Neighbour’s kid picked my daffodils

So if she doesn't take the OP tulips when they come up.

baby havoc is going to need to be taught these things, hopefully from much younger than 8!!

Exactly! And people are just guessing about the treat for her mum thing. I told a child off yesterday for picking daffodils (not in my garden). I can assure you he wasn’t picking them as a treat for his mum 🙄 He seemed to enjoy the act of picking them and had taken them and laid them out in a row on the ground, then started pulling them to bits.

It’s most definitely not sweet to steal, and an 8yr old knows that. Apart from the stealing, it’s a mean thing to do as most people wait for their bulbs to poke through and enjoy seeing them flower. Every day I get home from work and look at the daffodils in my own front garden. A simple pleasure.

Speak to the child’s parents, OP. I’d be expecting an apology. Picking one would be more excusable, but stripping your garden of them is not.

It’s stealing.
I’d be speaking to the parents.

Oh no! I would be very sad too as I get so much joy from my spring flowers. I do remember picking the neighbours flowers as a kid and making tiny bunches with pretty ribbons then I would sell them back to the neighbours 🤣

Could you pick up some pretty bedding plants to make up for your lack of daffodils? You can buy quite cheap daffodils in pots right now too.

It is not at all sweet. It is vandalism and deprives others the "spark of joy" over a sustained period, not least the person who has bought the bulbs and planted them.
I would be absolutely horrified if my child picked all the flowers from someone's garden.

To lose the lot is really frustrating. They will come back next year. There are pots of daffodils in the shops. If you split these before putting them in the ground so they aren’t too crowded you will have daffodils this spring and many more next year.

Have a quick google to see which ones are tough and multiply.

I completely disagree with those saying OP should try to be OK with it because the kid was doing something nice for their mum.

Firstly, we don't know that. She might have just thought they were nice and wanted them.

Secondly, by the age of 8, all children should have been taught that it's not OK to pick flowers from other people's gardens, for any reason.

I would be angry with the parents for allowing this to happen and would go round and tell them so.

The fact so many people think it’s ok is quite shocking.

By 8 years old, I knew that plucking daisies was one thing, but actual flowers such as daffodils, particularly in someone’s garden, was not acceptable.

I would be fuming too OP.

I dont understand the thankfully small minority, who reckons 8 is too young to understand, that it’s just flowers, and that you should be ok with it. If I have planted something, tended it to grow, and then don’t get the enjoyment I’d be disappointed- why should we accept a kid taking that and be ok with it? I would definitely talk to the larents, and would also maybe for next year put up a plaque, asking people to look but not pick?

I completely agree. There’s absolutely no way my 8 year old would pick flowers like this. She knows it’s not allowed. She also wouldn’t walk into someone else’s garden!

Put up a sign: Do not pick my daffodils.

It's the principle, not the outcome.
I'd be at the thieving little sods door explaining to his parents that their child is a thief. Perhaps they don't realise/care that their child is vandalising and stealing.
All those who think stealing is sweet would not be so 'awwwww, it's cute' if it was their property being stolen

Years ago, volunteers planted daffodils in huge numbers here and there in our local park. Someone I knew then came across a pair of adults digging some up to take away for their own garden. They didn't take well to being challenged.

why on earth do people think it’s sweet! She had flowers in her own garden to pick, it’s trespass and theft and at 8 she should know better. I love my daffodils and would probably be in tears if they were picked

8 is not 'really young', it's plenty old enough to know you don't pick flowers in other peoples gardens. I have a feeling she already knows she don't pick flowers from the garden as she left her own ones alone and took them from someone else's garden.

Well, you know, so the child knows that it's wrong and doesn't do it again?

Or if the child does know it's wrong ( more likely at 8) , then theyll know they've been caught?

Why am I explaining basic parenting on Mumsnet?

I can definitely see which parents have zero boundaries on this thread.

You definitely need to go and have a word with the parents before your tulips get taken as well. Considering he packed yours and left theirs alone, I have a feeling she already knows it was the wrong thing to do. She needs to know you know it was her.

Oh dear! This takes me back many decades. I did this as a child. Probably 7 or 8 ish' Tulips and other Spring blooms. I thought my mum would like them so I went into the woman's garden and picked a bunch. My mum asked where I got them and I just told her. She told me I had ' stolen' and asked me to show her the garden . By then I remember feeling awful!! It got worse, I had to chap the neighbours door and give them back! The owner of course said since I had picked them I could keep them. She said by picking them they were already dying , Good botany lesson as I really didn't understand that until then. I felt awful when she ended by saying she planted them for everyone to enjoy. It had a better ending as I went after school to help her replant more and I got to feed her rabbits. Lesson learned. Don't take other folks things!! If you see that child again maybe you should have a wee chat. It might stop her in her 'wrong tracks'

So they can do what they should have done several years ago and tell their child to leave other people's gardens alone?

I saw a small child in our local park the other day with a handful of daffs. Child was with adults. The child was either not being supervised or the adults thought it ok.

Well I think something needs to be said to the parent or the child could come back and pick these?

That's what kids have parents for!! to teach them things! By eight, she should know, she's not 4.

Eight is not a very young child!

They'll be dead by Mother's Day