Neighbour’s kid picked my daffodils

[Lucylooloo2]

Just that really, had lots of notifications of movement on the doorbell camera and lo and behold a kid (8ish years old) from a few houses down with a bunch of daffodils in her hand.

Checked mine in my front garden when I got home and Every. Single. One. has been taken.

I’m just really sad tbh. Know there are much bigger problems in the world but they were a little spark of joy for me 😕

Agree.
She had an opportunity there to teach her child a good lesson

Cowards avoiding a potentially awkward situation. It's something but not a great lesson.

When DD was little (4ish) she took a small toy from a toy shop. We went back, returned the toy and apologised. Yes it was awkward, yes the shopkeeper was pissed off some, but it was the right thing to do.

Sorry should have said it was a small ready made pot with a couple of small plants in it

That’s really rubbish. Did she message you back? Very cowardly of her. Not a good lesson for the kid!

I’d be pretty pissed off, OP! Garden daffodils don’t last long anyway, and it’s not as if you get a second flush. Children should be taught that flowers in other people’s gardens are Strictly Off Limits!

Are you serious? The kid stole them! It's not super sweet.

We have no idea if this child is a brat and the neighbourhood terror or if she’s a bit whimsical and head in the clouds (which I was). If I had done this there would have been no ill intent (only childish thoughtlessness). If my mum had sat me down and explained that it’s not the right thing to do and let’s go over there and apologise I would have taken it on board never doing it again. If she’d been very cross and ‘frog marched’ me over there (as a pp said) I would have been mortified and very very upset. It would have caused me great upset and stress as I was a very sensitive kid. I’ve always kept that in mind with my own parenting as my younger son was very sensitive as a child. No need to frog march a kid over there when you can just walk over.

@Lucylooloo2

I'd message "Thank you for the lovely pot by way of apology. Since I didn't get a chance to speak to you I just want to be sure that 'Susie' now understands that picking other people's flowers is not a nice thing to do?".

Tbh any 8 year old who picks flowers from a neighbour's garden already hasn't been taught boundaries and doesn't have a good role model. Better to lower your expectation and move on. Thankfully they have got the message that it's not ok.

There seems to be two extremes though. Oh its sweet (it’s not but we know nothing about this child, if shes a generally a good kid or a terror) to raging and frogmarching.

I remember coming home from a party in my teens, a bit drunk, realised it was Mother’s Day and picked a few daffodils by the roadside …. a police car pulled up and had a word with me.

That wouldn’t happen now but it should!

That is such a disappointing and inadequate way for the mum to handle it and sets a very bad example to her child. She's just taught her child that a face to face apology is a frightening/dangerous thing to do.

It's really no wonder some children behave so badly and struggle with poor mental health ; so many are being raised without boundaries or consequences by parents who do not make them feel like they can keep them safe.

When I had to apologise for things I did as a child one of my parents would come with me to make sure I did it and to make sure I was safe if the person I was apologising to was awful to me. I learnt that people are kind and gracious when you apologise for making a genuine mistake.

I wouldn't be frogmarching anyone anywhere, but I would show my upset to the Mum and child and it would be genuine. I would be more disappointed than raging.

It's still stealing.

Sensitive kids won't do it - kids who are sensitive about themselves, are usually sensitive about daffodils. 'Sensitive' people who are only sensitive about themselves are egoists of the highest order.

Unless they're told by an adult, they don't realise that those are specially planted flowers and not just like buttercups. I know because I did similar at that age and my mum explained to me that while she loved the sentiment, they weren't for picking

Think it's a bit much some calling this child a "thieving little brat".

Also - Mother's Day is next Sunday.

They know that the doorbell camara has every chance of catching them on video, as you say the mother should have knocked the door, made absolutely no excuses for her DD's behaviour and got her to apologise, but let's hope it was more through embarrassment than just plain ignorance that they didn't bother.

Just asked my six year old if it's ever ok to take flowers from someone else's garden. The response was "No, they might not like it". If my six year old understands, I don't see why an eight year old shouldn't know better. No on.

Yep have one but they seem to be adept at jumping it. I'd probably think aww bless about them too if on the odd time I spot one it doesn't stand there giving me a withering look with a mouth full of my roses.

Just quoting myself as I had assumed the daffs were in a grassy verge outside OP's house rather than in her actual garden. That's definitely not on.

@LazyArsedMagician

”Also - Mother's Day is next Sunday.”

and…?! How is that relevant?

Did anyone give you an Alpaca for Christmas. Perhaps that will keep them away 😁

Because at least two people said something about it being sweet they'd picked some daffs for their mum for mother's day.

Knock and say what's happened and can they ensure it doesn't happen again. Did the parents not question where a huge bunch of daffs had appeared from?

Don't mean to derail the thread but you can get a repellent called Grazers that makes plants unpalatable to deer. I use it and it helps to keep the little sods from eating all the roses. It's non-toxic too.