Woman Let Her Neighbor’s Kids Use Her Pool — She Came Home From Work to Find 15 Children, Balloons on Her Fence and Strangers on Her Patio Furniture

A post to r/AITApod asks whether a homeowner was wrong to end a birthday party her neighbor threw in her backyard pool without permission while she was at work. The post had gathered over 6100 upvotes and 1400 comments as of publication.

The poster wrote that she had agreed back in June to let her next-door neighbor's two children swim in her pool during the summer heat, showing the neighbor how to open the side gate on the condition that she stayed outside with them. Their arrangement worked smoothly over the summer, with the kids coming over about twice a week and the neighbor almost always texting first.

The poster worked Saturdays and did not usually return home until after 6 p.m. Last Saturday, her phone began filling with alerts from her backyard camera around 2 p.m., and when she checked it, she found approximately 15 children in the pool, balloons tied to her fence, and unfamiliar adults sitting on her patio furniture. She texted the neighbor, "Are you having a party at my house??" and wrote that the neighbor replied it was her daughter's ninth birthday, adding, "Don't worry, we'll be gone way before you're home!"

The poster then left work early and found cars parked "all the way down" her street when she arrived home. She told the neighbor the party was over, rejecting a request to finish the birthday cake, writing that she "didn't know a SINGLE one of those kids or if they could even swim."

The birthday girl cried while everyone packed up, which took about 20 minutes, and one of the parents at the party apologized on his way out, saying he had "just assumed" she was okay with the gathering.

According to the post, the neighbor returned the next morning to retrieve a folding table left behind and told the poster her daughter "cried herself to sleep." She then asked what kind of person "ruins a little girl's birthday over a pool they weren't even using," and reminded her that she herself had said the kids could come over "whenever."

Commenters largely sided with the poster. One raised the legal risk of unsupervised, unknown children using the pool. They wrote, "She filled your pool with kids you've never met and didn't even think to ask? If one of them had gotten hurt, that's your insurance and your name on the lawsuit."

Another argued the incident justified ending pool access entirely. They wrote, "Change the lock too. The fact that she felt entitled to bring 15 kids over while OP was at work is enough to end the arrangement. Once someone turns a casual favor into unauthorized pool parties, access needs to be done. No more goodwill after that."

Another commenter argued the neighbor knew the party was inappropriate. They wrote, "The fact that she typically texts op before taking the kids to swim and didn't notify them AT ALL about the pool party shows that she knew she was in the wrong."

This article is based on a post shared in r/AITApod on Reddit. The Daily Dot could not independently verify the events described or the identities of those involved. The details reflect only the original poster's account; the neighbor's perspective was not available.