Last night I(25F) was house sitting for my parents and keeping an eye on my younger brother (15) when he called to ask if he could bring his friends back to the house (they had been to the cinema and wanted to keep hanging out). They’re all good kids so didn’t think it would be a problem so I checked with my parents who said it was ok with them and let him know that it was ok as long as they were gone by 11pm, it was 6pm when I got the call.

At 7pm around 20 boys, all aged between 14 and 15 turned up and headed into our garden, I kept an eye out for any silly behaviour but they mostly sat around talking and occasionally wrestled, no drinking or vaping that I could see so I wasn’t too worried. They were obviously a little rowdy, given they’re teenagers but honestly I don’t think they were being particularly loud or obnoxious. At around 9pm they decided to head inside as it was getting cold and that’s when the trouble started.

As they were clearing up their soft drink cans and other rubbish someone rang the doorbell and I recognised him as the guy who lived across the road. As soon as I opened the door he started ranting and raving about how disrespectful the boys were being and how they were keeping his daughters awake, please bear in mind that it was a Saturday night and his youngest daughter is 11 years old. I apologised and explained that they were just kids being kids and they were heading inside now anyway. This wasn’t enough for him and he shouted in my face that they shouldn’t be outdoors making such a racket in the first place and then threatened to call the police. At this point I lost my patience and raised my voice slightly , saying that he was the only one shouting at this point and he was welcome to call the police since we were doing nothing wrong. I also asked if he would prefer them to be wandering the streets instead since there are no parks or really any public spaces in our neighbourhood. At this point I have a crowd of silent teenage boys behind me, watching with wide eyes, at one point one of them started to speak but was quickly shushed by the others.

The neighbour stormed off in a huff and the boys offered to relocate but I told them that I would prefer if they stayed since it was dark out and at least if they stayed here they were indoors and their parents knew where to find them. They stayed until 10.30 when they started leaving in groups of 2-3 and by 11 only my brother and one boy whose parents were out for dinner so couldn’t get him yet were left and immediately got started cleaning up.

This morning my parents let me know that the neighbour had messaged them, calling all the boys delinquents and saying that if it ever happened again the police would be involved. Again, I truly don’t believe the police would do anything since there was nothing illegal going on and it wasn’t late enough for noise ordinance to be in effect yet.

My parents agree with me that the neighbour overreacted but I can’t help but wonder if I’m the asshole for not telling them to come inside sooner. I figured that since it was a Saturday night and they weren’t screaming or blasting music it would be ok but I suppose 20 boys will still make a lot of noise even if they’re behaving.

So AITA for letting a group of 20 teenagers hang out in the garden on a Saturday evening?