Children asking about the current influx of England flags…

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

How do you explain it?
children are 11 and 8, just walked through an area with a few houses that are all grouped together with a LOT of flags displayed, they asked what was happening, I said nothing is and they’ve asked why there are so many flags. I’ve tried to explain it but to be honest I don’t really understand it fully myself, and think I’ve just bumbled out a lot of rubbish that they don’t really get.
Any ideas on an age appropriate way? I’ve even looked at newsround for guidance 🤣 but nothing doing!

Total BS. Ignorant and obtuse.

For too long the English have not been able to fly their flag for fear of 'what other people's feelings might be'... this is patriots saying WE DON'T CARE ANY MORE. WE LOVE OUT FLAG AND OUR COUNTRY. IF YOU DON'T THEN THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU. Our small country has given more to the world than any other in history. And people are tired of seeing the ignorant belittle it. It is something to celebrate not be ashamed of. That is what the flags are saying.

For too long the English have not been able to fly their flag for fear of 'what other people's feelings might be'... this is patriots saying WE DON'T CARE ANY MORE. WE LOVE OUT FLAG AND OUR COUNTRY. IF YOU DON'T THEN THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU. Our small country has given more to the world than any other in history. And people are tired of seeing the ignorant belittle it. It is something to celebrate not be ashamed of. That is what the flags are saying.

For too long the English have not been able to fly their flag for fear of 'what other people's feelings might be'... this is patriots saying WE DON'T CARE ANY MORE. WE LOVE OUT FLAG AND OUR COUNTRY. IF YOU DON'T THEN THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU. Our small country has given more to the world than any other in history. And people are tired of seeing the ignorant belittle it. It is something to celebrate not be ashamed of. That is what the flags are saying.

What has being black got to do with it?

Tell them it's to celebrate the women's rugby team

Correct, the lefties patronise. They want to help poc because they see them as too stupid to help themselves. I've seen videos of them being interviewed saying they think they are disadvantaged because they won't know how to vote and might not be able to write! I believe it was Malcom X that heeded a warning to black people not to trust liberals.

Interesting how the NF type idiots who crawl onto these kinds of posts usually very late at night and aren’t regulars talk about crapholes - but it’s always implied it’s ‘foreigners’ usually non white ones. I live in what is aconsidered a posh city , we have our share of absolute losers, wasters, trouble causers around - all British and white as they come usually . Absolutely plenty of these contributing to the ‘craphole’ factor too - Try reading Takea Break - it’s stuffed full of varying kinds of shits of the kind of ‘good honest white working class’ you see with this antagonistic behaviour - the country was like this in 2022/2023 and early 2024 under the Tory’s - so how come none of it then and its ramped up under Labour ?? the figures aren’t different, down if anything by some margin on ‘legal’ migrants - it’s politically pushed that’s why - Farage as usual on the media full of his usual ‘let’s rally the troops’ stuff - the Dane’s are very nationalistic, we lived there for a bit - flags were used a fair bit - but tended to be on things like birthday cake , buildings of significance and sporting events and as for the not allowed to be flag proud - maybe Google Regent st and Oxford st at the moment !

And no I’m not ‘a lefty’ -I certainly don’t think patronise poc thanks - think you should take people as you find them regardless of colour, religion, wealth or not - not all white people who aren’t wealthy are good or nice ‘salt of the earth either.

Yes plenty of dick heads in all walks of life. The worst are the ones that pretend to be hollier than thou but it's a facade. Talk of blm but would cross the street if approached by a black man at night. Those are the liberals 🤮 fake as a greenscreen.

Our local mosque was surrounded by Union Jack flags, on the lamp posts around it. You can't tell me that it wasn't by accident, and wasn't to make people attending there feel unwanted.

You mean the cockwombles putting up flags at the moment presumably?

Really? You know this? You know the people who put the flags up in that road? Well, there's no flags on the high street. Or the other big road through town. And none after the school. It's a mystery. This is a smallish side road. It's mostly just a thoroughfare for the school, where lots of other roads.

I have heard racist comments in the past (we are a mainly white area, I look white so they feel safe to comment to me) about the school, complaints about the black children, blaming any bad behaviour on the fact they are black etc. I'm not hugely surprised that people feel more free to express that, but I'm very sad at the step backwards.

I totally agree with this. The question and most of the answers are framed with the assumption that there's one correct answer you can present to your children as the font of all knowledge. You could make it into a story: when the children in that house ask their parents why they're flying the flag, they might say because x or y. Another family down the round whose parents are Bangladeshi might say it makes them feel z.

You do know that people aren’t ashamed of our country, they’re ashamed of small minded idiots who show their ignorance through cringeworthy and hostile behaviour?

The things I’m proud of this country for are creativity, the landscape, our humour, the way we (as a rule) look out for those in need.

I have to remind myself that those things outweigh the drinking too much and fighting, the protests against asylum seekers which are fuelled by misinformation, the ridiculous graffiti and flags and the way that these are being used to intimidate people.

For those saying the flags are up because they’re proud of our country, is that why they also vandalised this Chinese takeaway with English flags?

Nutters and cranks are everywhere - https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/we-came-work-paint-graffiti-31221620

When these people as well go on about the country being a shithole , they don’t seem to realise they are contributing to that - everyone’s idea of a shithole is different and lots of fat middle aged and young elderly shirtless yobs and their molls going around aggressively hanging flags in places not designed for flags, painting over things, dropping Maccy Ds wrappers and drink cartons and swigging cans in the day and generally making pains in the arse of themselves is helping to actually create that shithole they talk of . It’s not simply working class behaviour it’s underclass behaviour and often just going along with very middle class agitators with an agenda. Farage caused the Brexit situation, note how he never mentions it because as per all his things it was all hot air , dogma and no substance or actual understanding of how to change anything without severely impacting in other areas. Simple solutions for the very gullible seeking simple solutions.

I spent time living in America where its super common for people to have flags in their gardens etc. They are very proud of their country/flag and its not seen as a bad thing to show that. But....

Even though America is the land of free speech, there are actually rules about when and how you can display the flag. For example, people flying it in their gardens are required by law to take it down before Sunset, unless they have special illumination for it. Basically it can't get darked on. If people were randomly cable tying flags to poles and lampposts, people would definately get upset. It would also be republicans getting upset. I haven't ever seen people painting American flags on the road in America. In Iran sure, but that's not meant to be showing respect...

Outside of America there may/may not be specific laws but there is still a convention of respect. E.g on a boat the country flag is normally the highest one flown. The only time it's flown half mast is when the invisible flag of death takes prominence. Randomly tying a flag so it hangs limply halfway up a pole like a depressed stripper is weird and disrespectful.

So no, this isn't showing pride in England "like many other countries" do. I don't think it's the worst thing happening in the world or worth making a fuss over. But it doesn't make me want to beat my chest in pride.

That's awful, and I really don't see how people can pretend it's "just showing pride".

Inflammatory racists trying to stir up hate. That's all there is to it.

Why can't you just take a more neutral stance? It's evident from your post that you disagree with the flags flying.

I would say:
That is the English Flag flying. People fly it for different reasons - for sporting events, to show pride in the country and on St George's Day. However, some people also display it to say that they are English and don't want people from other countries coming to live here, for a variety of reasons. Some are concerned about the cost of supporting them and the lack of infrastructure. Some feel worried by people from different countries in case they don't understand the rules and break the law. Some want to keep things the way that they are. Some people judge people by the colour of their skin. There are lots of different reasons. You can then say what your view is on asylum seekers/refugees/economic migrants and why you hold it.
I think that it's always much better to explain different view points to children. I think that it's important to present information as neutrally and factually as possible.