Rude old man shouted at 4 year old DS

As Lord Justice Collins said in the 1900 Court of Appeal case (Hickman v Maisey). :
"The right of the public to pass and repass on a highway is not restricted to a mere right to walk along it... A man may stand still for a reasonable time... and a child may play on the highway, and yet not be a trespasser."
The law views a street as a shared community space.

I think you will find that is not the case and if you had bothered to do even a cursory google search you would have been able to find that out for yourself. There are literally dozens of regulations specifying what people and children can and can't do on a pavement. And playing without regard to other users and causing a nuisance or obstruction or danger is not permitted.

The UK courts have explicitly backed this up. In a landmark case (Harrison v Duke of Rutland), the legal ruling established that the public right of way isn't strictly limited to walking in a straight line from point A to point B. It includes any "reasonable and usual mode" of using a highway. For a child, playing, scooting, or drawing with chalk is considered a completely natural and reasonable way to use that space.

You can believe whatever you want, but it doesn't make it true. Pavements are a space everyone gets to use, as they wish, as long as it's not obstructed. You can even apply to get your street closed down to through traffic at set times to protect children's play.

@ImImmortalNowBabyDoll it’s really not a community space. It’s a means of getting from A to B safely.

It's a community space. So long as people can pass, you can do whatever you like.

YABU. A 4yr old needs proper supervision, not allowed to lag behind unseen.

I remember my mum telling me about when she saw a little kid suddenly run into the road and was killed by a car, when the mum was dealing with her other child.

My poor mum was fairly traumatised by it and this has made me very vigilant with mine, especially if I was supervising a play date in the park.

Where on earth did you get the idea from that a pavement can be used as you wish?

Yes, there is a point to be made about age and possible cognitive decline, but I find more and more when I'm wandering about outside, some random man or woman (of any age) will appear and start screaming their head off at nothing and to no-one. I this point I always do a risk assessment: are they armed, have they seen me, are they seeing anything, where is the nearest exit?

👌

OP may have reacted differently if he'd come across Madonna...

And why is being six foot one of any relevance? Presumably because OP can bash old codger (who might be training for a Marathon) into a pulp. What weirdness.

Yeah, who wants that in their life?

Forgetting about the man for a moment. I know it has been said many times but you should never let a small child out of your sight, never let them walk behind you unless you are in a large field, never on a pavement.

No one has the right to use the pavement as they wish. Footpaths are to allow pedestrians to safely get from A-B.

The op is a bloke not a woman.

Don't be ridiculous. You don't own the pavement any more than children do so you have zero right to try to decide what they do on it.

Pavements are for pedestrians, like roads are for cars or other modes of transport

@ImImmortalNowBabyDoll a park is where they should be playing not a pavement

No, because the road is for cars. The pavement is for people. People can use the pavement however they wish as long as it's not obstructed and people can get past- which the man could easily have done by saying "excuse me." For children who don't have gardens , the pavement is exactly where they should be playing.

@ImImmortalNowBabyDoll pavements aren’t playgrounds, should they be able to play in the road too?

Why should they not be playing on pavements? Why don't children have the same rights as anyone else to use the pavement as they wish?

It is really annoying when parents let their kids stray - the young ones have no spacial awareness, common sense etc of course - because they're young. Everyone has to side step this way, that way, back again, hold back, do a dance to get round the erratically moving buggers.

I had reins when i was a kid!

And I dont let my dog stray away too far - she would get in the way of other people. Same thing. Yes i am making the dogs and children comparison and I make no apology for it. It is appropriate for this context.

ETA - he should not have shouted rudely at a four year old but you shouldnt have let him stray so far either. I disagree with both voting options

*He - reading the OPs posts

I mean I typically go to parties to have fun, not to be educated on pedantic grammatical rules. Plus, I've already learned now. It's a win win. Did you