Opinion: 'With one note, my neighbours have become the ultimate entitled parents'

OPINION: Have you ever looked up 'entitled parents' in the dictionary? It¡¯s just a picture of my neighbours.

It might sound a little hostile, but so was the passive aggressive note they left in my letterbox this past weekend.

¡°We¡¯re reclaiming the streets; specifically Emily Street,¡± the helicopter parents wrote.

¡°We¡¯ll block off the street just past the driveway to the car park entrance ... and take the rest to build a Safe Play Zone for kids.

¡°We expect lots of kids with scooters, skateboard, balls, chalk and more to be having the time of their lives. Bring some kids with you to join in.

¡°As there will be lots of activity, can we suggest you avoid parking in Emily Street on Sunday? It will only mean a small amount of inconvenience, and we¡¯ll appreciate your support.

¡°Signed, The Gangsters.¡±

There are obviously so many things wrong with this, but none more important than my inner-west Sydney neighbours making the executive decision to block off the street and tell us not to park there.

It¡¯s almost like they haven¡¯t ever seen the park located 200 metres from the street.

You know, that huge public space dedicated to providing an area for kids to play so their entitled parents don¡¯t have to block off a public street.

I¡¯m sick of parents thinking everyone needs to accommodate their children just because they decided to shoot out some offspring and can never enjoy weekends, holidays, freedom ever again.

You wonder if they ever stopped to think maybe everyone doesn¡¯t want a horde of loud and dirty children flooding the street in front of their house and vandalising the road with chalk.

Newsflash: I had a big night and this isn't helping.

I am all for kids getting outside and playing in the street, but I don¡¯t think my life needs to be inconvenienced for them to do so.

Also, I¡¯m pretty sure you need a council permit to close down a street - did these parents learn nothing from Salim Mehajer?

You also have to wonder if they understand what being ¡°gangster¡± entails, because I hazard a guess it¡¯s not someone that needs to shut down a quiet suburban cul-de-sac to ride a skateboard.

I¡¯m not quite petty enough to go to the council (just yet), so I figure my only way to retaliate is to hit them with the following note:

¡°Neighbours, I¡¯ll be blocking off the street Friday night so my mates and I can get on the tinnies and watch the NRL.

¡°We expect lots of beers, some ciggies and a group of lads having the time of their lives. Bring some beers with you to join in.

¡°As there will be lots of activity, can we suggest you avoid parking in Emily Street on Sunday? It will only mean a small amount of inconvenience, and we¡¯ll appreciate your support.

¡°Signed, The Don.¡±

Let¡¯s see how they react to that one.

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