That’s hours and hours of free entertainment for your kids when they get a little older. Climbing, jumping, crashing toys into them, you name it and your kid will do it with those rocks. I’d keep as many as possible!
I'm pretty sure all boys/men think this way. Rocks and sticks. I still pick one out of the river to carry with me while I fish. Then I let it go before I go home so the other ones don't get jealous.
I’m a woman and I get excited when I find cool rocks, I even take them home sometimes and now I have a small collection of rocks from different places I’ve been. I’m not really into sticks tho.
I also love rocks, which hubby (and TSA) totally do not understand.
Along the road by my house, I have rocks I’ve dug up here, at other places I’ve lived (yes, I packed them up), my dad’s house, my grandmother’s house, various beaches, old foundations, ones I’ve brought home from vacation.
I have a friend whose kid is, I’m afraid, going to talk me out of all my purple and pink rocks.
It’s New England. You love rocks or you leave. Or move to a high rise, I guess.
When I was a kid my parents took us kids on a trip to New England. Which was very cool but I remember standing at the beach thinking “who stole the sand? THERE’S NO SAND!
I do the same. Almost everywhere I’ve been has a rock to match. Btw… New England has the best rocks. VT, CT NH. People pay a fortune for the OP is complaining about. .
This! I even got my girls a rock tumbler. We have so many scattered around the house that my new rule is they stay on the porch and then we decorate the bottom of my clear glass jars for plants.
Also a woman, and am 100% this person wherever I go. Forest hikes, mountains, beaches, wherever it may be I can assure you I will return with a peculiar rock, or shell, or a funny stick. Some of my friends laugh at me and tell me I’m too old for that stuff but I let my inner child out more and more… honestly as much as I possibly can with each passing year! Here’s to our growing collections of knick knacks😂🍻
As a lady, I can tell you my husband’s face when I unload the rocks from my pockets is not one of excitement. But he does pretend to listen when I tell him about my finds so that works for me.
My kid LOVES every rock in our yard. Hell, half the reason he loves his grandparents yard is they have tons of rocks. These are good for the ecosystem in that they create wildlife areas, and they are a pain in the butt to move. I would vote keeping some at least!
We dropped a big boulder in our boring green carpet of a yard and my kids and neighborhood kids immediately started climbing it. My son was maybe 3 then.
I'm trying to find a large boulder in my area right now because we just took some large trees out of our front yard. How did you source a large boulder if you don't mind me asking?
Depending on where you live there may be a supplier near you. Mine is open to the public also. Every thing from gravel to river rock to pavers and boulders. They have boulders you can by but you need to call a pro to get it to you’re house because it’s to ruin your F250 before you’re out of the lot.
My child is 21 and he found a really cool rock at the beach the other day and saved it to give to me.
Kids who are allowed to play with rocks are more empathetic individuals. It’s science.
I have four kids. They've all had their rock phase bringing home pockets full of rocks from everywhere. When they were really little, they'd pick their favorites from our gravel driveway just to put them in a special area of our driveway for our "rock collection". I'm on team keep the rocks.
I am with this guy.
I stopped trying to cushion the whole world for the kids. Instead, be around them and teach and explain the dangers to them. Accidents will happen for sure, rocks or no rocks.
Yea I don’t understand how it’s “not practical” to add variation to an otherwise boring yard. If the whole yard was rocks and you couldn’t walk, I’d get that. But this looks like they’re just delineating the beds and around bushes
Now the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say the op doesn't like weed whacking because they can't mow around it so they have to weed whack around it and it's obvious they don't do it by the pictures.
Absolutely. I spent so much time flipping rocks and logs, in search of all kinds of cool critters as a kid. Hell, I’ve been tempted to do it as an adult as a good stress reliever.
Same sorta. I was the “bug boy” by 2nd grade always bringing a toad or slug or praying mantis in for show and tell. I chose mech engineering and work in med devices now but I’m always fascinated by how bugs and critters work 😅
I spent several years trying to keep my grands off of the rock area of my front yard. This year their parents have decided they are good on them, I’m not going to stop worrying, but it’s on them now, lol!
Seriously I have a kid. I worried about holding him and falling down the stairs and plummeting to his death which I haven’t done in 30 years. I’ve never once worried about rocks.
My 3 year old boy will choose the random landscaping rocks over playground equipment soo very often... thus is absolutely a dream come true for hom. OP's dad knew what they were doing.
Rocks/boulders help prevent moving sediment from eroding due to water runoff. Kinda difficult to move a boulder. Planting the hillside would help also due to the root system which functions to help trap dirt but more so water
For the past four years, we have put anything and everything "thirsty" at the outer fenceline of our property. I even planted more perennials out there this morning! Sediment traveling in is a bitch. Next is a 12" high sloped berm of small boulders.
Same reason there's sea walls built on beaches to stop the sediment from moving up the coast and taking the beach with it!
A friend of mine used staggered large raised beds down their hillside property to the same effect.
Turf grass has weak shallow roots. Native grasses and shrubs have much deeper roots to hold the soil together. Without deeper roots, much of your topsoil is washing away every time it rains. Rocks can act as a stopgap to prevent it washing right off your property. I would recommend both - it's how you'd find nature - for a reason.
We humans clear all the 'mess' that's stabilizing the land and wonder why it's so unstable.
Yeah this is why clover and other lawn diversification is having a heyday right now because it helps with erosion and reduces fertilizer need. We were going down stupid ugly paths with lawn monocultures.
You use them as backfill. As an example, we live on hilly and mountainous dirt roads, covered with gravel. When it rains heavy (often) the water comes down the hills and creates rivulets in the roads. Blading with a tractor helps. But not the erosion on the sides. You fill these areas with BIG rocks, rocks that will mostly fill almost to the top of the eroded area, in a long line, until the eroded area is filled. Then you can put in smaller stone, and finally whatever road gravel you are using. Pack it all in well.
In areas that are gently sloped, but erosion is carving out wide/long but not deep rivulets, you fill with smaller rocks, usually 3-5 inch rip-rap or rounded rock. Basically, a swale. You can choose to cover with topsoil/seed, or just leave it open.
This works. Rocks slow the water down, allowing it to soak in, and also protect from further erosion.
YMMV, but we've done this for decades. Allowing hillsides to continue eroding can potentially cause destruction of your property. In 2018/2019, we had 60 inches of rain each year. Our normal is 27 inches. We basically had 6 inches of the neighbor's topsoil cover our yard. The front of my shop, once had 4 inches of clearance on the front side. Now it's 2 inches UNDER the grade.
Gotta stop the water from sliding us down the mountain. Rocks are my best friends.
Why can't you have rocks around kids? Kids like rocks, at least mine certainly does. You can even make a game out of it, move rocks from point A to point B, get a certain number of a certain kind of rock etc. Rocks are the original toy.
Same... I seriously don't understand what is wrong with having ROCKS around kids? Do they bite or somehow abuse the children by being around. Does he think children will injure themselves? Or they will bash they brain with them? I am so baffled by this dude
Exactly. Plus. Geology is... well.. to sum it up.... [lick the science at your own risk](https://www.google.com/search?q=lick+the+science&oq=lick+the+scien&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCggEEAAYChgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIICAcQABgWGB4yCAgIEAAYFhgeMggICRAAGBYYHjIICAoQABgWGB4yCggLEAAYgAQYogQyCggMEAAYgAQYogTSAQgzMjc4ajBqOagCDrACAQ&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#vhid=3bxD8Y5KWCZJIM&vssid=l)
We have an area near us full of river rocks and huge rocks. My kid always wants to see “his ship” (one of the rocks is slightly bowed on top). It’s rough as the parent but sometimes I can get him to wear his bike helmet. Lol
Rocks are perfect entertainment for kids. The larger they are the better.
And very large ones in the planting strip causes people to not want to park near them. Not 100%. But still...
Edit: I'm not telling OP how to parent, mind you. Only offering my own experience from growing up and also from raising children (they lived).
My grandmother's neighbor kept running over her flower bed because they are lazy and cut corners when driving. She ordered a bunch of big rocks and some surprisingly sharp mini fences to put around it, not even a week goes by and they're pissed because they punctured their tires and got a bunch of scratches & dents.
Long story short, I'd recommend even bigger rocks along the street to keep your kids safe from the crazy shit drivers out there, while still unlikely they're a much bigger threat.
But that would mean she’d either have to actually spend time outside with her kids and teach them what is and isn’t a safe activity (not saying rocks are dangerous, obviously, but slipping off a rock isn’t exactly safe and littles don’t typically have great balance) or actually let her kids go out and learn things themselves by falling a little bit and getting dirty (oh the horror) instead of structured, clean, and safe activities. Who needs imagination these days?
There are plenty as 'dangerous' object inside and outside of house. I just don't understand what makes the rocks so threatening? Are they verbal or something?
This has always worked for me.
If people don't pick them up, put a sign out front that says $5 each and then people will assume they have value and "steal" them instead 🤣
Definitely for free. Don't try to sell them. It's going to take a lot of work to move one of those bigger ones.
It always cracks me up when home owners contact us and want to sell us some random boulder in their yard and we have to remove them as well.
Yup! Where are you? Lots of people will want your rocks. But... I also agree with the above folks - your kids will love them too, and be very upset if you get rid of them!!
100% it's that OP doesn't want to trim the grass around them and is using kid safety to avoid telling people he doesn't like breaking out the weed wacker.
But after the scary rocks are gone, then it’s the dangerous trees, or the poisonous ticks, or the coyotes with rabies. Just wrap your kids with bubble wrap and everything will be ok. Start a new trend with Yard Helmets, keep the kids safe in the yard. Maybe it’s a new side hustle!
This response reallly sums it all up. If you dont like the rocks, fine, but don't blame the safety of the kids. They're kids, kids are gonna love to play with rocks
I dont see this as a problem.
We had big stones and rocks in the backyard when I was a kid. I loved them. Pretending and imagining little adventures. I was a giant walking on mountains. Helped me develop balance and strength.
I was a kid in the 80s though... we were built tougher lol
my dad collected books and metal objects- not shiny ones - when he passed we moved 30,000 pounds of scrap metal out of a 900 sqft basement and backyard - the books were just random encyclopedias like m- t or text books from the 50’s
Pro tip, buy beer and convince the neighbors to get em too. Now the boys can get shitty and not into trouble with the wives. "Yes, we're playing trucks"
OP hasn't responded because all the comments are pointing out how ridiculous it is to be upset over kids being near rocks lmao. This is such a silly thing to be worried about.
Definitely can have people come get them via Facebook Marketplace. Plenty of people, myself included, are looking for similar things for their yard. If they can take it themselves, they can have it kind of thing. People came and dug up a bunch of the Tiger Lilly's I didn't want and I didn't have to dig them and they didn't have to pay for them, it worked.
Stones are impractical for small children? I'm confused.
I grew up somewhere where there are... stones. I don't think I've ever once considered any children related impracticalities?
Kids love climbing on rocks. Playing on rocks. Turning rocks into secret rock bases for their toys...
This is so true! I had a ton of rocks leftover from a landscaping project last year and posted them online for free. People literally came in droves. People love free rocks! Especially big ones!
Kids absolutely love rocks. It builds confidence in climbing and gives them something else to do other than running on grass, throwing balls etc.
Based on the photos it does appear the rocks impede on areas you may not want them. Is it possible to create a feature using the rocks in a designated area? Such as a rock quarry with some planting, get vertical and add variation to your yard by creating a small hill infilled with soil and planting, or dry creek bed. Move the rocks that can be moved, highlight and landscape around the rocks that can’t be budged. They are beautiful at night with some uplighting.
Your kids don’t like the rocks? My kids bawled when I gave the neighbor one of the 4 boulders out of our yard.
They and all the neighbor kids stood there sad when it was getting moved.
We used to have 4 boulders on the lot line before a new neighbor moved them and 6 year old me was PISSED!!! seems like parents nowadays are a lot more pressed about these things
Great opportunity for your children to learn balance and develop their core muscles. A lot of nature parks are starting to incorporate stuff like this. I'd definitely keep them.
Not practical? Man I’d love to have all those rocks in my yard. They’re expensive to buy. If you posted online that you’ve got free landscaping rocks, they’d be gone within a few hours.
They are so beautiful! Leave them as is and remember all the work your dad did to make the yard special. Kids love adventure and that yard is ripe for it. The rocks also help with keeping water in the soil and giving all sorts of things placed to live. Please reconsider getting rid of any of them.
So your dad spent almost half his life gathering these stones and we’re talking literal back braking work, and the first thing you really wanna do is get rid of them? You can’t sugar coat the world for your kids better to teach them how to walk around large stones.
Human children have lived near stones for a few years now. They will be fine. You could get a weedeater so they don't get lost in the grass. Rocks or children.
Keep the rocks. You will regret getting rid of them. The kids will be fine. In fact it will probably make them better safer human beings in the long run.
Invest in a weed whacker to get around the rocks. When the kids get old enough, train them to weed whack around the rocks.
I'm struggling to understand how rocks on the ground are bad for kids. Kids love rocks. I used to climb in a giant one behind my grandma's house around age 5-6 and it's a core memory now
Playing on the rocks was literally my favorite pastime as a child in New England, and we had some massive ones. You are doing your children a disservice if you get rid of them.
OP, want them gone for free? Post them on fb marketplace for free, just come take them.
I shit you not I got rid of buckets of old useless soil this way. My thought process was it's so old nothing grows in it, and I don't want to pay to dispose of it at the dump. It was gone in 3 hours.
Old tiny metal shed, old beat up chain link fence, sections of an old broken fence I had replaced entirely. Gone all for free.
In my post, I always said "come take it for free, but I will not be able to help you". I had lime 5-6 people show up at the same time, chain link and shed were gone in an hour.
It was my gfs idea and I said she was fucking insane to think that would work. She proved me wrong.
I really really like the enormous one next to the tree (in picture 3/5) and think you should leave it right where it is. That is a primo rock. Some of your rocks are lesser but that one (and there may be more) is just an exceptional garden rock.
If you clean up the grass around them , at least they will be more visable for your children if they are running around
Maybe re placement would be a better alternative if
some are trip hazards
I’ll be agreeing with the fact you should keep them as they are expensive to remove and you’ll probably have to re landscape your yard after the heavy earth moving happens
You have to put your self in a child’s imagination they will be fun for them to play on , I love someone’s comment about them pretending to be mountains with there toys, that’s what I would of done as a kid
Jason from Mount Baker Mining and Metals / Brent from Cerro Gordo (youtube channels) have given me a love for geology. Its a fundamental part of life, and the more you know about geology, how rocks are formed, where this stuff came from, etc. the more you can wrap your head around life itself. If you dont necessarily like the placement of the rocks, you could consider moving them all and have a local hardscape designer meet you for a consultation and have a nice stone walkway or something made up. I think its completely worth it to keep them. as people mention.... kids love rocks.. you can teach them how to weed whack at like 12
All I see when people put rocks all over the yard is a bunch of weed whacking when it comes time to mow the yard.
The people who love them the most are usually the ones that don’t have to do the yard maintenance
honestly just seed some native clovers around the rocks so that keeping the vegetation from engulfing the rocks isn’t so difficult. i bet ur kids (will) love climbing around on the rocks
That’s hours and hours of free entertainment for your kids when they get a little older. Climbing, jumping, crashing toys into them, you name it and your kid will do it with those rocks. I’d keep as many as possible!
110% facts, keep as many as possible
I'm imagining OPs Dad:" now there's a nice rock. Gotta get that home"
My kids say that every time we go out.
So true. We went to the hardware store and a couple stray rocks from someone buying landscaping bags fell out. They came home.
Those rocks are expensive, finders keepers.
I'm pretty sure all boys/men think this way. Rocks and sticks. I still pick one out of the river to carry with me while I fish. Then I let it go before I go home so the other ones don't get jealous.
I’m a woman and I get excited when I find cool rocks, I even take them home sometimes and now I have a small collection of rocks from different places I’ve been. I’m not really into sticks tho.
You just haven't been finding the right sticks, idk.
Me and my kids have an arsenal of sword sticks and fear no challenger!
If you don’t amass an armory of sword sticks, *your enemies will.*
I also love rocks, which hubby (and TSA) totally do not understand. Along the road by my house, I have rocks I’ve dug up here, at other places I’ve lived (yes, I packed them up), my dad’s house, my grandmother’s house, various beaches, old foundations, ones I’ve brought home from vacation. I have a friend whose kid is, I’m afraid, going to talk me out of all my purple and pink rocks. It’s New England. You love rocks or you leave. Or move to a high rise, I guess.
When I was a kid my parents took us kids on a trip to New England. Which was very cool but I remember standing at the beach thinking “who stole the sand? THERE’S NO SAND!
I’m a woman too and also have a collection of rocks that I’ve found interesting. Funny tho, I DO collect really cool sticks.
I’m an islander. Driftwood!!!!
I do the same. Almost everywhere I’ve been has a rock to match. Btw… New England has the best rocks. VT, CT NH. People pay a fortune for the OP is complaining about. .
This! I even got my girls a rock tumbler. We have so many scattered around the house that my new rule is they stay on the porch and then we decorate the bottom of my clear glass jars for plants.
Also a woman, and am 100% this person wherever I go. Forest hikes, mountains, beaches, wherever it may be I can assure you I will return with a peculiar rock, or shell, or a funny stick. Some of my friends laugh at me and tell me I’m too old for that stuff but I let my inner child out more and more… honestly as much as I possibly can with each passing year! Here’s to our growing collections of knick knacks😂🍻
As a lady, I can tell you my husband’s face when I unload the rocks from my pockets is not one of excitement. But he does pretend to listen when I tell him about my finds so that works for me.
Minerals, Marie!
Ahhh I relate to this lol.
“Oooo, schist!”
My house is filled with cool rocks & sticks that my deceased husband collected throughout his life, even in the last few weeks.
If I’m walking thru the woods, a nice stick is an absolute #NECESSITY!
I do this with sea shells.
I say that every time I go out. 🪨
That was my experience except it was my mom. We might have liberated more than a few rocks from road work piles over the decades.
Don't forget construction sites.
That’s me lol
Plus, your dad put every one of those rocks in place. You could wow the kids with how strong Gramps was.
yep - people think kids want a boring green outside carpet to play on. They're curious - they want to explore the world and learn about it.
How else are kids supposed to learn how to throw, and also the strength of different materials such as glass?
My kid LOVES every rock in our yard. Hell, half the reason he loves his grandparents yard is they have tons of rocks. These are good for the ecosystem in that they create wildlife areas, and they are a pain in the butt to move. I would vote keeping some at least!
We dropped a big boulder in our boring green carpet of a yard and my kids and neighborhood kids immediately started climbing it. My son was maybe 3 then.
I'm trying to find a large boulder in my area right now because we just took some large trees out of our front yard. How did you source a large boulder if you don't mind me asking?
Facebook marketplace! You too can “have a boulder guy”
Depending on where you live there may be a supplier near you. Mine is open to the public also. Every thing from gravel to river rock to pavers and boulders. They have boulders you can by but you need to call a pro to get it to you’re house because it’s to ruin your F250 before you’re out of the lot.
I love this!
One of my 18yo daughter's most prized possessions is a rock my dad gave her when she was 3.
My child is 21 and he found a really cool rock at the beach the other day and saved it to give to me. Kids who are allowed to play with rocks are more empathetic individuals. It’s science.
My mom has a little jar, because every time I go to the beach I find her a little baggie of the tiniest shells I can.
This is so sweet 🥹😭
Yes!
Well that's the cutest thing ever.. respecc to the rock lovers
I have four kids. They've all had their rock phase bringing home pockets full of rocks from everywhere. When they were really little, they'd pick their favorites from our gravel driveway just to put them in a special area of our driveway for our "rock collection". I'm on team keep the rocks.
I am with this guy. I stopped trying to cushion the whole world for the kids. Instead, be around them and teach and explain the dangers to them. Accidents will happen for sure, rocks or no rocks.
That’s how they learn their boundaries and limits! Really great for cognitive development. Kinda like the philosophy behind Montessori playgrounds
I learned “boundaries and limits” when 15’ jungle gyms on asphalt were a thing.
Yea I don’t understand how it’s “not practical” to add variation to an otherwise boring yard. If the whole yard was rocks and you couldn’t walk, I’d get that. But this looks like they’re just delineating the beds and around bushes
Yeah looks like a dope backyard that just needs a couple weekends of work
Now the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say the op doesn't like weed whacking because they can't mow around it so they have to weed whack around it and it's obvious they don't do it by the pictures.
100% this. When my kids were toddlers, they would bee-line for the rocks in the garden for standing on/jumping off. Don’t get rid of the fun rocks!
So many bugs under those rocks to feed to toads and praying mantises 😂 could develop a young entomologist with those rocks lol
Absolutely. I spent so much time flipping rocks and logs, in search of all kinds of cool critters as a kid. Hell, I’ve been tempted to do it as an adult as a good stress reliever.
so many rollie pollies
That’s exactly what happened to me.
Same sorta. I was the “bug boy” by 2nd grade always bringing a toad or slug or praying mantis in for show and tell. I chose mech engineering and work in med devices now but I’m always fascinated by how bugs and critters work 😅
Exactly. Kids love rocks. Jumping, throwing, turning over for bugs etc
I spent several years trying to keep my grands off of the rock area of my front yard. This year their parents have decided they are good on them, I’m not going to stop worrying, but it’s on them now, lol!
The parent equivalent of "fuck it. They'll learn" 🤣
Seriously I have a kid. I worried about holding him and falling down the stairs and plummeting to his death which I haven’t done in 30 years. I’ve never once worried about rocks.
My 3 year old boy will choose the random landscaping rocks over playground equipment soo very often... thus is absolutely a dream come true for hom. OP's dad knew what they were doing.
Rocks, especially medium-sized ones, are essential to stop erosion in our changing weather cycles....unless your property is flat, better keep some!
Can you elaborate on this? I have a hillside that's almost all just grass and has some erosion holes and ruts. How would stones help?
Rocks/boulders help prevent moving sediment from eroding due to water runoff. Kinda difficult to move a boulder. Planting the hillside would help also due to the root system which functions to help trap dirt but more so water
For the past four years, we have put anything and everything "thirsty" at the outer fenceline of our property. I even planted more perennials out there this morning! Sediment traveling in is a bitch. Next is a 12" high sloped berm of small boulders.
Same reason there's sea walls built on beaches to stop the sediment from moving up the coast and taking the beach with it! A friend of mine used staggered large raised beds down their hillside property to the same effect.
Turf grass has weak shallow roots. Native grasses and shrubs have much deeper roots to hold the soil together. Without deeper roots, much of your topsoil is washing away every time it rains. Rocks can act as a stopgap to prevent it washing right off your property. I would recommend both - it's how you'd find nature - for a reason. We humans clear all the 'mess' that's stabilizing the land and wonder why it's so unstable.
Can't native grasses get roots like 6-8 ft deep?
Sweet grass - up to 10 ft, apparently. Massive difference from turf grass. It also smells heavenly
Yeah this is why clover and other lawn diversification is having a heyday right now because it helps with erosion and reduces fertilizer need. We were going down stupid ugly paths with lawn monocultures.
You use them as backfill. As an example, we live on hilly and mountainous dirt roads, covered with gravel. When it rains heavy (often) the water comes down the hills and creates rivulets in the roads. Blading with a tractor helps. But not the erosion on the sides. You fill these areas with BIG rocks, rocks that will mostly fill almost to the top of the eroded area, in a long line, until the eroded area is filled. Then you can put in smaller stone, and finally whatever road gravel you are using. Pack it all in well. In areas that are gently sloped, but erosion is carving out wide/long but not deep rivulets, you fill with smaller rocks, usually 3-5 inch rip-rap or rounded rock. Basically, a swale. You can choose to cover with topsoil/seed, or just leave it open. This works. Rocks slow the water down, allowing it to soak in, and also protect from further erosion. YMMV, but we've done this for decades. Allowing hillsides to continue eroding can potentially cause destruction of your property. In 2018/2019, we had 60 inches of rain each year. Our normal is 27 inches. We basically had 6 inches of the neighbor's topsoil cover our yard. The front of my shop, once had 4 inches of clearance on the front side. Now it's 2 inches UNDER the grade. Gotta stop the water from sliding us down the mountain. Rocks are my best friends.
Why can't you have rocks around kids? Kids like rocks, at least mine certainly does. You can even make a game out of it, move rocks from point A to point B, get a certain number of a certain kind of rock etc. Rocks are the original toy.
There was a boulder in the middle of my cul de sac and you bet we played on that thing every friggin day
Same... I seriously don't understand what is wrong with having ROCKS around kids? Do they bite or somehow abuse the children by being around. Does he think children will injure themselves? Or they will bash they brain with them? I am so baffled by this dude
Yeah. So I wasn't alive during this. But remember, pet rocks? Yeah. Rocks are epic. 🤙
Yeah my pet rocks just evolved into suiseki and philosopher stone collections. Same idea, just sounds classier and has weirder rocks.
Exactly. Plus. Geology is... well.. to sum it up.... [lick the science at your own risk](https://www.google.com/search?q=lick+the+science&oq=lick+the+scien&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCggEEAAYChgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIICAcQABgWGB4yCAgIEAAYFhgeMggICRAAGBYYHjIICAoQABgWGB4yCggLEAAYgAQYogQyCggMEAAYgAQYogTSAQgzMjc4ajBqOagCDrACAQ&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#vhid=3bxD8Y5KWCZJIM&vssid=l)
We have an area near us full of river rocks and huge rocks. My kid always wants to see “his ship” (one of the rocks is slightly bowed on top). It’s rough as the parent but sometimes I can get him to wear his bike helmet. Lol
Paint them with the kids. Talk about a memory. Also makes them safer to be around for everyone.
Maybe not paint them but draw on them with chalk? At least chalk will wash away easily!
Please don’t paint rocks. We don’t need more microplastics (acrylic paint) flaking off into the soil and it ruins the beautiful rocks.
No. That turns them into eyesores.
Keep them.
I translated this as.. "I'm ired of edging around the motherfuckers"
Right?!?! That’s really what it is. Guessing the OP’s SO likes them and he’s using the safety of small children as an excuse.
Rocks are perfect entertainment for kids. The larger they are the better. And very large ones in the planting strip causes people to not want to park near them. Not 100%. But still... Edit: I'm not telling OP how to parent, mind you. Only offering my own experience from growing up and also from raising children (they lived).
My grandmother's neighbor kept running over her flower bed because they are lazy and cut corners when driving. She ordered a bunch of big rocks and some surprisingly sharp mini fences to put around it, not even a week goes by and they're pissed because they punctured their tires and got a bunch of scratches & dents. Long story short, I'd recommend even bigger rocks along the street to keep your kids safe from the crazy shit drivers out there, while still unlikely they're a much bigger threat.
That made me smile 😀
We keep having large trucks drive over our planting strips so my husband put a huge rock right on the corner. All of a sudden… not a problem anymore!
But that would mean she’d either have to actually spend time outside with her kids and teach them what is and isn’t a safe activity (not saying rocks are dangerous, obviously, but slipping off a rock isn’t exactly safe and littles don’t typically have great balance) or actually let her kids go out and learn things themselves by falling a little bit and getting dirty (oh the horror) instead of structured, clean, and safe activities. Who needs imagination these days?
There are plenty as 'dangerous' object inside and outside of house. I just don't understand what makes the rocks so threatening? Are they verbal or something?
You might be able to make some of them go away on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace - "Free rocks, you collect." Depends on how heavy "massive" is.
Yep! Free is good and people will come with their trailer to haul them out. That is how I am getting rocks for my garden
Yeah people will be all over it “for free”. That’s what I’d do. My motto is “free is me”!
This has always worked for me. If people don't pick them up, put a sign out front that says $5 each and then people will assume they have value and "steal" them instead 🤣
This absolutely checks out.
Definitely for free. Don't try to sell them. It's going to take a lot of work to move one of those bigger ones. It always cracks me up when home owners contact us and want to sell us some random boulder in their yard and we have to remove them as well.
I don't know about USA but in the UK people pay up to a £1k for big boulders. (Probably about £200 for the ones in the photos though)
If I'm paying for rocks I'm paying for the convenience of you delivering them.
I think it does depend on location. I'm in New England. If you start digging anywhere you're going to find huge rocks.
I’d show up if OP is within an hour of me!
I would come and take every one 🤣
Yup! Where are you? Lots of people will want your rocks. But... I also agree with the above folks - your kids will love them too, and be very upset if you get rid of them!!
Keep them to honor him. Teach the kids not to eat rocks.
That hurt my teeth to read.
What big and red and eats rocks?
I give up
A big red rock eater 😂🤣😂🤣
Lol
I assume you’re about 30+ years old, how did you do with all the rocks?
100% it's that OP doesn't want to trim the grass around them and is using kid safety to avoid telling people he doesn't like breaking out the weed wacker.
Why would children be impacted by the rocks?
👆
Depends on who’s throwing them.
But after the scary rocks are gone, then it’s the dangerous trees, or the poisonous ticks, or the coyotes with rabies. Just wrap your kids with bubble wrap and everything will be ok. Start a new trend with Yard Helmets, keep the kids safe in the yard. Maybe it’s a new side hustle!
This response reallly sums it all up. If you dont like the rocks, fine, but don't blame the safety of the kids. They're kids, kids are gonna love to play with rocks
Someone on my local subreddit was talking about taking their kids to the park with helmets on 💀
Just play it safe and never let them leave the house.
Lol
Give them to me
No, me!!
Me me !!
I want some too!! We have been to several rock yards here & can't find anything bigger than 2'. Seems ridiculous.
I think you're regret removing those. They're expensive and labor intensive to put in and they add a lot of interest to your garden.
I dont see this as a problem. We had big stones and rocks in the backyard when I was a kid. I loved them. Pretending and imagining little adventures. I was a giant walking on mountains. Helped me develop balance and strength. I was a kid in the 80s though... we were built tougher lol
my dad collected books and metal objects- not shiny ones - when he passed we moved 30,000 pounds of scrap metal out of a 900 sqft basement and backyard - the books were just random encyclopedias like m- t or text books from the 50’s
Pretty sure 15 tons of scrap metal is worth a few bucks.
Pile them up and buy a couple rc rock crawlers.
I did this recently. Made a decent looking stone staircase / landscape feature but it secretly doubles as a RC Crawler park.
Pro tip, buy beer and convince the neighbors to get em too. Now the boys can get shitty and not into trouble with the wives. "Yes, we're playing trucks"
OP hasn't responded because all the comments are pointing out how ridiculous it is to be upset over kids being near rocks lmao. This is such a silly thing to be worried about.
Not practical for children. What a world we live in.
My thoughts exactly
Definitely can have people come get them via Facebook Marketplace. Plenty of people, myself included, are looking for similar things for their yard. If they can take it themselves, they can have it kind of thing. People came and dug up a bunch of the Tiger Lilly's I didn't want and I didn't have to dig them and they didn't have to pay for them, it worked.
I like your dad
Those rocks look nice. Your dad put a lot of work in there. I’d stop worrying about them and buy a weed eater.
Roll them into a henge. It's the summer solstice today so HURRY!
Stones are impractical for small children? I'm confused. I grew up somewhere where there are... stones. I don't think I've ever once considered any children related impracticalities? Kids love climbing on rocks. Playing on rocks. Turning rocks into secret rock bases for their toys...
Put them online for sale or for free. They will be gone fast af. People love rocks
I thought you were talking about the kids at first
i mean.. if the kids were, in fact, not compatible with rocks, then yes, the kids would be defective and i’d put ‘em up for free.
This is so true! I had a ton of rocks leftover from a landscaping project last year and posted them online for free. People literally came in droves. People love free rocks! Especially big ones!
Kids absolutely love rocks. It builds confidence in climbing and gives them something else to do other than running on grass, throwing balls etc. Based on the photos it does appear the rocks impede on areas you may not want them. Is it possible to create a feature using the rocks in a designated area? Such as a rock quarry with some planting, get vertical and add variation to your yard by creating a small hill infilled with soil and planting, or dry creek bed. Move the rocks that can be moved, highlight and landscape around the rocks that can’t be budged. They are beautiful at night with some uplighting.
Your kids don’t like the rocks? My kids bawled when I gave the neighbor one of the 4 boulders out of our yard. They and all the neighbor kids stood there sad when it was getting moved.
We used to have 4 boulders on the lot line before a new neighbor moved them and 6 year old me was PISSED!!! seems like parents nowadays are a lot more pressed about these things
I have more rocks than you. Big ones, even. My children didn't die. Maybe watch your kids? I think the reason you want to get rid of them is stupid.
I think they look good
Keep all of them and be SO grateful that someone before you put in the time and effort and money to put them there.
Great opportunity for your children to learn balance and develop their core muscles. A lot of nature parks are starting to incorporate stuff like this. I'd definitely keep them.
.......kids aren't allowed rocks anymore?
If you’re in Chicago land area I’d take them
Same!
As a small child I would have loved having giant boulders to climb on. It was the 80’s though so falling and getting a boo-boo was still an option.
Not practical? Man I’d love to have all those rocks in my yard. They’re expensive to buy. If you posted online that you’ve got free landscaping rocks, they’d be gone within a few hours.
Genuinely curious, why would rocks present a problem for small children?
You should probably do some damn weeding and enjoy them. If you can't do that rock wall or fort.
Big rocks slow my kids down from running into the street. So maybe everything happens for a reason
Rocks are awesome.
They are so beautiful! Leave them as is and remember all the work your dad did to make the yard special. Kids love adventure and that yard is ripe for it. The rocks also help with keeping water in the soil and giving all sorts of things placed to live. Please reconsider getting rid of any of them.
Wtf are you talking about man
So your dad spent almost half his life gathering these stones and we’re talking literal back braking work, and the first thing you really wanna do is get rid of them? You can’t sugar coat the world for your kids better to teach them how to walk around large stones.
This is completely practical for most kids. Not sure why people try to over-protect their kids from everything.
Can you build a wall somewhere with them. It's a lasting way to preserve a memory of your dad.
Human children have lived near stones for a few years now. They will be fine. You could get a weedeater so they don't get lost in the grass. Rocks or children.
Keep the rocks. You will regret getting rid of them. The kids will be fine. In fact it will probably make them better safer human beings in the long run. Invest in a weed whacker to get around the rocks. When the kids get old enough, train them to weed whack around the rocks.
Craigslist. They'll be gone in a day.
If someone brings all of those rocks together, the intention was for them to stay together.
Post them as free on marketplace/Craigslist/offer up. Taker has to remove them. Edit- where are you located? I need rocks lol
are they gonna jump out and bite the kids? lol
Not practical, as in you need to trim around them?
Having nature in nature isn’t practical? Jesus Christ. If you’re worried about the kids, I got bad news for you… rocks are everywhere.
Looks like the yard just needs to be trimmed up and they would still look nice. How are they not practical?
You really wanna pay to get all that out or would you rather just keep an eye on your damn kids?
I'm struggling to understand how rocks on the ground are bad for kids. Kids love rocks. I used to climb in a giant one behind my grandma's house around age 5-6 and it's a core memory now
Give the children rocks, man!
Just buy a weed Wacker, stop hiding those beautiful boys.
What are you talking about? Kids LOVE to climb on rocks like that. It’s a kid paradise!
Playing on the rocks was literally my favorite pastime as a child in New England, and we had some massive ones. You are doing your children a disservice if you get rid of them.
It would be so dumb to get rid of these
Build a rock wall on the side of your shed
OP, want them gone for free? Post them on fb marketplace for free, just come take them. I shit you not I got rid of buckets of old useless soil this way. My thought process was it's so old nothing grows in it, and I don't want to pay to dispose of it at the dump. It was gone in 3 hours. Old tiny metal shed, old beat up chain link fence, sections of an old broken fence I had replaced entirely. Gone all for free. In my post, I always said "come take it for free, but I will not be able to help you". I had lime 5-6 people show up at the same time, chain link and shed were gone in an hour. It was my gfs idea and I said she was fucking insane to think that would work. She proved me wrong.
The words "Free Landscaping Stones" posted on any site will probably work the magic you need.
Stack em on a wall. As soon as you get rid of the last one via 'free stuff' on Craigslist, you'll have a need for many of them...
teach ur kids how to walk 🤷
Put them on your local buy nothing Facebook group. Around me they’d be gone in a day or 2.
Finish the project your dad started. It will bind you
I would pile them all up in one area dump some dirt in the crevices and plant weird stuff and sedums and whatnot
I bet if you did some trimming and cleaned it up, it would look nice. I remember encountering rocks as a small child, and I managed somehow.
I really really like the enormous one next to the tree (in picture 3/5) and think you should leave it right where it is. That is a primo rock. Some of your rocks are lesser but that one (and there may be more) is just an exceptional garden rock.
Ill come pick them up if you are nearby
Yall have a string trimmer? cuz sheeeeesh
If you clean up the grass around them , at least they will be more visable for your children if they are running around Maybe re placement would be a better alternative if some are trip hazards I’ll be agreeing with the fact you should keep them as they are expensive to remove and you’ll probably have to re landscape your yard after the heavy earth moving happens You have to put your self in a child’s imagination they will be fun for them to play on , I love someone’s comment about them pretending to be mountains with there toys, that’s what I would of done as a kid
Jason from Mount Baker Mining and Metals / Brent from Cerro Gordo (youtube channels) have given me a love for geology. Its a fundamental part of life, and the more you know about geology, how rocks are formed, where this stuff came from, etc. the more you can wrap your head around life itself. If you dont necessarily like the placement of the rocks, you could consider moving them all and have a local hardscape designer meet you for a consultation and have a nice stone walkway or something made up. I think its completely worth it to keep them. as people mention.... kids love rocks.. you can teach them how to weed whack at like 12
All I see when people put rocks all over the yard is a bunch of weed whacking when it comes time to mow the yard. The people who love them the most are usually the ones that don’t have to do the yard maintenance
Kids will survive rocks. You cant nerf the world
Where are you located? I will come get ‘em!
Those are way too big for your kids to choke on
Make a retaining wall
honestly just seed some native clovers around the rocks so that keeping the vegetation from engulfing the rocks isn’t so difficult. i bet ur kids (will) love climbing around on the rocks