To ask what's wrong with running with a stick?

[Haveyouallgonequitemad]

Overheard in the park...
Sebastian come here, come here right now
Small boy age prob 4 runs over to woman
Right no1 why on earth are you running with a stick no 2 why are you waving at the pigeon that is awful behaviour...
I mean ffs what is wrong with a boy playing with a stick and running around with it what's awful about that totally normal and what kids have been doing for years surely..
OK tell him not to wave it at pigeons but the pigeon is only going to fly away did she think he was gonna turn it into a frog with his stick wand or something.
Aibu? No kids play with sticks woman was ridiculous or yes it's highly dangerous to play with sticks in the park woman was right

Shadenfraude. And not just that. The NHS is stretched enough right now without having to schlep our progeny down to A&E because they’ve impaled themselves on an ancient oak they were carelessly running around with . If ever there was a time to follow the instruction to Stay home. Don’t run with trees. Protect the NHS, that time is now.

Emeraldshamrock

You wrote stick 4 times in your OP? Then it turned into a twig, maybe it was magic after all

Quite.

That was no stick - that was a wand.

Also agree with PPs: will nobody think of the commas?!

We always told our DC not to run with sticks. They ignored us and did it anyway. DD ended up with a stick injury to the eye. The Dr said she was lucky it hadn’t been a mm or so the other way as she could have caused permanent damage to her sight. Yes to playing with sticks, no to running with them. It’s common sense really.

Trouble is, small boys like my Gds wave sticks around without realising that they’re liable to whack somebody. And he never walks if he can run.

He’s like a dog, sees stick, has to carry it home. Preferably one in each hand. 😂
At least dogs don’t wave them about, though.

On lunchtime duty in primary school, sticks are banned (us TAs are stick in the muds ). There's plenty of skipping ropes, balls and pompoms etc.

What we don't need is sword battles, running with sticks, digging holes in the field or throwing sticks.

Crack on if you are only supervising your own child. Carnage when you are supervising 90.

Well the ability to risk assess seems to have vanished obviously running/ not running is nowhere near enough information. If it's a crowded area (such as a public park in half term in lockdown) then anyone risk "averse" (overly precious) wouldn't have been there in the first place. So either the scenario is not described well OR this was an attempt at performance parenting and they didn't want their darling child to look as though they enjoy anything as basic as a stick.

Lockdown for most children in this area has been a walk and a collection of interesting sticks and stones. Every day. Why take their sticks away?! Think of the poor little mites

@Standrewsschool

Haven’t all kids run around with a twig, pretending it’s a sword at some point?

Not according to this thread ! Most of them know children who have had terrible accidents with sticks, their parents are probably all in jail.

I hadn't thought of the impalement thing, but I stopped DD running with a stick the other day for the sake of everyone else around (me) as they were (I was) likely to get a thwack.

I hate kids bothering pigeons. I have a friend who claims to be an animal lover, but encouraged her small children to chase pigeons, kills wasps etc. So just loves the fluffy ones then.

I knew someone years ago whose primary aged sibling fell holding a sharpened pencil, punctured their chest and died of the resulting infection.

Makes me ‘one of those people’ but I managed not to wrap my own DC in cotton wool. I certainly didn’t judge the parents!

It dangerous if they fall.
Also I can’t stand parents that sit and watch their kids chase and yell after birds, esp if stamping at them or waving a stick. No it doesn’t do the birds much actual harm, but it’s not teaching respect and kindness to other living things. Children should be taught to be gentle and kind to everything living. I used to vow to never let my kids do this, I have a mixture of boys and girls and they never would chase after an animal or taunt it.

The man who owns the local farm up the road from me, lost his eye to impaling it on a stick! He use to take his glass eye out to show me when I was a child! I let DS play with sticks but not run with them!

Yeah you’re wrong OP- running with sticks is dangerous.

A friend of mine (teacher) took a group of primary school aged kids to a museum. Kid running holding a PENCIL. Tripped, fell onto pencil and managed to drive it into their face. Not quite sure where in the face or how (years ago now) but remember vividly her telling me that she had to accompany him to A&E whilst trying not to faint.

Nothing against my DS collecting sticks, by the way, (I usually end up with them in my handbag), or using big sturdy ones for walking when we’re on a big walk- but running around with sticks is just inadvisable.

Twigs are different, but I’ve never seen a child interested in a twig. If it isn’t an evil looking heft of solid lumber with a jagged split at each end, and preferably a knobbly bit ideal for cracking over another child’s head- they just don’t seem as interested.

Erm, mine aren't allowed to run with sticks or deliberately scare animals.

My friend was felled from behind her knees by a stick (actually an old fencepost) carried by our Labradors, who were running side by side with it clamped in their jaws. It could have been serious but I could stand up for laughing.

@Littlescottiedog

The title made me think this would be about somebody like a sprinter clutching a walking pole... Bit disappointed, I have to admit.

Me too I was hoping for an uplifting blind marathon runner story.

...couldn't...🙄

My brother fell on a stick he was running and jumping around with and it went through his chin. He ended up in hospital and is scarred for life.

OP, YABU.

My brother fell on a stick as a child straight into his eye. Still makes me queezy thinking about it all these years later. Luckily he didn't lose his eye altogether

Twig or stick makes no difference to the child. Depending on Farquar's age you cannot tell him "It is OK to run with a really, really bendy stick that couldn't possibly impale you or permanently damage your eye. But if it has any amount of sturdiness/impale-ability about it then please don't run around with it."

You just say "Don't run with sticks".

4 years olds fall over their feet quite easily and it could poke an eye out. I would stop it. I also hate little kids running around with things in their mouths, such as lollipops or pencils.

Having worked in A&E I can assure you kids poke things in their eyes on a regular basis.

Yanbu op! Anything can be dangerous. My friend was playing and git something in her eye which caused her sight loss. I was running and fell down an uncovered drained. My son was playing and fell over and broke his arm. Let's ban all playing in case someone gets hurts. And running. Only walking slowly is allowed.

No running with scissors, pencils, sticks... this is pretty basic good advice.

I'm a bit meh about the pigeons. Rats with wings.

Usually i agree let kids be kids but then my cousin tripped playing with a stick when we were young, it went through the roof of her mouth and she had to have surgery. Kids can still play with sticks, wave them around, its just safer to say dont run with them. Same concept as scissors. Use them dont run with them.