Yeah, and mouthy little s#its who were taught no manners. I remember a young teen who was mouthing off at me, and I will find that B one day and swing her by her ugly hair.

Thankfully, I haven't encountered such bad behavior.

oh yes.  I have had a devil spawn child.  jumping on furniture, trying to put things in her little purse, getting in the lake and then going back inside the house wet... devil spawn I tell you.

Not yet but I probably just jinxed myself...

Yes.  Eventually the child and I got very well acquainted.  Mom was so pregnant she could barely move and dad was oblivious to the jumping on furniture.  I would pick up the three year and carry him when he misbehaved.  He's six or seven now and still has a lot of respect for Miss Chris Ann. 

I explain to my clients that if they are going to bring their children it will be their responsibility to keep them "in order".  I usually liken it onto a school field trip -- the buddy system -- and everyone must be within my eyes reach at all times, and the Library example of "whispering only" and no outside voices or outside sports inside.  If they children cannot behave, I ask the buyers to get a child care provider for our next tour.

Yep. Amazing how I can straighten them out right in front of their parents.

I've been very fortunate is this - NO!

Yes, I have a had a few. One couple would take turns going in the house which worked out well. I'd much rather just the parents come but that's not always possible.

Oh yes. They were dreadful

Yes I have had this happen multiple times Fred. Once I had the kids playing with the toys belonging to the kids of the owners and the parents thought it was cute.

I had a couple once who had to take turns looking at the houses because the other had to stay with the kids in the van because they didn't stop screaming. Awful.

One time I hade issue witht he kids into everything.  I explained to the buyers and they understood and left them in the car and home after that.

If they had decided to not come back I would have been good with that.

I have had crying babies that distracted the parents to where they couldn't think or look. Rarely have I had them run through the house or get into things.

No, the few times that children have been along on showings they were beautifully behaved.  Of course I have duct tape in my showing kit...just in case

Oh yes!  Had some running around like crazy in a vacant house.  Had others with muddy feet.  I have no problem asking the parents to control their kids.  I'll even ask them to put the kids in the car or end the showing all together if it's my listing.

Fred,

I have not had that happen.  I like Diana Dahlberg 's way of handling the situation.  A

Can't say I have Fred Griffin 

Yes.  I put the kids in the fridge. 

I haven't had clients with misbehaving children during showings but have encountered them at open houses when parents come in and let their kids run up the stairs, turn light off/on etc.  Didn't want to call these clients at all!!  LOL

Fred Griffin should I say I am fortunate - at least until now....

One little monster tried to climb a wall of bookshelves.  I was waiting for the crash to the floor.

Oh yes, and I have no problem making it clear to the kids and parents it's not ok! Typically one parent (dad) will take them outside while the other looks. If the other parent (mom) is interested they will switch. It's one of the hardest things to deal with, plus it takes so much longer to do showings...get them in the car, get them out of the car, bathroom, food.......

I had one of each kind.  I remember one little girl that was hanging on her mother and wouldn't shut up, so she was consistantly distracted throughout the whole showing.  The mother, just wanted to get it over with.

Fortunately very few. I had one couple where I ended up having to take the kids out to the yard to entertain them - they were jumping and climbing on everything and the parents said nothing. I had one showing where a young boy knocked a small statue off a table and broke it

Just minor things that could be handled with a little distraction from me.  Keep 'em busy while Mom & Dad are looking at house.  Works every time.

I had one child that would not stop running. So, I told the buyers that we had to leave immediately and they did.

Yes, I have had one family who had really unruly toddlers just this past year. The hard part is that I am friends with the mom and dad. Their teenage daughter was supposed to help, they have 6 kids and they all wanted to go see the houses. But 2 of them, were so unruly, they do not listen to their parents or their older sister. They were jumping around, sliding up and down the stairs, going off when I told them to stay by me, etc. It was very nerve racking!!! 

When Tristan was younger I used to take him with me when I showed houses. The customers loved him. He was very well behaved but he also would tell the buyers which houses they should buy! The buyers loved it! They would ask him what he thought about the different houses and he was so open and honest they knew they needed to listen to him , this was when he was 4 and 5 years old. The old timers on Activerain probably remember those days:) 

I work in a model home and I remember when I worked for another builder I had the worst kids ever come in, I was lucky I had an assistant who would tell the kids to behave, in my model I am responsible for nobody getting hurt so it is my responsibilty to stop this from happening!

I had a kid bean me with a toy he threw off of the balcony while I was below. He thought it was the funniest thing and refused to apologize when the parents tried to make him.

Kids jumping on furniture, throwing seller's kids toys... You show enough houses and it is bound to happen. I'd say that I've had out of control kids about 20 times in 27 years of real estate.

I try to reprimand them as much as I can without making the parents feel that they are complete failures as parents and not embarrass them.

Yes, twice. One of them was so horrible, after our showing, we got into my car and the child was kicking, screaming, crying and touching everything. I pulled into a shopping plaza and politely asked them to get out of the car and not come back in until the child was under control. I was kind enough to keep the child occupied while touring homes and lost my patience quickly.

Three kids starting playing tag at my OH. So I asked the parents to gather their kids and we would continue the conversation outside. All five left indignantly and there was no outside conversation. 

People if it's never happened to you, why even bother saying, it hasn't happened to me???

It's a waste of space, if someone asks something and you reply to that decree delete your post already.

"No, hasn't happened to me" does not offer anything to the conversation!

Sheesh.

I have HAD it happen to me, when I worked in a ski resort in VA, and they wanted me to ridge with them, and their 4 kids, and the kids were crazy obnoxious, and luckily the parents would say how sorry they were for the crazy behavior.

I haven't had any clients with teenagers go looking, but preteens, yes to that too, opening refrigerators and knocking things over, and if the parent is unconcerned about that, then they likely have no dam sense to begin with, and you should think twice about taking them seriously.

Yes . . . and now I'll scroll down to read the rest of the answers.  I once had a little darling eye the Steinway piano in the sellers' living room, which he immediately made a bee-line to, and started to pound out a little ditty.

Once, in new construction, two young boys ran upstairs and out of eye range of their parents.  The home was in the process of being constructed, and I don't believe the dry wall was up yet, just framed.  YIKES.

I do open houses with Realtor friends for added security. In a luxury home a family came in, allowed son around 9 to stay downstairs with me. He opened refrigerator and took a soda, I asked him to, "put it back please."

"No!"

Then he signed on to owner's computer and started punching on the keyboard. I told him to get out of the chair. He started yelling.

When parents came down with agent. Screen on desktop opened. I asked them to return without the son. They were angry.

geez

I had one set of kids who didn't listen to anybody, did what they wanted, ignored me when I told them to leave the dog alone, made a huge mess of the dogs water & food bowl and the parents said and did nothing while I cleaned it up.  Glad it was a short relationship and I feel bad for what those kids are in for when the world eventually applies the discipline their parents were neglecting. 

No. Never. Thanfully, all of my buyer clients with children have very well behaved and mannered children.  

HOWEVER, back in the day when I did open houses, I had a few wild monkeys in the home and their parents were in a waking coma and did not notice or did not care. After I ordered the children to stop jumping on the couch ... and they went crying to their mother monkey, the parents ignored the kids and carried on in the coma like state of viewing the home.  

We cannot make this stuff up. We. Just. Can't. 

Flashlight (check) Hammer and nails for signs (check) Camera (check) Taser.... Taser. Oh ... you forgot your taser. Was a single full time Dad with four kids. There are creative ways to contain them or show them to the swing set out back. We have held babies, one on a hip while opening house doors, whatever it takes. One kid at a closing did put a set of car keys in the electrical outlet after climbing up and down the rows of legal books like a spider monkey. 

I can be intimidating, and if the does not work then I am not shy about sending people out the door.

Many time I have seen children being allowed to go crazy. I will quiety discuss with the parents that they must have the kids stay with us. Most of the time, they cooperate. When they simply won't, I do my best Grandmother routine and try to entertain them or divert their attention. :)

Hello Fred, how are you?

You asked about kids at home showings.

Yes, but they were with another REALTOR®, not my clients.  Distraction and near disaster.  They helped themselves to soft drinks in the refrigerator.  They sat the drinks down on a nice Cherry Dining table. I was Buyer's agent, and the kid's mom was the Listing Agent.  I never asked, but hoped the Seller was a relative.  Not knowing the relationship, I politely told her there were soft drinks sitting on the nice dinning room table.  She was there to let us in because the was no lockbox.  She hung around while we viewed the property.  Beautiful lot with pond and a gorgeous home, but the  long cammute lost out to something closer.   Being old school, my kids would have been in the car with hand in pocket, and I would have waited outside with them.  The REALTOR® Mom bothered me more than the kids.

While MLO, I had a family in for a loan app, and they had a five year old with ADD.  He literally tried climbing my window shade.  Destroyers the shades, and mom said, "Honey, you shouldn't climb on the nice man' shades.  Come sit in mommy's lap.  Sorry about the shade."   I usually covered the Underwriting fee out of my commissions, but this loan bought a window shade.  Fred, the ADD I think was inherited.

We have been extremely fortunate so far. Ugh!

Just had one where the kids are climbing on the rock trim that lines the walkway to the house, one that had a leaky nose and another that like touching walls that were freshly painted. The parent/buyer? La La La-land

Haven't had any bad actors yet.  Some get fussy, but parents here normally keep them in check.

I have, and depends on the age of the child how to handle it. I do tell the kids that the only rule is we all look at the house together, we will all go from room to room together.

Honestly, I can’t believe some of these parents today.  When I had my child, and back when my family members and friends had their children, we would never let our children run amok like I see so many of these parents do in homes and in restaurants.

I am predominantly a listings agent in an area with large very high priced homes.  I just recently had a young couple with two children come see one of my listings.  The children decided to play tag throughout the house; and to make matters worse the husband was on one side of the house and the wife at the other – and of course oblivious to all this, they couldn’t care less!

I caught the two kids in one room and very very sternly said to them, “This is not a playground, this is a house.  You are not to play tag or hide and go seek here.  Your are both to go back to your parents and stay with them the whole time you are here, do you understand me?”  Thank God they complied.

If I had Buyers with kids like that, which that goodness has not happened, I would ask them to get a babysitter or refer them to someone else – life is too short

Through the years !

Yes, and I remind the parents we are in someones home.

no - decision makers ONLY

Nope, just a few crying babies, but no unruly kids.  Oh, sure, there have been a few bored kids who I always find "tasks" for and that always seems to keep them occupied.  

Had two around the age of 10 get in a laundry chute and "ride" it to the bottom floor, screaming the whole time... the parents acted like they were not even there and it was no problem

It's rare.  In fact, so rare, that nothing comes to mind immediately.  

Yes, i have written several blogs about this over the years. I just had a family last weekend that was a combo between a hurricane and tornadoe

Always best to leave the little ones home so one can really look at the houses. I did have a family once who brought their kids and they were very undisciplined..it was not fun so I learned to have a talk with parents if they insisted on bringing the kids about proper expectations when going into homes I was showing..worked much better after that talk!

Yes! Suggested showing in parts, with one parent remaining to guard the uncontrollable children in the car!

You bet.

How one responds depends on:

1. Are parents oblivious

2. Parents are over extended

3. Options available

With parental agreement, Sasquatch pulls the Frisbee, the bubble bottle and sometimes the magnifying glass, from the boot and entertains while parents prohibit kids from entering house.

Yes. It is best to leave the kids with a sitter.

yes. 

You mean this week?  Of course, and I'll discipline the kids if their parents won't.  No spanking though.

i am afraid of the damage they may cause to the sellers property. and then who will pay??

C'est la vie.