Royal guard video kicking child in the way

[DickMabutt73962]

I wasn't born and raised in the UK and am not into the culture of 'tradition' but I don't understand the majority of reactions to this video blaming the parent and saying of the guards 'it's their job'.

Can anyone more enlightened explain to me why this was necessary? As far as I can see the guard is marching, not saving London from attack. I don't see why a side-step wouldn't work. And if this is a register thing then maybe future control of how close members of the public are able to get in their path

www.indy100.com/viral/queen-royal-guard-trampled-kid-tiktok-video-b1983965

The number of people twisting themselves in knots to blame anyone but the parents who should have kept their kid out of the way of soldiers doing their jobs.

You take a kid somewhere like that then you need to keep an eye on them.

@PurpleCarpets

I agree OP. SMH; it had to be a little Black boy.

How is that relevant in any capacity?

No one was hurt. The whole story is only relevant at all because it looks absolutely awful, and is a dreadful piece of PR, and that fact makes it worse, given the history of the British army. A small black child is brutally kicked out of the way, quite pointlessly, by two British soldiers armed with guns performing a pointless piece of theatre in fancy dress in front of dozens of tourists. That's how it looks. There might be archaic reasons for them behaving like this. But those defending it are sounding rather like the apologists for the lack of the Royal Standard on the flag pole at Buckingham Palace after the death of Diana.

If that's how it looks you clearly didn't watch it. Anyone inferring racism is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone acting as if a child was trampled on is an idiot.

@KeflavikAirport

and if the primary purpose isn't theatre for tourists, perhaps consider updating the archaic expression "make way" to something a modern non-native speaker might understand more easily?

Honestly get a grip. It’s not up to the soldiers to learn commands for non native speakers. It’s up to people to keep out of their way. It’s not DisneyLand, it’s real life.

I hope this family are in fact American, and I hope they lawyer up. The entire environment looks like the setting of a completely preventable tragedy

I’m sorry but you are hilarious

Your posts keep on giving you’ve made my morning

The number of people twisting themselves in knots to blame anyone but the parents who should have kept their kid out of the way of soldiers doing their jobs

Thank God they're in the minority.

A child (not an infant, not a young child) was knocked over when said grown man was doing his job. That is what happened.

@ufucoffee - are you really going to split hairs here? It matters to you so much that you want to create a distinction between 'child' and 'young child'?

I did not use the word 'infant'. I used the phrase 'young child' because the young child in the video looks to be about 8, not 11, 12 or an older minor. Go ahead and quibble about this if you wish. It's your own time you're wasting.

A grown man made a very poor decision not to deviate from the path along which he was marching at a solid speed and instead ploughed into a child who had no time to process or follow the order roared in archaic English which preceded the impact by less then one second, knocking the child under his feet onto a hard paved surface.

The irony here is for a kid, seeing the soldiers is probably one of the best bits... better than some shiny bits of jewellery or rooks...

I hope this family are in fact American, and I hope they lawyer up. The entire environment looks like the setting of a completely preventable tragedy

FFS!

Some people don´t know how to behave around soldiers on active duty, ,and that includes marching. In my home town, soldiers and legionnaires march during Easter through town. You stand in their path at your peril. They don´t move out of the way, you do. We learn this from an early age.

There is an etriquete and expectation that the guards do their thing regardless of anything else going on around them. It’s almost part of it. So 99% of parents would be aware that you need to keep your children out of the pathway. Usually though there are uniform police who sort of usher people, so this doesn’t normally happen.

I don’t think it’s a particularly big deal. The child was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. To me it looked like the guard tried to sort of step over him. The mantra they will have beeen taught is to keep going, no matter what goes on. So I don’t think he did anything wrong. There should be police about who would then check on the kid and sort the crowd out. It’s not callous, it’s just having different roles.

Etiquette

Because when they look back and get distracted is the moment when someone with less than good intentions can try to take advantage of said distraction and try to get the weapons off them, for example. Those aren't for show, those are loaded and armed rifles.

Exactly. They are trained to ignore these kind of distractions as it is common for children to be used to distract soldiers in operational situations.

The kid was fine, people should know you don’t get in the way of soldiers.

The hyperbole of “trampled” “shocked gasps” in the reporting is ridiculous.

@PurpleCarpets

The Queens Guard aren’t a tourist attraction. They’re professional soldiers who are doing their duty.

This is somewhat disingenuous. They absolutely are a tourist attraction. They wear fancy dress, and they perform strange rituals. If they want to be treated as serious soldiers by the public I'd suggest they dress down and cut out the romantic bits.

🤦‍♀️. That really is all there is to say to this comment.

Can you imagine the consequences if this happened in Russia, China, and even the Vatican.
No let's just moan and complain because it's in the UK.
Or maybe the parents of children in other countries wouldn't let their child run in front of an
armed parade.

Well he didn't kick him. Lookalike he tried to dodge him and then stepped over. He is doing his job. Not a tourist attraction. And if he had stopped and went to check the child or turned around he would most likely get into trouble. He's a soldier. Not a bloke playing dress up

I said about 18 pages ago (before anyone else lol) that they flipping shout ‘make way for the queen’s guard’ before they set off!

It’s not their fault!!

@Restart10

So the child stepped in the way knowing full well the guards were approaching? Dont have sympathy for that and hope he learns his lesson for being so stupid. This isn't a toddler or something, he looks old enough to know better.

The child was pushed by his sibling.

real soldiers who are on duty with loaded weapons

But tourists don’t see that - they see a royal pantomime. Understandably so IMO given the soldiers are wearing two foot tall hats - most unsuitable for modern combat, and are marching about in neat little squares which a wily ten year old would be able to evade. Oh and the fact that the area is swarming with laughing and joking tourists.

OP please ask MN Towers to change the title of your post - I think you now realise that the child was not kicked.
It was an accident and thankfully the child did not appear hurt. I expect risk assessments will be reviewed. If the public can't act safely around these working soldiers then either the public need to be excluded or additional warnings put in place.
OP you are utterly unreasonable to criticise the working practices of these soldiers from what you acknowledge is a position of zero knowledge.

The parents should have made sure the kid was out of the way. The soldier is on duty, doing his job.

When they shout “make way” bloody well move then incidents like this won’t happen.

Take a look at the video and time the interval between the roared command and the impact.

www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1476195393235001348

Would you seriously expect your child to have the foggiest idea what was going on and what was expected of him in the split second he had to 'moike woi'? First day in England, possibly on a plane all night, possibly not speaking English, possibly stunned at the harsh roar he heard?

Of course you would, because this is MN.

Child learns valuable lesson. The End.

A grown man made a very poor decision not to deviate from the path along which he was marching at a solid speed and instead ploughed into a child who had no time to process or follow the order roared in archaic English which preceded the impact by less then one second, knocking the child under his feet onto a hard paved surface.

A soldier on duty, carried out his role as he has been trained to do. If he had deviated he would likely have been disciplined.

Some people don´t know how to behave around soldiers on active duty

Yes, those of you shocked by this and other videos showing similar, not go down a you tube rabbit hole of people interfering with soldiers on duty, particularly at Buckingham Palace or similar. People think it is funny to jump around them, touch them, be rude to them, trying to make them laugh. They are there for a purpose, let them do their job.

I’m glad these men and women are trained to focus.

TheFairyCaravan you're missing the point. If it's about security, then you'd expect the effectiveness of the process to be the prime concern. Hats that impede vision + strict routine + unwillingness to contemplate any change (such as changing language to make it more accessible) do not make for effective security. Letting crowds mill around where inevitably shit will happen but not planning for it does not make for effective security.

@mathanxiety I can't tell if you are being serious or not. You arguments are so ridiculous and pompous. The kid clearly wasn't trampled. It was the kids/kids parents fault.

OP, you thread title is really silly and over the top.