I had a kid who lives a block over egg my house a few years ago on Halloween. A few weeks later I saw him riding his bike and stopped him and just asked him not to do it again because it was a pain to clean properly. He apologized, thanked me for not yelling at him and then laughed when he saw my house that hasn’t been power washed in years with just a few clean spots where his eggs hit.

Now he comes over every week and plays soccer with me and my toddler and helps us with yard work in the summer.

A little bit of human decency and talking to a kid like they’re a person can go along way. Kids aren’t stupid, they just don’t know a lot of things.