To think this response was absolutely batshit to someone showing concern?!

[WoahHeyThere]

So we have a community page where people mostly post about lost cats, why the police helicopter is out, homeless people begging outside the local shop etc. Last night this woman (who appears to be a neighbour but I don't know her personally) posted something and the response was just absolutely mental and I can't believe some of the comments. She deleted the post in the end I assume because there was just too much stupid on one post.

Basically the long and short of it is, there are some garages down the bottom of one of the cul-de-sacs, there's about 10 and I'd say 8 out of 10 have asbestos roofs. I own one of them but cannot see them from my house (mine is not asbestos). She commented that there were a group of kids running around on the roofs, then jumping off them into a large skip that is full of rubbish and old broken bits of wood and fence panels (belongs to a local fencing guy who rents one of the garages). She was clearly wanting to make the parents aware incase one of them broke an arm/leg/their neck, and the tone of the post was not really a complaint/moan iyswim. Though she later replied to someone else that they were staring into her house and told her to fuck off when she told them to get down.

Well...I can't remember all that was said but in came the posts such "kids can't do nothing these days" "it's just kids being kids leave them to it" "they're not your kids so why you bothered" "leave them alone at least they're not out stabbing and robbing people" "back in the day we used to do stupid shit like that all the time, broke my leg but I'm still alive to tell the tale". There were obviously more sensible people like myself that saw the actual concern and commented in support but the above comments definitely outweighed them.

AIBU to think some people are lacking in the common sense department?! In what world is kids running around on asbestos roofs that they could fall through and jumping into a skip full of old wood that might have old rusty nails poking out, just "kids being kids". I'm absolutely baffled.

Back in the days when "it took a village to raise a child" people would have just gone out and told the kids to stop it - and why - and the kids would have moved on. Now you are seemingly not allowed to look at, let alone speak to other peoples' children without fear of reprisal. Out of sight out of mind does seem to be the method of parenting for a minority these days and then you get the other end of the spectrum of helicopter parents whose children will struggle to manage independence as they are constantly wrapped up in cotton wool.

Some of the local community posts are bonkers though. I am a member of one laughingly called "Friends on local town". YOu've never seen anything so unfriendly in all your life - except when there is a missing cat or dog where people are falling over themselves to help out. Anything else turns into a bun fight.

How have you got the energy for this op?

I do my very best to avoid the local or school SM feeds, they are a hotbed of discontent, and I do not have the headspace for it.

Send her a message of support directly, and then delete the whole thing. I could not be dealing with it!

You just know that if any of these kids did actually get injured, or worse died, from mucking about on roofs or in skips then the parents would have a sad face photo in the local paper and blaming it on somebody else. You can't argue with stupid. And there's a lot of stupid about these days.

I've not got much else on today tbh Friendsoftheearth 🤣🤣 I think I'm going to deactivate my account again anyway, I only went back on during the height of the pandemic so I know when to send my husband shopping and there appeared to be daily updates on how long the wait was for aldi! Haha

Absolutely Magicpaintbrush

My local residents page was the same, anyone complained about children doing anything they'd be torn to shreds.
It's escalated into some vicious assaults and bullying and now suddenly the tide has turned and people are saying the parents need to boot them up the arse.

Lots of examples on here of totally stupid reactions by parents to concerns for children's safety. It seems almost defiant, as though they are defensive. It can only be because they know they are useless parents and don't want it pointed out, so hit back.

Just goes to show how lax most parents were back in the 70s/80s then Branleuse and that so many people are still alive to tell the tale

It wasn't quite like that though. Back in the 70s kids definitely did stupid shit like this. I was one of them. The big difference was that if you were caught doing it by an adult, they would tell you off and tell your parents. And the parents would back the adult who had told their kids off. It takes village to raise a child and all that. So really it worked quite well. Your friend was right to comment about it. The problem with many people today is they have no clue how to be an adult and they are aggressive if you say something about their precious child, even if they have put themselves and other people in danger. These people are really quite stupid and revolting, and unfortunately many of them live amongst us. The next generation of them will be even worse because of their shit parenting.

Kids will be kids and do that sort of stuff. Adults are supposed to be adults though and inform the parents. Parents in their turn are supposed to be parents and stop it. I don't agree with wrapping children up in cotton wool or stopping them having fun - but if they are doing something idiotic/unsocial they should be stopped.

The big difference was that if you were caught doing it by an adult, they would tell you off and tell your parents. And the parents would back the adult who had told their kids off

Yes, this is exactly what one would expect and I guess that is the response she was expecting. Sadly as you say, The next generation of them will be even worse because of their shit parenting and it's already beginning to show.

Our FB community groups are awful for this kind of stuff. Especially during lockdown

During the heatwave someone posted about groups lighting bonfires in the woods - post after horrible aggressive post ripping the OP to shreds calling her a busy body, kids will be kids, etc. The fire brigade were pleading with people not to light fires yet potentially causing a forest fire was absolutely fine for some

On the other hand, there’s post after post about teens breaking the rule of 6, not social distancing, swearing and the replies are always ‘bring back national service’ ‘give them a good hiding’ etc. It’s bizarre

My daughter was out riding her pony with a couple of other adults a couple of years ago. They were on a quiet road between 2 bridleways when someone dangerously overtook them and ended up hitting my DD and her pony (no one was injured fortunately). The police refused to take any action (despite hat cam footage and an independent witness with dash cam footage) so one the other adults in the group posted on a community page, complete with with her hat cam footage. OMG, the replies were horrific.

I don't agree with wrapping children up in cotton wool or stopping them having fun - but if they are doing something idiotic/unsocial they should be stopped I am 100% of the same opinion yetanothernamitynamechange

I used to do stuff like this and I’m one of the most sensible people you will ever meet now. My sister and I would play tennis in between two rows of garages with asbestos roofs and when the balls went onto the top we would climb up piles of rubble and rubbish to get them down again. But we were often shooed off by adults and then we went home and didn’t give them any lip. Kids will always be stupid because they think that they are invincible but they should also not be rude to those who are trying to keep them from harm.

I used to live next to a canal that was drained and not in use when I first moved in. About a year later it was put back into working order, that first summer the local kids used one section between locks as a swimming pool....as well as the danger from dirty water, rats etc, it was really difficult to get in/out of the water. Parents did nothing. It only stopped when a kid drowned.

Nowt so dumb as folk.

so one the other adults in the group posted on a community page, complete with with her hat cam footage. OMG, the replies were horrific

I can imagine. The mentality of some of these people is really quite something.

Kids will always be stupid because they think that they are invincible but they should also not be rude to those who are trying to keep them from harm.

Their parents are leading by example. They're rude and obnoxious and by behaving like this they teach their kids that it's ok to be like this. This is reinforced by the fact that they know their parents will back them no matter how they behave. Poor kids don't stand a chance really with that kind of role model.

noirchatsdeux wow that is unbelievable!!

My daughter was out riding her pony with a couple of other adults a couple of years ago. They were on a quiet road between 2 bridleways when someone dangerously overtook them and ended up hitting my DD and her pony (no one was injured fortunately). The police refused to take any action (despite hat cam footage and an independent witness with dash cam footage) so one the other adults in the group posted on a community page, complete with with her hat cam footage. OMG, the replies were horrific That's crazy! Yeah I've seen a similar posy but with a cyclist involved.

Years ago there was a really bad crash on the duel carriage way where the motorcyclist was speeding in excess of 100mph and he died, there was MONTHS of complaints on this page about the groups of bikers blocking off the road and using it as their own race track "in memory of X" and the police even got an injunction out to stop it. As much as there was complaints there were sooo many people in support of them saying leave them alone they're in mounting etc. Was an absolutely ridiculous time.

@HandfulofDust

There was a trend in the town I grew up where teenagers would ride bikes on the road or pavement and suddenly and deliberately swerve in front of cars forcing the car to do an emergency stop. Someone commented that this had happened to her as she was driving and she had narrowly avoided hitting the kid. She was shaken up and commented that a less observant driver would have hit the kid. The tone of the post was concern for the teenagers and other drivers as it's obviously going to cause an accident. She asked people to make sure their teenagers weren't involved in doing this.

Even under that post people were berating her for 'having a go at kids for being kids'. Absolute madness.

Similar issue here until one got run over and it was suddenly the drivers fault for being irresponsible 👀. People are pricks.

Our village page is hilarious. It mostly consists of:

1. People asking when the chip van is coming next.
2. People arguing about dog shit.
3. Lost cats.
4. Posting photos of cars which overtook them.
5. Asking when the scrap metal man is coming next.
6. Complaining about the kids making fires in the woods.

Now no. 6 is always met with lots of support actually and once a parent came on and said 'hands up one of them was mine and i've grounded him'.

BUT - last week an elderly villager posted that he'd seen a bloke he didn't know sitting on a motorbike smoking and watching a couple of houses. He'd then drove off when he saw he was seen. Gent was just basically saying 'watch your property, stranger hanging around this evening'. That's it.

Well - anyone would think this poor old gent had posted that all motorbikers should be hung up and beaten with branches and wanted to immediately set up a group to do it! Post after post telling him to wind his neck in ect. what does he expect people to do? this is why no one wants to live in villages! (?)

Some people tried to support him but in the end he ended up apologising and saying he wouldn't post again and that he clearly was too out of touch :(

Our village FB is similar op, the reactions to what are genuine safety concerns are baffling. It’s climbing on business & public building roofs here, business owners, local PCSO & councillor all commented to highlight the danger. Apparently saying they can’t is the same as solitary confinement. Even more outrage when anti climb products were installed & a child sprained an ankle jumping down from their attempt to climb.

I love where I live (not the UK). On the whole its a very tolerant area, kids tend to be allowed out by themselves younger than in the UK, my street is very quiet and there are normally children playing there, its not uncommon for them to duck behind hedges in peoples (very small) front gardens when playing tag/hide and seek. I am not fussed about that at all. On the other hand one time after heavy winds a smallish tree by the playground had been almost uprooted y a storm It was hanging at a diagonal and a 10 year old started dangling of the top branches (now close enough to reach) trying to pull it over. My friend went and told him of because:

1. It was damaging the tree further
2. It was super dangerous because if he had succeeded in pulling it over it would have fallen on him

The son's dad came out of a nearby house to see what was going on and when my friend explained also gave the boy a massive telling of.

Children actually get more freedom/tolerance if the adults around keep an eye on them and the parents take responsibility to tell them of if they do anything stupid.

@SapphosRock

it can be a shock to realise just how stupid and ignorant large swathes of the public are.

I think this every time there's a general election.

And that's just the MPs

My local FB page is generally pretty similar. Most of the time people are pretty quick to condemn the kids though. It often goes a bit mental and people say they deserve to die/ go to prison/ be taken away from their parents etc. for hanging around a bus stop being mouthy.

The only exceptions seem to be when people (generally tourists who don’t know the area well) take photos of kids tombstoning and say how irresponsible the kids/ parents are. In almost all these photos it’s kids jumping off things no more than 6-10 feet and into deep water. The local kids really do know where they should and shouldn’t jump and quite often the parents will have done it themselves as kids or will be jumping with the kids when they’re photographed. If ever anyone sees kids going to do something dangerous they will tell them and show them safer places to go. Any response from locals saying that it’s perfectly fine to do it is always met with horror too 😂. It’s always a shit show on our local page, I love it.

When one of them wins a Darwin award those same parents will be crying for the owner of the garages to be lynched, 'why didn't he stop them' etc etc etc blah blah blah...

My local fb site is just the same,it seems their is a group of people who always support the local youths causing mayhem,reving their cars on the square every Friday night,riding off road bikes down the pavements at speed.The usual “we were all young once”etc.Yet the amount of photos taken of ‘suspicious cars with foreign looking people driving’.Ive now taken myself off the site because when I questioned how they knew these car drivers were foreign I was piled on by the usual suspects😔