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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:
MsBella · 12/04/2013 20:44

Its a bit of a harsh judgement to make on a woman you don't know just because her dc picked some flowers

And as for the last part of your post Hmm

RevoltingPeasant · 12/04/2013 20:46

Minty daffs do grow 'in nature'. They are v v common as a garden flower now, but garden flowers are a cultivated version of wild daffs. It's possible to still see large areas of wild daffodils in some places such as the South West.

And when people pick those I think they are ignorant fuckwits. Because actually, 'natural' flowers are being absolutely fucking decimated by human activities, such as releasing pesticides into the environment and doing other things which kill pollinating insects. Also by picking them.

DH works for a wildlife charity and one of their reserves has a rare area of real wild daffs. In the 80s and 90s it was nearly ruined through local people picking them. Now that it's a reserve and protected the daffodils have come back and they make a stunning display.

This topic actually makes so angry I think I might have to hide this thread - Grin ! When I think of the plants and butterflies and other wildlife which are already in such steep decline and which my grandchildren may never see in books, then yes, people destroying wildlife deserve to be called 'thick', 'ignorant' and 'selfish'.

RevoltingPeasant · 12/04/2013 20:49

Bella I don't want at all to be nasty to you, but I really wish you could see pics of an area like the reserve I'm talking about, where older photos show a sad, scrubby area with a few small daffs littered about, as all the local people used to pick 'just a few' - and then the really heartlifting, beautiful scene we saw this year, with a green bank by a stream studded thickly with yellow daffodils. That is what not picking them does. I don't think it's fair to take that experience from others.

RevoltingPeasant · 12/04/2013 20:50

Gaaah may never see except in books

Will shut up now!!

Sailormercury · 12/04/2013 20:52

Exactly RevoltingPeasant Flowers

exoticfruits · 12/04/2013 20:52

She deserves a harsh judgement MsBella, it is a very selfish act with no thought for others.

TheChaoGoesMu · 12/04/2013 20:53

Hear hear revolting.

Pinkush · 12/04/2013 20:57

YANBU. I still remember walking back home from primary school with mum when I was little and some girls from the "big school" walked past us clutching fistfuls of my mum's prized tulips!! She almost rammed them down their throats!! I re-enacted my mum's wrath when I saw kids AND their parents picking roses at our local park that volunteers had spent hours restoring. I was furious!!! Go and buy your own bloody flowers- ignorant cheapskates!

RevoltingPeasant · 12/04/2013 20:58

Sailor, I hope you didn't pick those from a park somewhere Shock

... Wink

nailak · 12/04/2013 20:59

in my local park the daffs and crocus are not planted, they grow wild. ""it is not normally an offence to pick the 'Four Fs' ? fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers ? if the plants are growing wild and it is for your personal use and not for sale"

So where's the issue?

Sailormercury · 12/04/2013 21:05

They're from the mumsnet florist Grin

RevoltingPeasant · 12/04/2013 21:10

Oooh swank-ay.

Nailak, see above for the issue. Depending on what it is, you may be adversely affecting local wildlife.

nametakenagain · 12/04/2013 21:15

I can't think of a valid reason to pick floweres that don't belong to you. But berries along the roadside would go to waste if not picked.

currentbuns · 12/04/2013 21:24

I have some sympathy with Germaine Greer's views on daffodils. They are a borderline menace. If the occasional child is to get some pleasure from picking one in a public park, it really wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

SirChenjin · 12/04/2013 21:27

Regardless of what GG may opine, it is against the law to pick flowers from a public park.

MintyyAeroEgg · 12/04/2013 21:28

Oooh.

Ms Bella.

Being controversial.

How very Hmm

MsBella · 12/04/2013 21:30

I don't think I was controversial mintyaero.. I agreed about the parks.. just said from nature is different
Or are you talking about me thinking calling someone thick,selfish etc is harsh for someone who's dc picked flowers? [Confused]

MsBella · 12/04/2013 21:30

I mean Confused

Beamur · 12/04/2013 21:32

I made my DD cry this week by not being pleased she had picked me a crocus flower in the park and telling her she should leave them so everyone could enjoy them.

nailak · 12/04/2013 21:35

revolting believe it or not children picking daffodils doesnt seem to diminish the daffodil population, as kids pick some, more open, I have never seen kids picking bunches, as most people are more sensible then that! they pick one or two. The park also has another area which is a wildlife area for birds and stuff, which is not next to the kids playground.

SirChenjin · 12/04/2013 21:41

Nailak - not sure where you live but in some areas round here it's certainly not just one or two! Also - picking one doesn't make another one open, really it doesn't!

FannyBazaar · 12/04/2013 21:46

I told someone off for picking the daffodils in our local park and they tried to point out they were wild because they weren't growing in flower beds. Confused Huh? People think that wild flowers in a park are not actually planted there deliberately? It's a park FFS, they have gardeners, they are 'naturalised' amongst the grass not 'wild'.

Last year I was waiting for DS and saw someone with a large bunch of open daffs unlike the closed buds in shops I followed her with an evil stare watched as she came towards where I was. She did actually notice my stares and called out to tell me they were the ones picked by kids and discarded in the park. Not sure if that is true 'cause the kids tend to bash them and stomp on them...

Ah well, after the daffs we have people yanking blossom from the trees in the park to look forward too.

Smooshy · 12/04/2013 21:51

YANBU. I am always telling my kids they can't pick the flowers in spring, only daisies or dandelions. I tell them they look much better growing in the ground than dying in the house.

YoniTrix · 12/04/2013 22:05

YANBU. I saw a father with his kids at our train station and he had let them pick every single daffodil out of the pots on the station platform. I was Angry and Shock

Having said that DS came running up to me at a country park and presented me with some daffodils. I explained that the flowers were for everyone to enjoy and we shouldn't pick them. We definitely got some dirty looks Blush.

tallulah · 12/04/2013 22:11

YANBU. My mum used to grow roses in our front garden. I was always Shock at the number of people who thought it was OK to pick one or two blooms.

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