COME on Mr or Mrs A C "you can't stop the rain by complaining" as the song goes (Children are out of control, Letters May 2).

I am very sympathetic with your plight, but you talk about this as if it is something personally inflicted on you by a bunch of yobs backed up by their parents.

Life just isn't like that. These young people are no different than young people have always been, anywhere in the world.

After a long drawn out English winter they venture out to do nothing more than to kick a ball about. Yes, it is true that there can be problems but those are a minority and can be overcome with the right attitude.

After all, do the children have a problem because they want to play? Or could it be that it partly lies with older people who have lost the ability to be good neighbours and try to understand some of the difficulties young people and their parents have living in areas with no proper facilities and surrounded by people that feel that young people should be either shut indoors or playing . . . where?

I have also to remind you that it is not this younger generation that wants to go to war as we have done over the last 100 years.

All they want is to play and not be treated like second class citizens who have no rights to be living and playing in the place they call home.

I have been living in Parks for 20 years and I have four children who have grown and played outside my door. They have done this in harmony with all my neighbours and my neighbours' children.

This was achieved because I took the trouble to get to know them and their children.

Good communication and commonsense sorted out problems that came up during those years.

There are lots of things that I find annoying living on an estate like ours, like dogs and cats mess, parked cars along the road and up on the verges, no safety or rights for people and children to cycle.

All these present a far greater risk to people's lives than playing football and most of it is caused by generations much older than these so called "young yobs''.

COLIN PHILLIS

Weyhill Close

Park North

Swindon