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

Fruit was already damaged, wasps would've already been there imo.

As it was far away from other people, I don't see the issue to be honest.

They just apples. They will get smushed into the ground and start another load of apple trees. The wild life will also come along and feast on them.
Just apples.
Not napalm.
Some people should get a life 😅

I have apples on the grass in my garden. The ones that have fallen because they may have had a maggot in etc.
Properly I should pick them up. But I know the birds and squirrels and a whole host of other wildlife eat them. So they are left for them to nibble on. The odd one does get stamped on. And becomes a right mess if you have to mow over it. I pity the mower of the grass !

It would make a mess and attract bees, wasps with the damaged fruit, so really not acceptable behaviour.

Seems a bit of an overreaction on her part. I'd ask her if she was quite well.

I can't see the issue here at all. The apples on the floor would have rotted and gone mushy anyway.

Ignore the busybody nutter and crack on with your day.

It would have made a mess.
Perhaps the lady was upset at what she saw as a disrespect for nature. Birds and other animals will eat fallen apples. And may rely on them too.
But probably not eat mushed up ones.
There are people who do do things with windfall apples apparently. Perhaps she thought they should be left for someone who does such cooking/foraging for free.

Just a nutter then. Ignore the replies that are bending over backwards to find you in the wrong; kicking apples does not lead to a life of crime, they would almost certainly have just rotted down anyway, and virtually the whole of upland northern England is covered in shit anyway so a bit of apple oomska is not going to faze outdoorsy types.

It totally ruined the atmosphere

I think that something was possibly ruining the atmosphere and it wasn't the person bringing it up.

I assumed that your boys would be 5 or 6 not teenagers.

I don't see any issue - unless they were actively kicking them at people or onto a path or something. I don't understand the problem, outside is, by it's very nature, messy! Much nicer seeing kids having a bit of fun outside than glued to screens (not that I have a problem with screens but you see less of the outside fun these days)

Hard to say really.

If it were on private land maybe. I pick up fallen fruit on my land to dispose of. It is easier to do if they aren't all squashed and mashed up.

If it is on public land I guess it might generate a slip hazard and a horrible smell in a couple of days time.

It seems a bit wanton destruction-ish and that the kind of kids that would behave like this would maybe not always limit their activities to things so harmless.

Would I tell off kids who I saw doing it ? No because these days parents go beserk if anyone even tries to discipline their kids.

Next time I would probably take a football for them to play with.

Edit : You mention it was a nice place where everyone was relaxing. Everyone apart from two people I guess ?

I’ve given out to my kids and their friends for doing this- food isn’t a football. It just seems wrong. I can’t argue it really but I just think it’s horrible, a lack of respect for nature or maybe that I think it’ll lead to them kicking stones around/ being rowdy/ bothering people, I don’t know. Also leave them be and they feed birds too!!

Kids kicking rotten apples that are on the ground seems to me to rank pretty low in the list of heinous things that children get up to.

But presumably in this day and age it’s anti social behaviour. Get them back inside and on theirs iPads asap 🙄

Some of the comments on here are ridiculous. We walk the dog in a nature reserve near our house and there's a lot of crab apple trees, the paths are littered with tiny apples. DS and I have great fun stomping through them! It's a bit of innocent fun in the fresh air!

Hmm. I don't think I'd have let my DC do it, although I can't exactly say why. It just feels a bit disrespectful, even though I agree with your argument that no harm was done.

IME boys playing ball (or apple) games do take up space. People.worry they'll get hit. And in this case there were multiple families and I assume apple flying about. How annoying does rather depend on the area and the space. If someone spoke to you, I'd assume it was annoying.

If the tree didn't belong to anyone then I don't see the problem. People can't do anything these days without someone having a go 🤣 my DC were throwing fallen apples in a park a few days ago, seeing how far they could go. They're enjoying being outdoors. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Cant help but be amused by this incident leaving a sour taste in your mouth while talking about rotten apples.

Anyway, I can see where people are coming from about making a beauty spot a bit of a mess, but in the grand scheme of things, it's rotten apples out in the wilderness, it's hardly the worlds biggest issue is it?

They probably were spreading the mess a lot further than it would have been if they were kicking the apples around and stamping on them.

Whose field was it ?
I wouldn’t have enjoyed being in close proximity to that sort of play to be honest .