Should I have said this?

[forthebirds]

Usually I hate any sort of confrontation and actively avoid it. Just wondered what others would have done in this situation!

I was getting out my car at the supermarket and noticed a family also getting out the car beside me. There was also a group of birds walking about looking for bits of food, just typical pigeons in a car park. One of the kids (aged between 10-12) was running up and scaring them making them fly away, but as I walked past I realised he was running up and trying to kick them. He ran up to a pigeon and nearly booted it and it just flew away, but he wasn’t pretending to kick he was fully trying to kick them with force. I approached his parents and said excuse me, I don’t know if you’ve noticed (not in a sarky way, they were just taking stuff out the car) but your child is trying to kick birds and they went WILD. Shouting at me that it was none of my business and to F* off and that he was just being a child and doing nothing wrong. I realised they weren’t going to see sense and just said like oh ok I just thought it let you know and I walked away but I could hear them shouting things at me as I left. At this point the kids were all running and trying to kick the birds and the parents were laughing about it.

like I said, I would never usually get involved or cause confrontation but FGS imagine allowing and laughing about your older child trying to physically hurt an animal! I suppose I just wondered, would you have got involved and said to the parents like I did? Or should I have minded my own business in the first place?

This 👆

Last time a saw a child doing that, I told it it was evil, and that I hoped that someone much bigger than him would take the same opportunity.
Unfortunately by the look of the parents, they probably did on occasion.

You were not unreasonable and sounds like polite too.

The parents reaction explains the child's behaviour. They behave like dicks and are raising a little psycho.

You were right and they were wrong. Scumbag parents raising the next generation of scumbag parents. Sorry you got shouted at.

You were 100% right. What a depressing place this world is turning into. No standards or moral compass and the advice is just to look the other way. Grim.

Why say something to someone who doesn’t care and whose behaviour won’t change and risk being abused as well? It’s just wasted breath

Yanbu but unfortunately feral parents make feral children.

OP thought they couldn't see the children because they were looking in the boot of their car.

OP you did the right thing but sadly some parents are really just terrible. Their kids learned that behaviour from somewhere and clearly it's from them laughing and encouraging it. Some people are just scum tbh. Shitty parents raise shitty children.

I may have recently ‘Oi’d a teenage boy who was running at birds on the harbour front. It may have been followed up with ‘don’t deliberate run at wild animals and harass them’.

But oh, the death stare I got from the mother!! 😂
It’s as another poster said, would it be ok if it were a cat, a dog, what?

The worst thing was his father had done it 2 minutes earlier, so it was quite clear where he was learning it from.
Pricks.

I wish more people were like you OP so these awful people would just stay home out of shame!

Scummy parents. They've produced a scummy child sadly. Not the child's fault but that's just the way it often goes.

You did a good thing sticking up for the birds. Pity some people are just horrible!

They're scum.
We have a local forest where people go and undoubtedly feel they're being wholesome and at one with nature, but I doubt their social media posts about the day, mention that they ignored their DC chasing and tormenting wildlife.
I recently said something to a boy who was charging at pigeons repeatedly and kicking his legs out.

I would also have said something and I have done. They're absolute low lives and their feral child is sadly following the parents. I can't abide birds being chased or frightened. It's always a certain type of family in my experience.

I would have had to say something if I saw that but it is a risky move these days either parents likely to be as anti social and feral as their kids. These are probably the same little beasts who become serious bullies or worse.

One of our neighbours had bought his son an airgun which he then decided would be great to use to try and shoot the local cats. Problem was that he didn't see me in the garden when he started aiming for ours. Fortunately he was a rotten shot, didn't hit the cat but nearly got me. DH went down and pounded on his door and the dad laughed about it. So the cops were called and they read him the riot act. Kid had the gun confiscated - I think by the dad - for being caught.

These people need to be told and the police called if necessary. One of the reasons I believe this is because of another local incident. A couple of young lads had a reputation for cruelty to dogs. Kicking them to the point a couple had to be put down. This escalated and they were eventually arrested for kicking a homeless guy to death. Abuse, if not stopped, normally only gets worse and violence to animals does often lead to violence to other peoplr.

I predict he will have an article about himself in about 3-5 years and comments from his family will be that "aw but he wouldn't hurt a fly. He went shopping for his nan!" He did hurt a fly, he stabbed a dog and rode over pedestrian on illegal scramble bike