to think "neighbour" has assaulted my child

[BubbleBathAddict]

Basically my 11 year old son was in a group of school friends yesterday after school. On the way home from the park they played "knock down ginger" -ie they knocked on a couple of front doors quite near us and ran away. Now this is not something I was aware of or would condone, but on the scale of "crime" it's not something to get too excited about.

My son said he did not do the knocking and stayed on the pavement.
At the second house the woman came out and yelled. The boys ran. All of them more quickly than my son it seems. Half way home (a few houses only) he felt someone grab his wrist and the said woman insisted he tell her where he live and frog-marched him home. He was in tears. I was at work, but his dad and older brother were in.

I do not know the woman at all. She apparently said her children were scared. I am pretty furious that she thought it was OK to grab and intimidate a child. That might have been appropriate 40 years ago, but these days touching anyone without consent is battery isn't it?

I don't want to over-react, but will be going over there today. What would you do?

I hadn't heard of this game before this thread.

I admire the OP for coming back and not just 'knocking and running'.

I do love the MN touch of 'little Tarquin even did his piano practice without being reminded'
Because of course he isn't like those dreadful, feral yoblets we read about in the press, we have a piano...

Knock Down Ginger is a Scots/Northern name fr it.

It got out of hand because even hours later you want or need to put some blame on someone else, when your son is the one who is in the wrong.
Your posts have all been defensive because you know that.

Plenty of feral mothers on here that I would not want to meet on a school gate, let alone a dark night.

ArmchairTraveller ahh, i think i've heard of it called knock something else on here.
Funny how the same thing has different names depending on where you live!

Best keep your little darling indoors on dark nights, so.

MN mothers only seem dangerous if you make things personal.
Stick to how dreadful everyone else is elsewhere and you'll be fine, OP.

yes as it's just mothers on here

They only apply if you can prevent the crime (it had already been committed, if you are seriously arguing that a bunch of primary aged kids playing a stupid game is criminal)

The woman could argue that it is preventing them from continuing with the harassment - after all, how does she or anyone else know that they don't intend to come back and do it again?

and the lawful arrest argument only applies for a crime sufficiently serious that it is an indictable offence

Harassment is an indictable offence.

The point is, as I have said above, that whether all of that would be accepted in a court of law is largely irrelevant - the fact is that the chances of the police charging this woman with assault and battery given the possibility of these defences being raised and the likely views of any district judge or jury are, realistically, zero.

It's called Chickenelly in the Katy Morag books, (Hebrides) and she gets into trouble for playing it, along with her big cousins!

the whole thread stinks of bullshit imho.

If you really wanted to know the law OP, then the police are available to advise you, day or night.

Don't worry about wasting people's time - your son doesn't.

I wouldn't bother going round there with him. I'm sure it would make her happy if she never saw either of you again.

Why is it called 'knock down ginger'?

We called it knock knock run

Knicky knocky nine doors here!

Maybe extra points if the householder is ginger? Or some other non-PC description of physical characteristics.

www.streetgames.co.uk/games/running/knock-down-ginger

Thank you kali

In a way BubbleBath he's lucky all he got was being taken by the wrist and being marched home. When he engaged in that 'game' he had no clue who was behind the door. DS1(21) is 6ft2 and built like a brick shit house he can, also, run like the wind. He wouldn't have hurt your son, he wouldn't have needed to, but your son would have willingly said where he lived. There are many, many people who wouldn't be as disciplined as that woman.

A lot of children do play it. We called it "knock door run". I'm ashamed to say that I did it too, without thinking of the consequences to the people whose door we knocked on. I didn't turn into a criminal. Why? Probably because the neighbours told my parents, who gave me a whack on the backside and made me apologise to the neighbour. All children misbehave, but parents need to nip it in the bud and punish the misbehaviour rather than making excuses. Physical punishment isn't the done thing these days, but a few days without access to the internet or playstation would have a similar effect.

We loved this game as children. We lived in a city but all the neighbours would have known each other. Anyway, we were assorted ages but none more than 12 or 13, when one man who had been hiding behind the door waiting for us (I think we might have knocked more than once ) and grabbed one of the smaller girls he literally shook her while shouting but as soon as she was released we all ran away. He was livid. We did not tell any of our parents and if we had well they'd have frog marched us around to apologise to the man and we'd all have been in serious trouble. As an adult I have told my mother the story she recalls that the man's wife was very ill and he had small children and was under huge pressure. I thought of him often when my own children were small and I was trying to get them to sleep.
YABU OP, whether your son was knocking or not he was part of the gang. The neighbour was justified in her actions.

Sorry, you're wrong about Tarquin. He's Montague Bertram Randolph Ignatius. So there.

BTW we called it Knocky Dolly

it was 'knock door run' here too, and we got caught, bollocked by the neighbour and sent to bed early by mum.

Monty, now there's a good MN name.