Teenagers Seen Doing The Right Thing In One Acadiana Neighborhood

(Lafayette, Louisiana) - I was recently at a friend's house in Lafayette when I noticed a few teenagers cleaning his yard, and I found out why they were in his yard: picking up paper and other debris.

When I arrived, I saw some young adults working in my friend's yard, and when we went indoors, I asked if he had hired the teens to do the work; he said he hadn't.

Homecoming festivities have started for many schools in Acadiana, and one ritual we see every year is the Junior-Senior wars in yards.

I'll never forget driving to work one day and seeing a lot of toilet paper in someone's trees and a toilet in their driveway. The yard was littered, and I had no clue what had happened. I later learned it was all part of Juniors and Seniors in high school competing in some friendly competitions for homecoming week.

Fast-forward several years, and these "wars" among high school kids live on, and it is that time of year once again.

My friend told me his neighbors have a daughter who is a Junior in high school, and apparently the neighbor's house was covered in toilet paper the night before, and some of the paper on their trees and vehicles blew into his yard.

When he returned from work the day I dropped in to visit him, his neighbor knocked, apologized that his yard was now littered, and asked if their daughter and her friends could clean it.

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My friend, who is a very fun person, told his neighbors to not worry about and that he'd get the paper out of his yard. That wasn't a good enough answer for my friend's neighbor, and they told him they weren't asking again and that they were sending the girls over to clean his yard.

Within minutes, my friend said the girls were picking up the paper from his yard and bushes, and that they were even doing more than they should have. The teens, who were in the yard when I arrived, cleaned that yard as well as any lawn service could have.

While we were talking, my buddy received a text from the same neighbor, and they were once again apologizing for the "inconvenience," and they stated that they wanted this to be a learning lesson for their daughter: that regardless of where your mess may end up, it's your responsibility to clean it up.

As soon as he read the text to me, I knew that I had to share this story with you. We are often very critical of teens these days, but those girls did the right thing, and they did not seem to complain.

Years ago, I had a similar situation in my yard, and my neighbor at the time had their daughter cleaning up yards too, after the toilet paper from her yard found its way into the neighboring yards.

Mike Zarrilli, Getty Images

So, if you find yourself in the same situation as my friend's neighbor, do what they did and have some fun with it, while teaching your kids a valuable lesson.

Happy Homecoming season to the students and parents, and remember to be safe when in other people's yards. Police in Acadiana have made it clear that they can press criminal charges against anyone if property is damaged.