AIBU? Kid's kicking rotting apples in a field / parent had a right go

[TheZanyPanda]

Took my two boys (DS15 and DS13) out for a walk and a picnic in the Yorkshire Dales over the weekend. It was lovely—other families were around, everyone was relaxing, and we found a nice spot in a field to sit for a bit.

After eating, I wanted to read my book for half an hour while the boys let off some steam. Near the edge of the field, there were a few wild apple trees with a ton of bruised and rotting apples all over the floor.

The lads decided to have a bit of a kick-about with them. They spent about 30 minutes mucking about with the already-fallen/rotting apples, kicking them to each other like a football, and stepping / stomping on some. They were in my sight the entire time, weren't shouting or swearing, and were just genuinely having innocent fun.

Out of nowhere, another parent walked over and had an absolute kick-off at them (and then me). She was furious, claiming they shouldn't be "kicking fruit" or "making a mess."

I stood up for the boys and said they were just letting off steam, weren't being rowdy, and the apples were already on the ground rotting anyway so no harm was done. She wasn't having it at all—told me we were "ruining the area for everyone" and said we "shouldn't come back," before storming off.

It totally ruined the atmosphere and has left a really sour taste in my mouth. They're teenage boys having a bit of fun and letting off steam with mushy apples in a field, not vandalism!

Am I Being Unreasonable to think she completely overreacted and was way out of line? Or should I have stopped them?

YBU - They were making a mess and ruining the area, leave the fruit alone. YANBU - Harmless fun with rotting apples, the other parent needs to get a grip!

YABU. Its not your fruit. Destructive, disrespectful and possibly making an absolute mess everywhere if this went on for half an hour.

Thats 3

You should have brought up your children to leave a place as you found it. Fundamental manners snd respect!

I'm on Team 'let them kick rotten apples about in the corner of a field'

This sounds like annoying behaviour to be honest.
It’s not causing harm, but for people nearby it would have been messy and probably loud to witness.
Whilst there’s nothing inherently wrong i don’t think you can look on it favourably either.
I know i would have been roasted as a child for doing that in a public place, and i’d tell DD to stop doing it.

Kicking a ball about is better. Why? Because it’s not making a big mess.

Gosh, didn't expect so many replies or such a split on this!

Just to clear up a few bits as I think people are imagining total chaos:

• The boys weren't booting them everywhere! They'd set up a mini goal with their water bottles and were just passing to each other or aiming for the goal. Very soft kicks too, you can't put much force behind a rotten apple anyway before it explodes anyway! 😂

• They weren't jumping up and down squishing fruit for 30 mins straight either, literally just squished a couple of the soft ones at the end.

• They had old astro/walking trainers on so no damage done to shoes, and there definitely wasn't mush everywhere—it was just right under the trees away from the paths.

It's funny reading through—some people mentioned throwing apples (surely that sends them further and makes way more mess?) or playing football with oranges, which sounds like a sticky nightmare for shoes and a lot more messier!

A couple of posters mentioned apple cricket with windfalls though, which sounds like brilliant fun. Mentioned it to the lads yesterday and they’re desperate to try it, so we're going to collect some rotten ones to play with in our garden this weekend and have a game!

They didn't harm anyone, weren't rowdy, and didn't kick anything near anyone.
Still think it was just innocent fun and the other woman went completely ballistic over nothing!

Of course you do.

We weren’t there and don’t know why she spoke to them or whether she actually went ‘ballistic’ and ‘kicked off’ or if it was the usual MN exaggeration.

But you feel that she was unreasonable so I’m not sure how any opposing opinions are going to help.

I do hope you will be collecting the rotten apples from your own garden though 😬