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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to get pissed off when parents let their kids pick flowers?

146 replies

fuzzypicklehead · 12/04/2013 19:11

A mum I know posted a photo of her DC (aged 6) clutching a big bunch of daffodils, captioned "look what DC picked for me at the park! Isn't that sweet?" Sure it's great that he wanted to give his mum flowers, but pulling them out of a public flower bed?

Similar situation with another child when leaving the school grounds just before Easter--she asked her mum if she could pick a daffodil and was told yes. Cue my kids in a sulk the whole way home because I wouldn't let them pluck flowers too.

AIBU to think that flowers in public places are for everyone to enjoy and not for a few selfish people to nab for themselves? Perhaps your child is only picking a few, but if every child who walks by grabs a couple of flowers then they'll be finished by the end of the day. If you want fresh flowers , go and buy them. If your kids want to pull them up, then grow your own bastard flowers so your kids can pull their bloody heads off. Or maybe just tell your PFB "no, you can't pick those flowers because they don't belong to you."

It's been a long day. Need Brew

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 12/04/2013 19:51

hhmmm i see your point Fuzzy, this is why i'm never friends with anyone i couldn't take in smack down. it's sage advice, passed down from my gran which has served me well many times... Grin

MintyyAeroEgg · 12/04/2013 19:52

Yanbu. I'll never know why I didn't go up to the two mums in my local park and tell them to stop smiling benignly as their toddlers picked daffodils for them out of the flower beds.

Jojay · 12/04/2013 19:54

YANBU. I've just had to have a long chat with Ds2 (4) about why it's ok to pick daisies and dandelions but not ok top pick flowers from people's gardens....

AllSWornOut · 12/04/2013 20:00

YANBU

My local park has daffodil bulbs planted along all the paths but there are almost no flowers left as they've all been picked :( Selfish buggers.

Original poster
fuzzypicklehead · 12/04/2013 20:01

Mrs Koala, that is the kind of thing I could have done with learning in school!

OP posts:
thermalsinapril · 12/04/2013 20:02

YANBU. They're meant to be for everyone to enjoy.

cocolepew · 12/04/2013 20:07

This drives me mad. Outside DDs primary school there are hundres of daffodils planted on a grassy bank. If kids aren't picking them they are running through them, stamping on them.
I got into a shocking row last year witj a group of mums.

MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:24

From someones garden YANBU
From nature... YABU!

MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:27

Of and if they've obviously been specifically planted then I see your point
Although I never saw a problem picking flowers from peoples garden until YEARS and years after

MintyyAeroEgg · 12/04/2013 20:30

Daffodils do not grow "in nature" MsBella.

MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:31

The title says flowers...

AlexReidsLonelyBraincell · 12/04/2013 20:32

But a park is a public garden, for everybody to enjoy. Nature didn't put them there, the counci gardeners did.

Yanbu op, some parents are thick, selfish and self absorbed.

MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:34

As I said in nature yabu, not 'parks are nature'

InNeedOfBrandy · 12/04/2013 20:35

I always used to pick my mum daffs, she used to have vases and vases stuffed full on the kitchen windowsills. Doesn't really bother me and I let dc pick them from random places IE not from a park's "garden" as such but a load of random planted ones are not going to miss a few that dc have picked.

MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:36

Oh my god 'thick selfish and self absorbed' is a bit much just because someones kid picked a few flowers from a park
Maybe she doesn't see a problem with it
Although I definitely see how its bu to do that, maybe the kid did it when the mum wasn't looking? don't know how old the kid is to suggest that though

Sailormercury · 12/04/2013 20:36

YANBU.

Lorialet · 12/04/2013 20:37

What if everyone's dc picked them? Wouldn't be an awful lot left would there?

TheChaoGoesMu · 12/04/2013 20:37

YANBU. I would have said something to her. Either that or told my child very loudly that we dont do that because the flowers are there for EVERYONE to enjoy.

Original poster
fuzzypicklehead · 12/04/2013 20:38

True, it does say flowers in the title, as opposed to daffodils specifically. I suppose I mean any flower that has been planted by a person other than the individual who wants to pick it.

So daisies, buttercups, and dandelions wouldn't bother me.

Parks, planters, pub gardens and other people's gardens should be left alone IMO.

OP posts:
Original poster
fuzzypicklehead · 12/04/2013 20:39

The DC I'm speaking of are 5 and 6 years old.

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 12/04/2013 20:41

But it's just stealing isn't it - Maybe a lot of people don't see a problem with stealing and taking things for their own enjoyment rather than that of many people, still doesn't make it right. It's not really an each to their own, do you like tea or coffee type question. It's more 'do you think it's okay to take something that doesn't belong to you just because you want it and there is no one guarding it?'

Sailormercury · 12/04/2013 20:42

But what if everyone took "just a few flowers" MsBella? then there would be nothing left for anyone to enjoy when they were out walking.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 12/04/2013 20:43

Neither wild or planted flowers should be picked unless they are growing on your own property.

Picking flowers someone else has planted is theft.

Picking wildflowers harms their ability to reproduce.

Picking all flowers is a selfish act.

AlexReidsLonelyBraincell · 12/04/2013 20:43

Yep, thick, selfish and self absorbed. The type of parents who let their little darlings 'express themselves' i.e be a total brat.
A topical example would be the type of parents who let their children run around restaurants. I'll add ineffective and a bit wet to my description too. :)

MrsKoala · 12/04/2013 20:43

also the areas between the roads and roundabouts etc. I love it when they all come out and there are hundreds glowing. It really cheers up a grey journey.