of these sorts of interactions and learn to pick your battles. In this case, with no actual harm done, I would have just removed the trolley and left it at that. Should it escalate to damage or a safety issue I would involve the police. Posting stuff up on social media is inflammatory and can cause a whole lot of shit. Inciting vigilante action isn’t the way to go in these scenarios, it can lead to REAL harms and is pretty much just shitting in your own backyard, encouraging retaliation that YOU will then have to deal with. It’s not fair but that’s just the way it is, people are unreasonable.

KccOStL33

I think I’m on the fence with this one. I get your frustration and at the end of the day I don’t think you did anything wrong but on the other hand, I also know how hot I’d be if someone posted a video of my son online. Even if he was kind of being a shit I’d be pissed, especially if he wasn’t hurting anyone/anything so I can also certainly sympathize with her bringing it to your doorstep..

I’d say that there’s a more neighborly way to deal with this in the future but I don’t think that matters much now.. You don’t want to be the guy that does this more than once.

greenseraphima

I don’t think putting kids on blast on Facebook is the way to do things in such a tight knit community.

It might be worth your time to get to know your neighbors instead of keeping to yourself, so that you can contact the parents directly if this happens again.

ESH/NAH.

Chelular07

NTA. All they needed to do was say “hey that’s my kids, sorry kids will be kids, I’ll send them to move it please take this down ” and it is done. You shouldn’t have to clean up after other people’s children.

AntiKuro

ESH, but only because as a parent I’d probably be upset if someone posted videos or images of my kids anywhere on the internet without my knowledge. There just way to many creepers and weirdos out there and stuff like that can get spread around wick even in closed groups.

I probably would of just blurred out the faces on the video and then uploaded it, or moved the thing myself down the street if it’s less of a hassle.

ssddalways

YTA, softly though. You don’t post vids or pics of kids that aren’t you on any platform, ever. You may have just put a child at risk.
I will say the gran and mother are major AH though with how they dealt with situation and the “kids will be kids”. Sorry you got hassle from them but don’t be posting pics and vids online without permission.

Verkielos

I hope you know data protection laws. I get why you did it but posting videos of kids without parents permission goes against the GDPR law, and I guess places also has laws like this.

The post was probably taken down by the moderator for reasons like that

JCBashBash

ESH. It is a private Facebook for matters of the area. There was a matter of the area and you posted it on there. It sounds like the parents are not reasonable. You shouldn’t have to clean up after their kids, if she was within the range of your video camera when she went out unhinged on you you should bring that to the property manager.

I am changing my vote to each though because people brought up very good points of the fact that you posted video of the children on there. And just because it is a private Facebook does not mean it is secure. Really you should have put up a picture of the shopping cart and asked if this was anybody’s so that it could be moved away from your doorway

Corduroycat1

NTA Stealing a shopping “trolley” (that is so cute, lol) is still stealing. It is a crime. And technically you are now in possession of stolen property.

gemma156

NTA Instead you should’ve called the police when she turned up yelling and screaming at your door. People respect fines it’s clear the apples didn’t fall far, and where the kids gets it from.

Fun-Attorney4071

You’ve met the charmers haven’t you?

She told you to just push the trolley down there, stick it outside her front door and see what she thinks about it!!!

Conclusion

The story ends with a startling revelation about community dynamics and a question that lingers: was posting a video the real crime? The homeowner learned a harsh lesson about neighborly disputes and the surprising lengths some will go to defend their ‘kids will be kids’ mentality.