To think this rules to apply to "our little darling"

[NootNoot]

Hard hat on & fire extinguisher ready

Went to Kew Gardens over the weekend- gorgeous day, place was packed, lots of families. Plenty of youngsters running about, shouting, having a great old time.

Walking past the Orangery there is a lovely display of small blue flowers which have cropped up on the grass- not bluebells but tiny little meadow flower type things. Signs every 5-10m saying "these are part of our meadow collection, please stay off the grass". Small child aged about 3, running up & down through the flowers, stamping on them, picking them etc. Parents looking on indulgently, taking photographs etc.

Middle aged man with a rather fancy camera (looked like a realy Kew enthusiast) lost his shit with the parents- pointed out the child was destroying the flowers, clearly states keep off grass etc etc. Parents just smile benignly & said "oh but she's having so much fun"..

I appreciate toddlers can be tricky/wilful etc but for the love of god that surely isn't an excuse to trash the place? There's tonnes of "plain" grass areas to run about/pick daisies etc. FWIW we crossed paths with them later on & the father was watching the child pulling petals off the magnolia trees!!

Sorry haven't rtft, but am I right that you didn't back up the man who told the parents off?

Look at the footage from Jersey Zoo a while back where the dad lifted his 5yo into the wall round the gorilla enclosure and the kid fell in. He was just phenomenally lucky that the gorilla was as chilled out as he was or it could have been a million times worse. Your kid might not be able to see over a wall but lift them up on your hip, don't balance them on a wall above a 10 ft drop onto concrete over a space where big powerful animals live.

Spoilt brat! Teach your child to have some respect I say.

The chap whose kids picked flowers from the council maintained verge actually admitted they had picked 27 DAFFODILS. That's at least three jugs full. Whose granny needs three jugs of daffodils? Picking flowers on such a scale is vandalism and I feel sorry for the police office who had to be filmed by this selfish man whilst trying to do her job.

When we were at Kew we saw parents allowing their children to snap branches off small trees, it makes me mad.

HunterofStars
"Daddy! I want a squirrel!"

The mum of the entitled man who let his dds pick the daffodils for her (the Daily Mail, arguing with the police officer one) now knows exactly how much her son thinks of her - not even enough to spend a couple of quid so his dds can give grandma some daffodils. Nope - all she is worth is a handful of nicked flowers!

If that were me, and one of my dses did this, the atmosphere would be distinctly frosty!

Omg I was at Kew this weekend and commented on the exact same thing - it's so blinking entitled and ignorant. My 4 year old went to pick one of those 'glories of the snow' and I grabbed his hand and explained that the flowers looked much more beautiful growing in the grass and that way everyone could enjoy them. I really don't understand people who can't do the same!

I let my LO pick daffodils on the way home from nursery all the time, I've never even thought about it.
Obviously an epic fail on my part, will have to nip it in the bud.
Ironically, I wouldn't do it in Kew, I suppose I didn't equate wild daffodils with those in manicured gardens like Kew.
slinks off hanging head in shame

I think a few random executions would sort this kind of person out - and I REALLY do mean that! I've seen a five/six year old trample an entire bed of hyacinths in our local park while mum sat smoking and ignoring her, and another little dear pulling fuschia heads off by the handful. They seem to think these things, expensive to plant and maintain, and supposedly for everyone, are put there as a one off entertainment that they can destroy.

Most of the time it's sheer laziness. Parents who just don't want to be bothered. Parenting properly is hard work, it's tiring, it's sometimes boring. And some people just can't be arsed to put in the effort.

And/or it's just a basic self-centredness.

We were at a Jewish holocaust memorial exhibit in Berlin Dd 2 was standing quite close so I warned her not to get too close. The elderly Jewish attendant came over, took dds hand and said "come walk with me" and walked her gently across the exhibit which he said was supposed to be interacted with. Very moving.

Awful parents. Poor child will never learn unless he's given proper guidance.

About 20 years ago, a male vet I worked with saw some boys about 11/12 throwing stones at swans. He told them to stop. They boys continued
My friend grabbed one and threw him in the lake. ( it wasn't deep)
Wonder if they ever did that again

SW London is notorious for ridiculously entitled parents and dog owners. In local Waitrose observed mother put her toddler on conveyor belt along with her shopping "because he enjoys it" cashier had to tell her to get him off in case he hurt himself. In Richmond park couple with 3 dogs off leads allowed them to run up to horses and nip their heels. Dogs had no sense of recall and horses riders had to tell owners to get them before the horses kick the shit out of them.

Can'tuse .

Meant to add - mercifully the squirrel ran away before the child could stroke it.

When I was a child, if we misbehaved in public, strangers would tell us off and parents would back us up. I remember running around in a bank and a lady told me to sit down and stay there in a menacing voice. I got up again and my dm said "Hunter. What did that lady just say?"

I compare this to a time when I was on the bus and some kids were mucking about on the bus and screeching loudly. They were about 7 irc and their Mums were too busy chatting. A man who'd had enough at this point told them to be quiet. At that point, the mum piped up and said "How dare you speak to my kids like that." He said "They were being too loud." She responded "If you have a problem with the way my kids are behaving, speak to me about it, don't have a go at them". Kids carried on as normal, needless to say.

Thanks Errol - I'd never seen the sequel.

Hunter - re" squirrels.

Locally we have an area with a population of red squirrels - it's quite an isolated pocket.

The littlee sweeties became pretty tame as people were feeding them - kids came up with nuts etc and they totally lost their fear. then one day there was a notice saying "Please don't feed the squirrels. People food is not good for them." So when I was chatting to one of the wardens I asked what sort of rubbish people were giving them (feeling very virtuous about my bag of peanuts etc). Turned out that that wasn't why they needed to stop the feedingsg at all. It was because "youths" had been luring them into their cars and then kicking them to death.

Bastards.

I've had this quite a few times (and yes even in Waitrose )

Shocked gasp!

Last summer I came across a family allowing their toddlers to pick all the flowers of the fabulous display my Mum has in her front garden.

The flowers and seeds they had stuffed in their little mitts were FOXGLOVES.

A load of people I know go to a small festival every year.

Endless Facebook pictures of face painted children looking cute and winsome, trampling in crop fields. Flattening great areas of wheat.

It does my head in.

Hunter one of my friends hates her dcs being told off by anyone other than herself and says this to people who pull them up for misdemeanours. Sadly it's a prevailing attitude in modern parenting and it's downside is strangers are less likely to intervene if they see a child who is lost or in difficulties in case the parents reappear and give them a mouthful. We seem to have lost the concept that it takes a village to bring up a child and society is much poorer for it.

Hunter one of my friends hates her dcs being told off by anyone other than herself and says this to people who pull them up for misdemeanours. Sadly it's a prevailing attitude in modern parenting

It's a MN mantra! 'Your child, your rules' etc
There is near universal support when someone starts a thread to moan that a close family member pulls a child up on bad behaviour, let alone a stranger...

Sometimes children get really excited about flowers and pick them! I mean young children here, toddlers really.

Of course, in parks and so forth they should learn its not the done thing, but gently. I once had a young woman come over and shout at my todder about this .