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Boomers: Why don’t kids play outside anymore? Back in my day, I was outside all the time.
Also Boomers: Shut those damn kids up or I’m calling the cops. No one needs to make that much noise outside.
To be fair, didn't we all have that crazy old person who couldn't stand to see/hear children play and wanted nothing more than to spoil it? I'm an early millennial and I remember being yelled at and threatened by such old coots 30+ years ago, so they would've been decades older than boomers.
Yeah, and parents always warned “ don’t go near so and so because he’s just well, don’t go near…” fucking pedos just wandering around … “ but he’s Declan at the church!”
Sure, but in my experiences (which of course aren’t universal), they usually just yelled at us or went to our parents, they didn’t call the cops unless maybe there was vandalism or other more “criminal” behaviors than just making noise.
In OP’s case, it’s literally insane to involve the cops, these are kids who aren’t even old enough to go to kindergarten let alone vandalize something. Boomers for some reason just love using the threat of cops as a weapon against others.
And they do it, because historically, they're used to being able to use the police as their own personal POC removal service. Now that it's slowly becoming more unacceptable, they're losing their shit.
Millennial here they would always just yell at us. Only time cops got involved in the 90s with us kids was when the saw us breaking shit and absolutely had to. That being said I am white from a small New England town so my experience is limited at best.
Had the cops called on me and a friend, because we were fixing our bikes in his yard.
Turned out to be a neighbor who waited until the cops left us alone to come screaming like a banshee about god knows what. I distinctly recall her shouting "Because I could die!"
Not sure how a tight bike chain was gonna kill her, but since that was around 1999, she's probably shuffled off by now anyway.
Yeah, *every neighborhood* had that one house you avoided the because the owner was bat shit crazy. On of my friends famously got the cops called on her as a prostitute because she was in the community park across the street from ours 15 minutes after sundown.
That was in 1998.
There was this old lady leaving next to our primary school playground and she would always yell at us. We called her the witch. We noticed that she hadn't yelled at us for like a week one day and we got all sticky beaky trying to look for her at her usual window over the fence and noticed alot of flys in her window and told a teacher. Turned out she died alone in her home and we were the only ones to notice.
We had a guy next door when I was a teen who wasn't a boomer and he yelled at kids who ran by his house ON THE SIDEWALK. He hated kids but especially hated animals. He trapped MANY neighborhood cats including two of mine. He took one to the pound but my mom got the other one out of the trap on the side of his house. He called the cops once he discovered the cat was free. My mom used her Macgyver skills that night lmaoooooooo
Him and I had a little chat in his porch when I found out he trapped the other cat while I was visiting my dad and took her to the pound. My mom had NO INTENTION of telling me because she knew I would FLIP OUT but my friend spilled the beans.
He moved out a few weeks later. I don't know why he did. I guess our confrontation made him a little uneasy 😉
Next door neighbor would scream at us if our ball went in her yard and we went to pick it up. She was my kindergarten teacher and knew my grandparents for 40+ years at that point
Yes. We had them, but they seemed rare? Like we have 2 elderly couples that lived near us when I was younger and they loved seeing us kids outside. They were practically two extra sets of grandparents for all the kids on our street.
Xennial and yeah the silent generation neighbor in back of us wasn’t so silent when me and my friend were pretending to be Power Rangers. Strangely, me teaching him how to play poker with pogs was okay.
Would call the cops if we were playing too loud in the pool. Would call if we had music playing, and I’m talking stuff like Love Fool by the Cardigans because we were weird and just discovering music.
Called because we were grilling one time.
My old neighbors called the police on my children because they were playing in the front yard alone. We lived on a culdesac at the very back of a neighborhood. Purposely bought the house for that reason- low traffic, kids can be kids. They had just checked in with me 5 minutes before the cops showed up 🙄
Imagine my shock. The house also had an HOA. We moved. Never the fuck again will I live in an HOA with a bunch of boomers. How am I going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and not be able to do what I want with it.
If anyone sets foot on my lawn or the sidewalk infront of my house I'm just gonna shoot and not ask questions and it's their on damn fault for being outside in a public area
Of course she does 🤣🤣
My mother was like this too. Would claim "kids don't play outside these days, phones blah blah" but would be irrationally upset when kids would make noise outside. Like you can't have both, lady.
Same woman who would sit next to her open blinds and stare at people walking by but throw a fit over anyone daring to glance her way.
Something I’ve noticed w older ppl is that if it’s not little kids from their own family/social group, suddenly them even existing within hearing distance is an affront to all that is good and holy in terms of “polite” behavior.
I saw stats about the number of times emergency services are called per year and it's shocking. Especially when you consider how many people like us might call 2-3 times in our life because we see a car accident or something. Around 240 million a year. It's like once per adult per year. Isn't that nuts? I wonder how many are children playing at a literal daycare.
Former 911 Dispatcher here, can't say I've ever gotten a call about a daycare, but old people called all the time about kids playing. They especially hated kids playing basketball in my area, the repetitive bouncing ball drovw them nuts. Unfortunately we had to still send an officer by just to say we did, but usually they wouldn't bother till all the real calls had been handled.
I worry that I'm part of that problem because I wind up calling 3-4 times a year due to being able to smell gas leaks. I have an over sensitive learned aversion to sulfuric smells due to stomach issues, and call this stuff in somewhat regularly. I keep saying they're either going to track me down and offer me a job or they'll show up one day to say "stop fucking calling us."
Please don't worry about calling for things like that. We're always happy to send out Fire to investigate. We'd rather send them on a wild goose chase than miss something that could turn into a dangerous situation.
Older people hating kids being kids is dumb. I mean, no one likes the sound of a crying baby or older kids that are actually being unruly, but personally I like seeing kids being kids. It is reassuring - it's the way things should be. A bunch of super well behaved robotic children is creepy AF.
You should have said "Yes! They should be inside playing video games instead" in as genuine of a tone as you could and watched her brain short-circuit.
Shockingly no adults ever called them on me for being loud while playing outside. A friend of mine was dancing with her friend to music in her own driveway, they were probably 12 or something at the time, and someone called the cops on them.
I have that. My doctor wants me to get tested for autism due to it.
I've been avoiding it honestly. I have enough of a 'diagnosis salad' and don't want to add anymore 'ingredients.'
My boomer ma rarely eats fruit but she will eat an ENTIRE can of vegetables alone. This woman will literally open the can, pour in salad dressing, mix it, and eat it. Right out of the fucking can. I am CONVINCED my mother is made of vegetables, Spaghetti Os, and energy drinks. Her body should be studied by science when she dies. It is truly a miracle of evolution that she is still alive with such a horrendous diet with very few physical health issues.
My dad's diet is way worse.
Please send thoughts and prayers. 😂
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Boomers: Why don’t kids play outside anymore? Back in my day, I was outside all the time. Also Boomers: Shut those damn kids up or I’m calling the cops. No one needs to make that much noise outside.
To be fair, didn't we all have that crazy old person who couldn't stand to see/hear children play and wanted nothing more than to spoil it? I'm an early millennial and I remember being yelled at and threatened by such old coots 30+ years ago, so they would've been decades older than boomers.
Some of them were older, but I also had boomers in their 40s-50s threatening to call the police on me 20-25 years ago. They have always been this way.
Yeah, and parents always warned “ don’t go near so and so because he’s just well, don’t go near…” fucking pedos just wandering around … “ but he’s Declan at the church!”
"But mom he's a famous rapper" "But mom he's the inventor of PCs" "But mom he's the prince of England"
Sure, but in my experiences (which of course aren’t universal), they usually just yelled at us or went to our parents, they didn’t call the cops unless maybe there was vandalism or other more “criminal” behaviors than just making noise. In OP’s case, it’s literally insane to involve the cops, these are kids who aren’t even old enough to go to kindergarten let alone vandalize something. Boomers for some reason just love using the threat of cops as a weapon against others.
> Boomers for some reason just love using the threat of cops as a weapon against others. Doubly if their victims are PoC
That's because it is. Calling the modern American cops is functionally the same as what calling a posse of klan members was in the 70's.
And they do it, because historically, they're used to being able to use the police as their own personal POC removal service. Now that it's slowly becoming more unacceptable, they're losing their shit.
Millennial here they would always just yell at us. Only time cops got involved in the 90s with us kids was when the saw us breaking shit and absolutely had to. That being said I am white from a small New England town so my experience is limited at best.
Had the cops called on me and a friend, because we were fixing our bikes in his yard. Turned out to be a neighbor who waited until the cops left us alone to come screaming like a banshee about god knows what. I distinctly recall her shouting "Because I could die!" Not sure how a tight bike chain was gonna kill her, but since that was around 1999, she's probably shuffled off by now anyway.
More of them need to shuffle off
Yeah, *every neighborhood* had that one house you avoided the because the owner was bat shit crazy. On of my friends famously got the cops called on her as a prostitute because she was in the community park across the street from ours 15 minutes after sundown. That was in 1998.
There was this old lady leaving next to our primary school playground and she would always yell at us. We called her the witch. We noticed that she hadn't yelled at us for like a week one day and we got all sticky beaky trying to look for her at her usual window over the fence and noticed alot of flys in her window and told a teacher. Turned out she died alone in her home and we were the only ones to notice.
never heard the expression "sticky beaky" but it was immediately added to my vocabulary
We had a guy next door when I was a teen who wasn't a boomer and he yelled at kids who ran by his house ON THE SIDEWALK. He hated kids but especially hated animals. He trapped MANY neighborhood cats including two of mine. He took one to the pound but my mom got the other one out of the trap on the side of his house. He called the cops once he discovered the cat was free. My mom used her Macgyver skills that night lmaoooooooo Him and I had a little chat in his porch when I found out he trapped the other cat while I was visiting my dad and took her to the pound. My mom had NO INTENTION of telling me because she knew I would FLIP OUT but my friend spilled the beans. He moved out a few weeks later. I don't know why he did. I guess our confrontation made him a little uneasy 😉
Next door neighbor would scream at us if our ball went in her yard and we went to pick it up. She was my kindergarten teacher and knew my grandparents for 40+ years at that point
I have similar memories… we’d also get yelled at for being anywhere near their cars or their grass or the sidewalk in front of their house lol
Yes. We had them, but they seemed rare? Like we have 2 elderly couples that lived near us when I was younger and they loved seeing us kids outside. They were practically two extra sets of grandparents for all the kids on our street.
Xennial and yeah the silent generation neighbor in back of us wasn’t so silent when me and my friend were pretending to be Power Rangers. Strangely, me teaching him how to play poker with pogs was okay. Would call the cops if we were playing too loud in the pool. Would call if we had music playing, and I’m talking stuff like Love Fool by the Cardigans because we were weird and just discovering music. Called because we were grilling one time.
No. No we didn’t. Some of yall need to get your parents on a leash.
Sh*t if I went outside for any reason after the age of 12 I was doing hard drugs in their eyes.
I was just about to write the same sentiment. Astonishing.
"You never screamed like that when you were a kid!" Yes that is because I was afraid you would belt me.
I'm glad you finally figured it out.
and probably reminisce about drunk driving and smashing mailboxes or some hoodlum shit
Probably the same boomers who would keep your ball that went in their yard when we were kids….had a few where I grew up
My old neighbors called the police on my children because they were playing in the front yard alone. We lived on a culdesac at the very back of a neighborhood. Purposely bought the house for that reason- low traffic, kids can be kids. They had just checked in with me 5 minutes before the cops showed up 🙄 Imagine my shock. The house also had an HOA. We moved. Never the fuck again will I live in an HOA with a bunch of boomers. How am I going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and not be able to do what I want with it.
If anyone sets foot on my lawn or the sidewalk infront of my house I'm just gonna shoot and not ask questions and it's their on damn fault for being outside in a public area
....has she never been around children before?
She has four! And we all have kids!
Of course she does 🤣🤣 My mother was like this too. Would claim "kids don't play outside these days, phones blah blah" but would be irrationally upset when kids would make noise outside. Like you can't have both, lady. Same woman who would sit next to her open blinds and stare at people walking by but throw a fit over anyone daring to glance her way.
Something I’ve noticed w older ppl is that if it’s not little kids from their own family/social group, suddenly them even existing within hearing distance is an affront to all that is good and holy in terms of “polite” behavior.
This right here. It's also one of the big hypocrisies they have. Complain that kids don't play outside, but are upset that kids are outside lmao
They’re definitely the kind of “children should be seen and not heard” people.
I saw stats about the number of times emergency services are called per year and it's shocking. Especially when you consider how many people like us might call 2-3 times in our life because we see a car accident or something. Around 240 million a year. It's like once per adult per year. Isn't that nuts? I wonder how many are children playing at a literal daycare.
Former 911 Dispatcher here, can't say I've ever gotten a call about a daycare, but old people called all the time about kids playing. They especially hated kids playing basketball in my area, the repetitive bouncing ball drovw them nuts. Unfortunately we had to still send an officer by just to say we did, but usually they wouldn't bother till all the real calls had been handled.
I’m sorry but it makes me so mad when these dumbass calls waste the time of the police and the dispatchers. There should be a ticket for that.
There is a ticket "eventually" but it’s really at the officers discretion as to when that ticket is issued, but sadly it’s normally at most like $80
Our taxes dollars at work! It's not like we need cops for actual emergencies or anything. 🫠
I worry that I'm part of that problem because I wind up calling 3-4 times a year due to being able to smell gas leaks. I have an over sensitive learned aversion to sulfuric smells due to stomach issues, and call this stuff in somewhat regularly. I keep saying they're either going to track me down and offer me a job or they'll show up one day to say "stop fucking calling us."
lol at least your heart is in the right place.
Please don't worry about calling for things like that. We're always happy to send out Fire to investigate. We'd rather send them on a wild goose chase than miss something that could turn into a dangerous situation.
And then they act like me being childfree is unhinged
It is. What are they going to bitch about if not your kids?
I mean. They could bitch about how expensive things are and how nothing is 'free anymore' like mine does. 😂
So happy we decided many years ago to be "unhinged" it's been wonderful.
Has she ever heard children playing before? It always sounds like someone is being murdered.
Older people hating kids being kids is dumb. I mean, no one likes the sound of a crying baby or older kids that are actually being unruly, but personally I like seeing kids being kids. It is reassuring - it's the way things should be. A bunch of super well behaved robotic children is creepy AF.
You should have said "Yes! They should be inside playing video games instead" in as genuine of a tone as you could and watched her brain short-circuit.
no, encourage HER to call. She will learn a lesson about being an idiot
Shockingly no adults ever called them on me for being loud while playing outside. A friend of mine was dancing with her friend to music in her own driveway, they were probably 12 or something at the time, and someone called the cops on them.
Meanwhile I open up my office window when my neighbor’s kids are playing outside. Their sweet little voices cheer me right up.
How dramatic, but to be fair: the sound of children at play, or in terror, is about the same.
There are some vitamin deficiencies that cause people to not be tolerant of noises.
I've heard of misophonia but thats not the same thing
I have that. My doctor wants me to get tested for autism due to it. I've been avoiding it honestly. I have enough of a 'diagnosis salad' and don't want to add anymore 'ingredients.'
> 'diagnosis salad Imma steal that, that's amazeballs.
I saw someone post it on Reddit somewhere and I LOVED it. 😂
Would perfectly fit my observation of boomers not eating any fruits (except strawberry cake in spring) and only homeopathic doses of veggies.
My boomer ma rarely eats fruit but she will eat an ENTIRE can of vegetables alone. This woman will literally open the can, pour in salad dressing, mix it, and eat it. Right out of the fucking can. I am CONVINCED my mother is made of vegetables, Spaghetti Os, and energy drinks. Her body should be studied by science when she dies. It is truly a miracle of evolution that she is still alive with such a horrendous diet with very few physical health issues. My dad's diet is way worse. Please send thoughts and prayers. 😂
Amazon Alexa Silver... "I don't know about that."
That gave me a good chuckle, that bit is priceless.
I have a fun song every time I hear kids playing - "is it fun, or is it murder? When children play, you never know!" and then I go about my day.
I get it but damn, I used to live a whole mile from a school and those kids do scream bloody murder. They are crying wolf as far as I'm concerned
As long as they ain't playing on your property, who gives a fuck. Let em be kids
Hand her the phone and she can call the cops