Posted on 11/21/2005 5:58:45 AM PST by Drawsing
Weird kid up a tree
I have seen people here come up with some good insights, so I thought I would take advantage of this forum to help me figure out the behavior of this weird kid.
Yesterday my two boys and I were getting ready to distribute our Boy Scout popcorn to the folks who had ordered it. We were still in the house and I heard the neighbor's dog barking and someone yelling "ShutUp!" very loud. It sounded like it was in my driveway, so I went out and looked, but saw nothing. A little bit later, one of my boys ran into the house and said, "Dad! There's a kid up in the magnolia tree spying on us. By the time I got out of the house this time, the kid was already out of the next door neighbor's magnolia tree and across the street. He was cutting across several neighbor's yards (we live in a subdivision) and looking back over his shoulder at me. I was surprised at his total disregard for property lines. I saw him peeking around the corner of one of my neighbor's houses at me. My younger 8 year old son said that he had tried talking to him, but the boy had pulled out a cell phone and started talking on it.
We loaded the popcorn into a wagon and went around the corner, but about five minutes later, we snuck back and sure enough, he was back up in the tree. I approached him from behind and spoke to him.
"Hey", I said.
"Hey" he said.
"What are you doing up there?" I said.
"Climbing a tree." he said.
"Do you live here?" I asked.
"Yes." he said.
"What are the people's names that live here?" I asked.
"Oh, Uh ....I don't mean I live right here. I live down the street in a cove." he said.
"Well", I said, "You shouldn't be climbing trees on other people's property."
"Uh huh." he said.
"What is your name?" I asked.
He told me his name.
"Well", I said, "I think you need to come on down and go home."
He climbed down slowly, then with a big attitude he shuffled down the street, again cutting directly through the neighbor's yards. All the while I had been talking with him, he did not look me in the eye, but was playing with some frilly rubber toy around his neck. We live in a decent neighborhood and he was dressed in clean, fairly nice clothes. He needed a haircut, but it was not too bad. He looked to be between 13 -15 years old. To summarize the weirdness: 1. Loud shouting while up in the tree. 2. Total disregard for property lines. 3. Returning to the same tree where he had been caught five minutes before. 5. Attempting a foolish lie about where he lived.
So what do you think? Should I expect some form of retaliation? Could I have handled this better? What is the matter with this kid?
Thanks.
Number 8 shot should work. Just remember to lead him.
Sounds like a kid to me.
"How can you shoot women and children!?
Easy. You just don't lead 'em as much."
What kid knows property lines or pays attention to them?
I'd let your neighbor know this kid was climbing his tree. If he has a problem with it than he can watch for the kid.
"How can you shoot women and children!?
Easy. You just don't lead 'em as much."
LOL. I kept thinking of that line when all the liberal refugees were talking about fleeing to Canada after the election. The mental picture of Dick Cheney yelling that over his shoulder gave me a giggle every time.
You signed up in 1998 just to post this? (just kidding! :-) )
Well, that is weird. I'm guessing that you had not seen this kid before, since you didn't say you had. I guess I would just make a point to watch closely for him, and try to observe him without being seen. Try to gather a little info about him - where he actually lives, etc. You said he gave you his name. If he gave you the last name, you might try "anywho.com" to see if a nearby address pops up.
With a kid that age, it really could be anything, running the full gamit from worst case jr. domestic terrorist to merely a hormone crazed, love-struck punk who is trying to spy on the little "hottie" acros the street.
Good luck.
If real, contact his family. If fake, tell the cops and have them fill out a report.
One of the things that frequently happens when someone is being harassed and it goes to court is the harasser gets treated very lightly because the judge's attitude is: "You said this guy was bothering you for a while, but you never contacted the police until last week."
Get the paperwork done so if the kid gets more out of hand it's all documented.
If the name he gave is real, wait until you talk to the family. If the family are unresponsive when you contact them, go to the cops and have the paperwork done.
It sounds ridiculous to go through this, but the kid clearly has attitude/mental problems and as we know, 13-15 year olds can be as dangerous as adults or more so if they have a grudge and a weapon.
Also check the law and see what kind of action in defense of your property the law in your state authorizes.
Normal kids apologize when they are caught pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable.
I would have to assume the kid is a time traveler from an earlier time, say the forties where I grew up. Maybe my neighborhood was weird or maybe it was normal for the time, but every kid in that neighborhood behaved exactly as the kid you mention, except for the lying of course, that was not allowed.
The homes with the best climbing trees put up with the most kids-that's where we gathered often and enmasse.
Personally I don't believe the kid is a threat of any kind or will seek retaliation in any way. Just my opinion.
Hey, Mikey Skakel got his start this way.
Is this a joke? Please tell me it is.
BTW - if you haven't already, ask your boys if they know him. If he does indeed live that close, he may go to the same school, and/or ride the same bus. They might be able to give you some clues.
Sounds to me like you were the Nazi Germans, and he was way out over enemy lines, and merely scouting you out, or at least that's how I would have thought at 8 or 10 years old.
When I was an 8 year old, the whole neighborhood was my yard. I didn't are about property lines, just finding the best spot for collecting acorns, or following my dog. The place was kind of Leave it to beaver-ish, with all the moms home and keeping an eye out for each others kids and all, but it was no big deal to climb someone elses tree, or hop in their pool if they were on vacation.
I knew everyone in the neighborhood. Most of them were my customers on my paper routes, or I nowed their lawn or blew theior leaves off in the fall or shovelled their driveway in the winter.
Why is it such a big deal if a kid is in another neighbors tree? Why would you even care. He wasn't doing anything especialy wrong. He was probably on a super important spy mission, or hunting terrorists in his own way. The imagination of a boy knows no bounds, especially some stupid arbitrary ( to a kid, anyway) property line.
If there were people in my neighborhood who got eggged on halloween, it was the busybody people who did what they could to stifle the development of a kid, and who had real wussy kids themselves. That's not to you are that way.
true that
Just don't play golf at midnight with the kid.
A normal adult doesn't go into a panic when a kid acts like a kid.
If 14 year old kids are capable of committing mass murder in today's society - and we both know they are - anyone who insists on the "Leave It To Beaver" approach is a fool.
I'm sure the Columbine mutants and the two teen psychopaths who chopped up that couple in VT were considered to be just kids being kids until the bodies piled up.
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