To wish people would stop their children picking wildflowers

[BigBirthdayGloom]

We've just walked home and seen several children with big bunches of bluebells and other flowers. As nice as it is for them, they'll not last long at home and those bunches have wiped out most of the bluebells on out little stretch of road. I do know its not earth shattering but I was always told to leave alone everything except daisies and dandelions and have passed the same onto my children.

My son picks Daisy's, and we've made daisy chains at the park before.

I think there are bigger things to worry about than a daffodil tbh, though id like to see that police report

I think its ok to pick weeds such as dandelions, buttercups, daisies, poppies, etc. I always picked them and have let my dc as well. When there are millions of them, there's no problem.
I won't/wouldn't let them pick flowers from parks or peoples gardens etc.

YAnBu its totally selfish and pointless too as they wither within a few hours and then look crap.

We have a daisies and dandelions only rule here too.

If everyone let their kids pick the flowers there would be none left to look at. Totally selfish attitude.

That's what I tell DS anyway. He's only 2 so doesn't quite get it yet. I let him pick daisies and dandelions in the grass.

whats worse you can buy daffs for about a pound a bunch and they will last much longer than ones picked in the park.
mrsb I have to restrain myself from yelling this ^ at people

and then when we walk home we will pass buy trails of these very same daffodils, dropped forlornly and forgotten about.

It's fun to pick daffodils from the park, you can spend ages hunting for all the ones which have fallen over and snapped and pick those up, there are loads and loads and nobody minds if you take them to enjoy at home as they will last longer in water.

Taking ones which are still growing is selfish, isn't that obvious?

...dd2 picks a few flowers, bluebells and some other white flowers (no idea what they are), it makes her happy and she looks forward to it.

If she picked the flowers in our village park or the containers along part of the pavement (unless they were daisies or dandelions) I would be saying things to you that would not make you happy.

YANBU. Doesn't everyone know the simple rule:

"Take nothing but photos. Leave nothing but footprints."

Makes the world a nicer place for everyone.

I've actually never seen anyone picking wild flowers in the countryside - last time we were in a lovely bluebell wood near us a little boy moved to pick some and his father gently explained why he shouldn't. [smiles]

Oh, and to anyone who lets their kids pick flowers without knowing what they are, do be aware that some cause skin irritation and some are poisonous.

Are they planted in cute arrangements or are they wild and just growing randomly?

Either way, there's worse thing to get worked up about than a misguided sweet gestures.

Last year I saw three little girls pick armfuls of bluebells in a local wood, then drop them in the carpark, where they were trampled on and driven over. Awful.

One of my nicest memories is picking cowslips with my grandmother, the other day my mum brought me s couple of wild violets. I can't get worked up about it tbh.

YANBU at all OP. Wild flowers are for everyone - if everyone picks a flower then there's none left. I don't care how happy it makes your child.

Having said that, I met a mum, very nice person, not entitled at all, who didn't know that it wasn't on to allow her kids to pick flowers in the park. Some people just may not think. Not that I'm excusing them though

YANBU at all OP. Wild flowers are for everyone - if everyone picks a flower then there's none left. I don't care how happy it makes your child.

Having said that, I met a mum, very nice person, not entitled at all, who didn't know that it wasn't on to allow her kids to pick flowers in the park. Some people just may not think. Not that I'm excusing them though

Yanbu. If they're truly wild its damaging a natural habitat, if they aren't them someone wants them there for their or everyone's enjoyment. There are worse things to do but that didn't make picking flowers right.

I was brought up to respect plants, let tgem grow for all to enjoy. Anything less is lazy parenting IMO. And I'm generally pretty horizontal in my approach!

Yanbu, bad behaviour by parents and children.

Dandillions and daisies are fair game.

Totally agree. Extremely selfish behaviour.

I nearly beheaded DP when I found out that he'd let Dd pick snowdrops and bluebells... He had no idea it was such a verboten thing.

To be fair- it was on private land owned by his family and he's always been used to the free reign of it all.

He thought I was being completlely mad by saying it wasn't allowed

I'll show him this thread!

YANBU. If the flowers are wild then it's against the law. If they're cultivated then it's theft. No excuse. And it spoils it for everyone. So selfish.

It is very selfish, flowers are there for everyone e.

And as others have pointed out quite a lot of wild and cultivated flowers are rather toxic. Some of the spurge family can cause blindness if sap gets in eyes (easily done if it's on your fingers and you scratch your eye) many many plants cause dermatitis and photo sensitivity, I have quite a few scars to prove this.

Plus if the child gets into the habit of touching / picking strange and unusual pretty plants they stand a chance of nasty injuries from things like giant Hogweed which is surprisingly common in some places.

I had to bite my tongue at the park last week or risk being beaten up by the rough looking parents when a load of kids thought it was a good idea to vigorously shake the branches of a pretty little cherry blossom tree to drop the petals all over themselves. They eventually snapped the branch off. Parents just sat there smoking and laughing and paying more attention to their phones and fags than their offspring.

YANBU

God, I get so fed up with this sort of thing.... all the tiny joys are being taken away from us and we are being told we are breaking the law, are naughty..For gods sake.. it;s a few flowers that possibly are being picked as a 'present for Mum or Dad' Let it be.