Just got reported to police for breaching lockdown. WIBU?!

[saylor]

For context: I have 2 toddler DC (tiny age gap!), we live in a flat and we have thus far abided by all lockdown rules, and it's been fucking hard!

This morning, at 9am (!!!!), I took DC to the park across the road and let them play in a sandpit which forms part of an un-gated playground. All the play equipment is roped off with police and hazard tape and we didn't go on the equipment, just played in the sand with buckets and spades. First time in 9 weeks and no one else was there.

After literally only being there for 5 minutes a police van pulls up and tells me I'm breaching lockdown rules, took my details, and gave me a warning. She stopped short of fining me. I apologised and started packing up the buckets and spades and older toddler had an absolute meltdown that we had to leave. The police woman took pity on me and said she was sorry she had to move us on but because someone reported me, it was her job.

So someone saw a mother and her two young children playing in the sand and decided to call the police at 9am and tell me off. This is after a bank holiday weekend of huge groups of people socialising all over the park and no one told off.

I'm livid. AIBU? Or WIBU to take my DC to the sandpit after 9 weeks of lockdown hell?

Obviously, if everyone turned up to use the sandpit it would be a problem. However, if it was empty and you have two small children with no garden and you just let them play in the sand, I do not think you did anything wrong. I also feel quite a bit of disdain for the people who report others like this.

I am not a scientist, but I can't see how the virus could spread via sand.

It's really shit isn't it.

I think a lot of us are close to breaking point. We can see others who are blatantly ignoring instructions. But know that the majority need to comply to keep the R rate below 1.

Yes people like OP may be flex the margins. I probably did by helping collect DDs things from University last week. But we are 99% compliant. So doubly hard if we are the ones who get called out.

I hope OP is OK. We dont have a garden either. I am so glad DC are now young adults.

Yanbu.

Are playgrounds still closed? Is the sandpit in the playground?

As the sand wasn't roped off I'd see that as being the same as playing on the grass, so you were fine to play there. I'd have argued the toss with the police officer about it as well.

@User1484POP - I'm very sorry you have problems with your son. However, that's really not the topic of this thread and it's very unfair to take that out on me. I'm not going to engage further.

Stepaway: Try assume positive intent behind the people ‘giving you the rage’.

@TomNook

play in a sandpit which forms part of an un-gated playground. All the play equipment is roped off with police and hazard tape and we didn't go on the equipment, just played in the sand

yes, you are

Ok - I know I'm in a tiny minority, but I also interpretted the rules the same as DC at the time - i.e. if you had a reasonable belief that you would be unable to safely look after a young child, you were allowed to do things you otherwise should not. (I can't really defend the Barnard Castle trip though - that certainly seemed like a weird thing to do!)

However, I do find it difficult to understand why so many people are using their (perfectly understandable) perception that he broke the rules to excuse all other guideline breaking behaviour. Just because somone did something wrong because they were worried about childcare is not, in most cases, analagous to having a party with some mates or allowing your child to play where they are not supposed to.

YABU. You knew it was against the rules and decided to do it anyway. Someone who has probably been following the rules saw you and got peeved off and reported it.

FFS! Have people seriously nothing better to do with their time? It seems people on the UK are hell bent on “reporting” people just because they can. Thank goodness we have had none of that here. What’s the difference between a sand pit in an empty park and Bournemouth beach last weekend which apparently was packed to the point of standing room only? Some people need to have a stern word with themselves. They are not reporting people because they are worried about “the virus”, they are reporting people because they like the smug sense of power that anonymous reporting gives them. Idiots.

[quote Dougalthesyrianhamster]**@ChaoticCatling* The sun should kill off any virus*

Hahahahaha!! Viruses need 121 degrees Celsius to be killed off! You're hilarious [/quote]
Mm, I only did biology to a-level but I remember a virus is just a piece of protein so it can't be killed because it's not alive, and you can destroy them at temps around 45 degrees upwards as the chain unravels. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can correct me, but 121degrees sounds like science from Trump's Twitter feed.

You'd have to be a very special kind of sad selfish bastard to report something like this!

Ok 'technically' it's against the rules but nobody else
was using it, and you weren't in a big group of different households.

People leaving the house will come into contact with all kids of items and surfaces, walls, gates, fences, grass, trees, THE FLOOR! How is sand any different? It's not exactly the same as using a slide or a swing and having germy hands, dribble, whatever all all over them. ITS SAND!

Everyone is finding lockdown hard, and kids are no different, maybe even more difficult if they are very young and can't process or understand what's going on. Give them a break and let them build a fucking sandcastle.

A virus is not a protein. To grossly oversimplify they are RNA strands which require host cells to reproduce.

Thanks Brahumbug, it's a long time since I was at school

Not illegal - ignore.

I don't think it's fair to call people who have reported this sad selfish bastard . Personally I wouldn't, but how can you ignore the reasoning behind others? They could be busybody. They could be someone who told their children they can't play there. Yes, it's just a sand pit. They were alone. But what if someone saw and their children started screaming they want to play? Do they need to let them play even they don't want to break rules? What if others turn up? Let them play together? There is simple rule to cover all the different scenarios. It could be totally different story if it was on a sandpit on golf course where no one is likely to see. But OP stated it's a playground on London park, across the road from her flat.

That seems very harsh. After all, how many people took their DC to the beach and let them dig in the sand there, and they weren't even social distancing, but they weren't breaking any rules.

Actually in schools sand is off limits due to risk of infection(can’t be cleaned) you’d have been better off using the play park if you had antibacd it first!

When you look at what others are doing, that hardly seems an infringement. I suspect that's what the policewoman was trying to say by letting you know it was only because someone had reported it.

You took your child to play with community play equipment. A clear break of the rules at the moment. You were being unreasonable.

I’m a single parent to a toddler and we don’t have a garden so I feel you and I know how tough it is. But you broke the rules.
None of the play play areas where I live are physically taped off but we know the rules are not to use them so just because the sand out wasn’t taped is irrelevant.

Not read the whole thread but you broke the rules. The sandpit is part of the play equipment. Thousands live in flats and have been doing it hard over the last few months. What would happen if 100 families, in your area, decided to get up and take their 3 kids to the sandpit? I wouldn't have reported you but I would have been pissed off if I looked out my kitchen window and saw you and your kids breaking the rules.

Incidentally, I am about to go back to school on Monday as a Reception teacher. We have been advised to close the Early Years sandpits as there is a transmission risk from children from different 'pods' using it. I would guess that there is a similar (greater) risk with sandpits in parks.

You weren't being unreasonable. Moreover, you didn't break any laws. Please take your kids back to the park at 9am tomorrow and every day from now on. If the cops come back, tell them to do one.

You were playing in a closed park... sorry but you potentially risked others if they were touching the sand too.

So take it on the chin.

A hard lesson to learn. This country is full of miserable snitches. Who needs the Stasi?