Over the past few years, we've had problems with the neighbor's young children. To give a little bit of background, my mother (whom my husband and I live with) met these children in our own house. The children just walked in and started playing with things in our home. They've ruined plants and flowers, etc. in the yard. Last year, I finally in a nice way informed the mother that we'd appreciate it if the children did not come over into our yard. In our opinion, the children are not supervised very well. My husband and I had to rescue the 3 yr old twins from the monkey bars on their swing set because they got caught on them. They'd be screaming, etc. Then the mother would come out and say she didn't even know they were outside. This year, their 6 or 7 yr old son came over and started playing in our brand new garden area (only planted one day before!). I ran out of the house yelling at him and letting him know that unbehaved children get spankings on this side of the stone wall (which separates our houses)so he'd better think about coming back over. Then the mother came outside and I let her know the same thing. I was spitting mad! I'm really not an abusive person. My limits have just been pushed way too far with these kids and their lack of supervision. Then I started worrying. Is it illegal to threaten another person's child with a spanking if they come onto your property?