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!

last time we took the kids out there was a group of teens around the same age smoking weed. Not like one joint being passed around, like absolutely chain smoking. Obviously we packed up and left, and there was a little bit of me that was impressed they could still stand after that - but I’d much prefer kids kicking apples.

If they were far away like you said they were, I really don’t think it sounds that bad.

It isn’t ‘food’. It’s rotten wild fruit. They’re not kicking a roast chicken and a wheel of Brie around. It’s no different to kids kicking around in piles of leaves.

They feed birds and other animals whether they’re squashed or not. Birds and insects don’t care if their rotten apples aren’t intact.

It feels like sometimes teens can do nothing right, and just seeing teenagers do anything gets people’s backs up.
Yeah it is messy but fallen apples in autumn are messy anyway. If they’d brought a ball to kick about she’d have likely moaned about that too. No ball games. No bikes. But if they sat on their phones she’d probably judge too.
In the same breath they’ll moan about kids on their bikes in town whilst also complaining that all kids do today is sit at home on their computers.

Yep.

Someone once had a go at me for letting my child hit a tree trunk with a stick (in a pretend battle). He wasn't doing the slightest bit of harm to the tree or anyone. Some people just don't like children and think they should behave like smaller adults.

They feed birds and other animals whether they’re squashed or not. Birds and insects don’t care if their rotten apples aren’t intact.

Exactly. It's not like the birds are only taking the choicest apples back to their nest before popping a napkin on and eating them off a bone china dinner set. If anything mashing them up a bit has done them and the creepy crawlies a favour.

Why is it more relaxing for other people if they were playing with a football, as you suggested, rather than fruit? Personally, I find the sound of a football being kicked repeatedly really quite annoying (not that I'd ask anyone to stop doing this of course).

Not your field and not your apples. If you nd yours can't behave in the countryside perhaps you should stay in the town.

She was being a knobhead for the sake of it. Let kids be kids, all this sniffy ‘they’re a bit old for that’ attitude is sad. Better kicking some rotten apples about and affecting literally no one than staring at phones!

YANBU

She sounds batshit.

I would have told her to fuck off and mind her own business.

Your boys weren’t doing anything wrong.

Another Mumsnet thread where I realise that there are some completely batshit people out there! I can’t believe some of the replies.
OP your kids did nothing wrong at all. But of course you know that!

There is absolutely no problem whatsoever with what they were doing.

For future ref I find just looking at people blankly and uninterested is a good way of handling it when they are making an utter tit of themselves.

Some people just pick at anything where kids are concerned.

It upsets me to see people doing something like this with food and drink. Spewing champagne from bottles at motor racing, bathing in baked beans " for charity" kicking apples, when there are peopleall over the world who are hungry and having to walk miles for clean water. Strikes me as obscene

Come over to me OP - I have a gazillion rotting apples that need kicking in the field for the sheep .. you would be exceptionally welcome . The complainer knows nothing about living in the country .. we spend our late summer /autumn kicking rotten apples …

Boy mum here, exhausted.com - i dont see any harm in it as long as they arent harming anyone else.

What has kicking a few fallen apples around got to do with people in faraway counties not having a clean water supply?
Should we be gathering the apples up and shipping them over there?
The apples are unlikely to be fit for human consumption anyway, they will be full of maggots 🙄

YABU and you know it. If nothing else you shouldn’t be “having a kick about” there.

What, at the edge of a big field? Why the hell not?

I wouldn’t have been impressed to see two teenage boys kicking and stomping fruit on the floor. It’s just so unnecessary to make such a mess of an area that other people and animals want to use. It’s just destruction for the sake of it. I wouldn’t have said anything to them or you but can completely understand why someone did.

I have two brothers and this is the kind of thing I can imagine them doing when they were the same age as your boys! No harm done at all. The apples were already on the ground rotting and nobody was going to come and pick them up so it’s not like they won’t be a mushy mess in a few weeks anyway.
Some people just have a problem with teenagers especially boys.

But nobody was going to eat rotten apples off the floor!! Apart from animals perhaps but they will still eat them after being kicked around

So we should send the rotting, maggoty, half squirrel eaten, mud covered stinking apples to the poor?

Did you not realise that its apples? They are organic and wont harm the environment

Goldensprat

Someone once had a go at me for letting my child hit a tree trunk with a stick (in a pretend battle). He wasn't doing the slightest bit of harm to the tree or anyone. Some people just don't like children and think they should behave like smaller adults.

how is hitting a tree not damaging it? I think my issue is that all the examples give, they’re so destructive- so you have the kids kicking the apples, you’re not there when they’re teens in town kicking litter or stones around. We say boys will be boys but that’s been proven to be crap now because letting boys off being destructive can lead to asshole teenage and adult behaviour

Complete non issue. I’d probably have laughed tbh.