Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbour’s kid picked my daffodils

809 replies

Lucylooloo2 · 21/03/2025 22:48

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 😕

OP posts:
murasaki · 21/03/2025 23:09

Go round to theirs and pick them right back.

Haveacuppaandwaitforthistoblowover · 21/03/2025 23:09

I would be angry tbh! I wait all year for flowers / spring!

Yes it's been done by a child but boundaries have been encroached!

What I will say is get a pot and compost and get yourself down to ASDA, because they have daffodils in little grey pots that are ready to replant! I have done this because mines came up blank this year!

sandrapinchedmysandwich · 21/03/2025 23:10

Mamofboys5972 · 21/03/2025 22:51

I also love having fresh flowers in the garden, especially daffodils. However, that little spark of joy they bring you? They clearly also spark that in others 🥰 maybe that little girl picked them for her mam for mothers day! Super sweet x

What on earth am I reading on here tonight? It is not sweet and lovely to have your flowers stolen from your garden. Flowers that give you joy. It is not the op's responsibility to provide flowers for neighbourhood kids. What's next? Giving them her garden furniture because it gives the 8 year old joy to be able to sit on a rattan chair

ACynicalDad · 21/03/2025 23:15

Pallisers · 21/03/2025 22:54

if you know which neighbour it is I would go to them and say "your dd picked my daffodils today - can't do anything about it now and I know children will be children but I would appreciate if you could explain to her that the daffodils in my garden - just like the wildflowers in the wild - are not to be picked.

There is nothing super sweet about a child picking flowers from someone else's garden. That little spark of joy - gone because the kid picked them.

I remember picking loads of daffodils from our garden for my mum and getting a hell of a telling off, maybe even a smack at a similar age, and saying you never told me. Once I knew I never did it again, I suspect it will be the same for this child. I'd do exactly this.

Sunbeam01 · 21/03/2025 23:15

I couldn't get upset over this because they were picked by a very young child.

Some of these responses are extremely OTT.

Bingbopboomboomboombopbam · 21/03/2025 23:16

Maybe it’s a cultural thing but I find it very weird that a kid that age would think it’s just okay to waltz into someone else’s garden and pick flowers there. It’s not exactly public property.

If you know who it is it’s probably worth mentioning (not in a telling off way or anything) so that they don’t do it to other’s gardens.

Original poster
Lucylooloo2 · 21/03/2025 23:16

Haveacuppaandwaitforthistoblowover · 21/03/2025 23:09

I would be angry tbh! I wait all year for flowers / spring!

Yes it's been done by a child but boundaries have been encroached!

What I will say is get a pot and compost and get yourself down to ASDA, because they have daffodils in little grey pots that are ready to replant! I have done this because mines came up blank this year!

Thank you for the suggestion! I think I’ll do this tomorrow!

Also as a few suggested I’m going to have a quiet word with their parents and let them know what’s happened and that I might not be so forgiving if it happens again.

OP posts:
Violinist64 · 21/03/2025 23:16

I do think that an eight year old knew exactly what she was doing and that it was wrong. However, this brings back memories of my brother aged around four with the little girl from next door but one picking all the daffodils from our next door neighbour's garden then knocking on her door and presenting her with them.

Onelifeonly · 21/03/2025 23:17

She needs to know it was wrong, so you're right to tell her parents.

AInightingale · 21/03/2025 23:19

Not on, the kid is trespassing and really should know better at eight.

My neighbour's daughters did exactly the same and also stole our blueberries. They had the entire plant stripped one day when we were out.

Maybe it's just a generational thing but my parents would have gone through me for a shortcut if I'd been running round our neighbours' gardens for any reason, let alone nicking their flowers and fruit.

Azulejo9 · 21/03/2025 23:23

Aw seriously, these are as cheap as chips, just think about the joy they may have brought her to bring them home to her Mum. Kids at 8yrs old are just that.. kids’

stop sweating about the small things

sandrapinchedmysandwich · 21/03/2025 23:24

Sunbeam01 · 21/03/2025 23:15

I couldn't get upset over this because they were picked by a very young child.

Some of these responses are extremely OTT.

Edited

8 is not a very young child and having things taken from your property that give you joy and that only appear once a year is not ott. Strange that she left the flowers in her own garden intact though 🙄

sandrapinchedmysandwich · 21/03/2025 23:26

Azulejo9 · 21/03/2025 23:23

Aw seriously, these are as cheap as chips, just think about the joy they may have brought her to bring them home to her Mum. Kids at 8yrs old are just that.. kids’

stop sweating about the small things

It's not about the price fgs. It's about the meaning to the op. The child should have picked flowers from her own bloody garden

ClairDeLaLune · 21/03/2025 23:34

Mamofboys5972 · 21/03/2025 22:51

I also love having fresh flowers in the garden, especially daffodils. However, that little spark of joy they bring you? They clearly also spark that in others 🥰 maybe that little girl picked them for her mam for mothers day! Super sweet x

Not sweet at all. It’s theft. Little girl needs to be taught you don’t take what belongs to others. Her “treat” to her mother has deprived OP of her joy.

TitsInAbsentia · 21/03/2025 23:35

I'd have been pissed. Bad enough when kids/people take them from parks but from a garden is just wrong. Can't believe all the posters saying it's sweet 😳

WeylandYutani · 21/03/2025 23:37

I remember a thread on here where OP had a little girl pick her roses. People were suggesting she start bushes to give to the girl. Total piss take.
Maybe suggest that theft is a thing. Or send her to Lidl. 95p a bunch there.

Busybeemumm · 21/03/2025 23:43

I'm with you OP, it's not nice and a child aged 8 should know not to pick flowers from someone's gardens. I would be particularly peeved that the ones in their garden were untouched. You are right to tell the parents.

Agapornis · 21/03/2025 23:44

Why is she even in your front garden?

Busybeemumm · 21/03/2025 23:44

TitsInAbsentia · 21/03/2025 23:35

I'd have been pissed. Bad enough when kids/people take them from parks but from a garden is just wrong. Can't believe all the posters saying it's sweet 😳

I know right, I can't believe that people actually think that this ok. Children need boundaries and need to told by adults when these have been crossed. It's not sweet at all.

Busybeemumm · 21/03/2025 23:47

Sunbeam01 · 21/03/2025 23:15

I couldn't get upset over this because they were picked by a very young child.

Some of these responses are extremely OTT.

Edited

8 years of age is not a 'very young child'.

steff13 · 21/03/2025 23:47

Azulejo9 · 21/03/2025 23:23

Aw seriously, these are as cheap as chips, just think about the joy they may have brought her to bring them home to her Mum. Kids at 8yrs old are just that.. kids’

stop sweating about the small things

Too bad it wouldn't have brought her joy to pick the flowers from her own yard.

KimberleyClark · 21/03/2025 23:48

Sminty2 · 21/03/2025 22:53

I know you loved them and feel sad, I would too but maybe she wanted to give them to her mum or gran and couldn’t afford flowers.
Not saying it’s right to steal but thinking that they may have been picked for a good reason, might take the sting out a little.

She didn’t have to take every single one though. She could have left a few for OP to enjoy.

SquashedSquid · 21/03/2025 23:48

I'd be fuming. Go and pick theirs. Cheeky brat.

IWillAlwaysBeinaClubWithYouin1973 · 21/03/2025 23:48

My kids used to stand and watch, confused and sad, whilst neighbours' kids helped themselves to display flowers planted by the council. I'd never let mine do that, its not sweet at all - its entitled on the part of the parents not to teach their children not to take things that don't belong to them - otherwise you're basically saying nothing in your garden belongs to you, they must be allowed to help themselves to anything they like in the park etc

Clingfilm · 21/03/2025 23:49

I did this as a kid, not inside a garden but on the periphery ( I thought it was waste land...) I got a bollocking off the woman, still haunts me. I don't think kids realise adults plant the bloody things so don't be too harsh but not going inside gardens is something kids learn from a young age so not great that they did that.