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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think the police were right?

63 replies

Lucyinthepie · 15/03/2011 14:29

daffodils story
The children had picked (or pulled up) great bunches of 70 or so daffodils from a public park and the parents were supposedly unaware of what they were doing. That's quite worrying really isn't it, as the youngest is only 4 and it would take some time to gather that many floweres.
The daffodils are in a public park for everyone to enjoy, what would make any adult think it was OK for their children to pick them? If they get pulled up the daffs don't grow again do they? I'm no gardener, but that was what I was told about bluebells. You cut them, never pull them.
The councillor showed a bit of common sense in speaking to the police. He, like the rest of us, would be only too aware of the possible implications of approaching people who were already showing a lack of common consideration to others.

OP posts:

shimmerysilverglitter · 15/03/2011 15:21

Would never allow my kids to pick flowers like this in the park. Am even a bit about daisies and such like. You pick them, they die . Buttercups supposedly pretty rare now as well.

YANBU.

saffy85 · 15/03/2011 15:25

Oops. didn't know that! I may as well have townie written on my forehead! Will stop DD picking her tiny fistful of bluebells in future....

reelingintheyears · 15/03/2011 15:25

People are so fucking entitled now.

That park has had lovely old trees deliberatley cut and vandalised in order to kill them because they block views of the Purbeck hills and Brownsea island and the trees are protected.

This is an affluent area of Poole and the people destroying the trees are not you're run of the mill yobs but wealthy people who want the view for their property and will get it whatever way they can.

BeerTricksPotter · 15/03/2011 15:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

reelingintheyears · 15/03/2011 15:29

Oh,...and bluebells are protected.

piprabbit · 15/03/2011 15:33

Not only are our native bluebells a wild plant, they are actually an endangered species and at risk of disappearing forever.

If you plan to buy bluebell bulbs, make sure you get them from a licensed supplier - the bulbs are often stolen from the wild by unscrupulous sellers.

KnittedBreast · 15/03/2011 15:33

i thought the mum wasnt aware her children werre picking flowers? thats not allowing them to do anything

Im pretty sure the police were hoping the parents would either get very arsey and they could arrest them or by talking to them for long enough they would incriminate themselves for something else.

piprabbit · 15/03/2011 15:33

Oops x-post

lIllyall · 15/03/2011 15:35

KnittedBreast are you crazy? wild berries and mushrooms are completely different to flowers that my taxes go toward being planted in the park for everyone to look at. I do think that man was a coward for calling the police and not telling her off. If I saw that I would say something.

fizzyliftinggas · 15/03/2011 15:39

KnittedBreast If they had time to pick 70 flowers/bulbs, she should have been aware, in that amount of time, of what they were doing surely?

Original poster

Lucyinthepie · 15/03/2011 15:41

These parents need to really get aware of what their children are up to don't they? Just imagine if they had been picking wild berries and mushrooms. They could be in hospital by now.
I don't see anything in the article to suggest that anyone was at risk of being arrested. And it seems daft to think that the police were hoping they would "incriminate themselves". The police have a role to play in warning people when they are doing something wrong, and that is what they did.

OP posts:

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 15/03/2011 15:47

She say the police talking to her was a waste of taxpayers money? What about the taxpayers money for the buying and planting of the fucking flowers, you daft mare.
She should get a bill and stop whinging to the Daily Fail, who by the way would have had a very different slant if they were asda wearing kids called Armani rather than India's and Sienna's in Mini-Boden.

Cheria · 15/03/2011 15:52

YANBU

The children should already have known not to pick flowers. They were obviously allowed to do so. And I am fairly sure when one goes to the park with one's children, one remains aware of what they are doing, even from a distance. It's called being a parent.

"We were told a significant amount of daffodils were being pulled up and thrown around". What a lack of respect for nature / property / life in general.

If a telling off from the police teaches the parents (and the kids) a little respect for other people's property then that will be no bad thing. It always winds me up when outraged parents go to the Daily Mail and other tabloids when they are blatantly in the wrong. There was another situation recently when a family got on the wrong train an dwere fined, when they had non refundable off peak tickets (they took a peak time train). Where do people get off thinking there is one rule for them and another for everyone else? And that then they should sell their story to the gutter press and get sympathy?

herbietea · 15/03/2011 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

curlyLJ · 15/03/2011 16:01

I don't think being unaware of what a 4yo is doing is an excuse tbh. It is a parental responsibility to teach kids what is right and wrong.

I can't bear it when I see kids destroying things, littering and generally messing up things for others...

I live in an area where this sort of thing is a regular occurrence (moving soon tho ) and I am always pulling up kids in the local park for chucking their empty chicken n chip boxes etc on the ground.

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 15/03/2011 16:04

KnittedBreast "by talking to them for long enough they would incriminate themselves for something else"

"Well, thank god you're only here about the daffodils, and not the cannabis factory in our attic - oh, whoops!"

IsinDeBetterPlace · 15/03/2011 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ciske · 15/03/2011 16:21

Even the DM message board are siding with the police here. I mean, seriously, if you can't even get the DM readership to jump on your 'red tape gone mad/police wasting time' bandwagon, it really is time to admit you were wrong.

piprabbit · 15/03/2011 16:23

Isin, you might find the tree hard to forage, but feel free to roll up the turf and take it away...

IsinDeBetterPlace · 15/03/2011 16:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fizzyliftinggas · 15/03/2011 16:29

isin!

piprabbit · 15/03/2011 16:37

You should be OK, so long as you avoid squashing the daffodils on your way out.

TandB · 15/03/2011 16:43

Love the fact that the Daily Mail clearly expected a chorus of "Police - boo!" from their readers and the comments are actually of the "get a grip woman" variety!

So we are allowed to forage? Excellent.

[wanders off to John Lewis to forage in their shoe department]

IsinDeBetterPlace · 15/03/2011 16:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

piprabbit · 15/03/2011 16:47

Don't blame me though, I'll be in JL with kungfupanda.

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