AIBU? Kid's kicking rotting apples in a field / parent had a right go

Hard to say without having been there, as to what riled her so much. There are certainly all sorts out there, ready to have a pop for no reason. I know people in the past have had a go at me when I've done nothing at all.

Were they screaming or being rowdy? How far were the rotting segments being kicked? Boys that age have quite the kick on them.

As a pp said, just the sight of teenage boys can instill fear in lots of people. Everywhere I've lived, even though they're nice areas, you get the gangs of teenage boys doing wheelies on bikes and hanging out in huge groups looking intimidating. There's a lovely little skate park where I am, but young boys gather there en masse, and harass everyone passing. When my dog was a puppy, they threw a bottle at him and my partner. No harm done but my partner was furious.

There was nothing wrong with what they were doing OP.

In general MN dislikes boys, especially teenagers, and especially the ones that play football. If you had 2 girls under 10, and they were picking up the apples, gently squashing them, and moving them around, no one would have a problem with it, even though it would amount to the same thing!

Of course they shouldn't have been doing that, making a mush for others to walk in.

I thought just one child was doing it from your thread title ("kid's"), but it seems both of them were kicking the rotten fruit (plural - kids).

They could let off steam without doing that. Have more care in future.

I’ve noticed that people get twitchy about teenage boys in public spaces, assuming that they’re up to no good when they’re just there, chatting/laughing/playing.

This has been the most natural thing in the world/ for kids to play outside with whatever they find there, amuse themselves and pass the time. I personally think it’s a bit weird to say they’re making a mess - it’s not littering or throwing rotten apples at people’s cars. It’s just messing about under a tree where the fruit is rotting anyway. Ehere are kids meant to play, then???

I wouldn’t let her get under your skin, but can see how it put a downer on the day.

I might take it as a learning opportunity with my boys to talk about how people can get nervous around boys being physical outside. Not to kerb their activity, but do they can understand where reactions like that might be coming from and have an awareness of other people in a public space.

Apples fall from trees……I’ve lost a huge amount this year…..but they fall directly onto the ground below. Anyone with common sense walking close to the tree would naturally think that the rotting apples were directly beneath the tree canopy and avoid that specific area …….but your children have kicked the rotting fruit and spread it around the area beyond the tree, possibly onto footpaths or an area where people might spread a picnic blanket etc. Personally, I’d be annoyed if I was walking there and got rotting fruit on my shoes or clothes even though I would avoid the area directly under tree because someone had allowed their children to kick the rotting apples!
Learn from this, teach the children to leave nature alone and not spoil places that others want to enjoy!

She didn’t need to shout at you. I wouldn’t them make a game of it, it would be messy. I’ve left the windfalls for the bunnies and there are lots that the birds have half eaten. Lots have been chucked over the fence for the deer.

We live in the countryside and kick apples when out on a walk or in our garden (this year has been an awful year for apples and theyve mainly fallen without growing properly so i need them gone from our orchard).
We also rescued a hedgehog from our garden, took her to the animal hospital and then my children fed her every night when we released her. This summer she had babies and we put food out for them too.
Maybe these boys were being noisy and annoying, but equating kicking a fallen apple to maiming a hedgehog is wild.
Don't be nuts, kids know the difference between apples and hedgehogs!

Why would somewhere be off limits if it had a few pieces of apple in it?

Whatever about the apple kicking, YABU to call the ground outside "the floor".
Your teenagers sound lovely, going for a walk and picnic with you.

I can't really explain why but this behaviour would drive me nuts, although I'm not sure I'd come up and say anything!!

How refreshing to hear that some teenagers still know how to play rather than just being glued to screens and rotting their brains! Ignore the crazy woman! If I’d have seen that happening, I’ve have backed you up and told her to bugger off.

I saw a women in a cafe shouting at a woman with a baby for breastfeeding and taking up space with a pram once (who I told to bugger off), some people are just nasty.

Fallen fruit is late season food for all manner of critters. I'd not let my children kick it about for that reason. It does seem rather disrespectul of the environment.

We live in the countryside and this would absolutely not be an issue here - i regularly kick fallen fruit on a dog walk, its utterly harmless. Some people are nutty. I'm not surprised you feel horrid about it, my dd was in the shop queue with my husband and was playing a game where she asks for random stuff and he says yes (e.g. "can i have a helicopter"). An old lady (she obviously didn't realise it was a game, or maybe she did and is a big dick) kept tutting and staring at her saying "honestly". Some people cannot cope with children having any fun at all.
If the apples were going near anyone (they bring wasps and smell) then it's not good, or if they'd been on a tree, or if the noise was out of control - all reasons for someone to politely ask them or you to keep the noise down or play at something else. Otherwise, they can jog on. Nobody should shout at anyone without provocation.

I often tell my children not to touch (or kick!) things that aren’t theirs. But this seems like harmless fun at the edge of an open field, where boys were having a bit of fun in nature (not being on screens!) while mum was watching and reading a book, and everyone around seemed happy. A shame that one woman brought down the mood (maybe she was having a bad day …). Don’t let it get to you OP!

Not a huge crime but whole rotting and bruised apples breakdown slowly and would have provided food for wildlife.
Birds and small mammal's have had a tough summer and an Apple rotting or otherwise is a gourmet meal.
if you are on other peoples land you should leave it as you find it.

So was it a public park or a field with a footpath through it? Because if it’s the latter you’re supposed to stick to the footpath, not trespass over the rest of someone’s land.

I get that the apples are rotting on the ground but we’ve only just picked our apples up the other day. I certainly won’t be eating them but Dh says they’re fine for jam. My friend says the pigs will eat them. Picking up whole apples is easier than picking loads of smashed up bits. So your kids have just left a mess behind which potentially someone else needs to sort out. And if they did belong to someone else you have no idea if they were planning on coming and picking them up today.

People get annoyed with teenagers breaking things. Other kid's bikes, toys left out, even a pram one day in our local rec- the kids just can't let them be, they just smash them up. A constant target are the bicycles the council rent out- always getting their spokes broken. And us oldies can't ask them to stop as they get arsy and their parents get aggressive- 'they are just letting off steam' 'children will be children'.

YANBU at all. It’s kids having fun. She’s clearly a busy body

I see your point that it was harmless fun and they were already in the ground but I wouldn’t be impressed - sticky mess everywhere, and it’s just an annoying thing to be doing in a nice quiet place.

They were making the whole place off limits to families by filling it with mouldy apples and wasps.

You said it was a nice area for families, and people were relaxing. Are you sure they weren’t being overly rowdy and boisterous? It’s hard to imagine a couple of teenaged boys not being overly loud while having a kick around.

I’m on team this makes a yucky mess. Kicking them round spreads the mess further, making it harder for people to find a nice tidy spot for their own picnic

Is kicking through leaves ok? Or is that also a gateway to aggressively yeeting hedgehogs down the street?

I wouldn't go as far as to tell off someone else's kids, but I have stopped mine from doing it and leave it for the wildlife. It seems a bit antisocial

It's not like they were scrumping on private land, and I assume they won't kicking the apples anywhere close to people or cars? There's plenty of oddballs about, I would have just let the moaner continue on their way and told my kids to pay no attention.