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 😕

i'll say it yet again. A child who doesn't understand that they should not take things which don't belong to them shouldn't be out without supervision.

Exactly.

If I were the OP, that family would cringe at the word “daffodil” for the rest of their lives.

Many of us in the “village” have had it with being disrespected doormats. If the parents won’t teach proper behaviour, the kids will learn it from us.

If that parent were rock-bottom decent, she wouldn’t have left the measly pot without ringing and offering a proper apology.

I agree! Would it be so sweet if the child wanted to give their sibling a present and stole your kids bike? Bizarre.

I can understand them wanting to do something nice for a parent or whoever it is, but it’s a bit insensitive to label something ‘sweet’ when the OP’s clearly upset that something she loved has been stolen from her. That’s it for this year. What if it happens again next year?

My DD is 5, and we’ve recently had a conversation about this when we passed some crocuses in the local park, and she wanted to pick them. I told her that somebody took time to plant them so it would make them sad if they were gone, and that they’re for everyone to look at and will make everyone happy. She now asks about any flowers we pass, if they’re picking flowers, like daisies, or planting flowers, like daffodils. It’s an easy thing to teach your child, although it’s obvious that not everyone feels the need to. IMO, it shows them that it’s not “just flowers”, but that their actions can affect other people, and it’s not kind to steal even that little bit of happiness from others. 💐

I think the point is we don't know anything really. That's the point. We only have one side of the situation, just one perspective. There's others.
People need to remember that we all make mistakes, how old is this child anyway? I'm certain that it's not worth the amount of energy that's being ploughed into this thread. Daffs grow in the wild, there's loads around on the highways & sides of the road.
What's the set up of the gardens for example, do they border the roadway? Did said child assume that the daffs were part of the highway? And therefore wild? If so yes she needs to be advised either way because she obviously can't pick wild flowers. But it doesn't deserve a public dunking or community fucking service. She's just made a mistake. FFS chill out everyone. OP is right, there are worst things going on probably right in their own neighbourhood.

That's how children learn though, you cannot supervise a child 24/7 especially so close to home.
The child thought they were doing something nice, OP complained, child & parents apologised. End of matter.

They probably did. We know nothing.

I'm certain that it's not worth the amount of energy that's being ploughed into this thread. As I posted above, I think we're talking about general principles regarding theft and vandalism now not just this particular child.

Daffs grow in the wild, there's loads around on the highways & sides of the road. Usually because someone planted them. School children, Brownies etc. often do this in my area. Wild daffodils are actually quite rare. Whether wild or planted they shouldn't be picked.

But it doesn't deserve a public dunking or community fucking service. She's just made a mistake Nobody has suggested this but she needs to understand how her thoughtlessness has upset the OP.

The majority of people are simply saying the OP is right to raise with the child's parents, which is what she's done.

I agree it's an overreaction to involve police etc like some are saying. I disagree that it's considered "super sweet" that an 8 year old (which was in OPs post by the way) stole. She does need speaking to by her parents over that, whatever her reasons or thoughts behind it were.

you can keep them to their own home and garden and have them learn on your daffodils and not someone else's.

I agree with this, to be honest. It’s not terribly sincere as apologies go, and it wouldn’t fill me with much confidence that it won’t happen again. It wouldn’t fill me with much confidence that the parent(s) even agree that what she did was wrong . . .

They didn’t. OP made clear that every one of her daffs were taken, and the daffs in the girl’s garden were untouched.

You could apply that argument to literally every thread. We only ever have one person’s perspective. It’s no more true here than it is on threads where you yourself might side with the OP.

The child is 8. The OP has said this.

I certainly think trying to involve the police (who wouldn’t give a toss anyway) would be overkill here. But I also wonder at the thinking of people who seem to think that expecting a face-to-face apology and explicit assurance that it won’t happen again is somehow tantamount to putting the child in Guantanamo Bay.

There are worse things happening all over the place all the time. But if you were to have something that held meaning for you stolen, I wouldn’t tell you to not make a fuss because there’s war and famine and death in the world. And I wouldn’t tell someone who’d just been made redundant ‘at least you’re not the victim of human trafficking’ or someone whose house was being repossessed ‘at least you’re not in a concentration camp’. Your feelings about smaller things don’t stop being valid because of those terrible things. And neither do OP’s. There’s a thread kicking about on ‘toxic positivity’. It’s apposite here.

Are you deliberately trolling me?

I'm pretty sure I've said at least twice that kids might not realise that daffs are different to weeds and shouldn't be picked. I also said (paraphrased) that a parent might not explicitly say not to pick them as they might just assume the kid knows? I definitely said at least twice that I didn't until I gave my mum some daffs and she explained not to. As I also said - I assume your kids never ever made a mistake because you definitely furnished them with every single piece of knowledge they could possibly ever need? By 8 years old?

(I also did say that I had assumed the kid picked them from a verge rather than OP's garden, and, I also said that she was wrong for it!)

So I'm not sure why you're picking a fight with me tbh.

you mentioned me so I mentioned you....its called a discussion.

Is it though? You didn't actually address anything in my post you just decided that a kid who doesn't know daffs shouldn't be picked FROM THE VERGE shouldn't be allowed out alone. And then asked me if I thought parents were condoning the action.

Anyway - was going to add on that another poster said this "they’re picking flowers, like daisies, or planting flowers, like daffodils". An 8 year old PICKING FROM THE VERGE might not know the difference. So i don't think classing that as "not knowing not to take things that don't belong to them" is really relevant under those circumstances.

Capitalised because I'm unsure if you missed the part where I specifically said that picking flowers from a verge is obviously very different than from a garden.

PS this has been a hugely entertaining post. Sorry the actual incident was so upsetting OP.

"you like Tulips do you kiddo? How about I bust your Two-lips, if you pick any of mine?"

@LazyArsedMagician. Surely eight year olds know what daffodils and daisies are? And I don’t think it’s appropriate for any eight year olds to be allowed to roam the streets alone at that age.

I don't they have apologised though. If my children did this then l would be mortified and they would be apologising

It is a worry that they went into a private garden to do this quite apart from the daffodil pinching and not respecting private property there could have been a territorial guard dog out and about. Or even worse a person who would have been delighted to find an unattended 8 year old girl in their garden and invited them in for god knows what. These things are unlikely but it is always important to make sure our children are aware that there could have been danger.

Doubtful. Kids change very quickly.

I think that the age of criminal responsibly is 10 in the UK where presumably we are talking about the planned execution of the burglary.
Yes I agree, you can apply the one sided argument to anything, and it stands still. Personally I think an apology is fine. I would let it go.

I think the OP let it go long ago...it's Mumsnet who is keeping it going.😄

Yup. She engaged for a while and then wrote her final post. I think that she was fed up with some of the sillier comments insisting that she needed to be kinder.