Places actively discouraging children

[Allhallowseve]

Just wondering what other people opinions of this are?
I follow a few local garden centres as we visit quite regularly under normal circumstances. Since they have reopened they are advertising as being open but asking people not to bring children.
I am just finding the way children have been treated throughout this pandemic absolutely awful .... I don't know if it's just me?
Yes I know things could be far worse for them and people are shielding not able to really get out. But garden centres actively discouraging children from visiting?!
Adults are able to meet up in outdoor areas yet it's incredibly hard for children to do the same. Adults can pop out to shops now , grab a coffee maybe do a couple of things they enjoy . However the play parks are padlocked and taped up . Most school year groups are not going back until September , all playgroups , clubs and classes are cancelled. Yet they are the least vulnerable group in society and seem to have been forgotten.

Lots of people in shops today buying non-essential items- ban them!

@ThePlantsitter

LillianBland shhhhh

🤣

Some parents let their children run riot, which is now not only very annoying but also dangerous. Elderly people should be able to enjoy going to the garden centre without worrying about catching covid from a feral child running into them

I can’t work out if you’re stupid, child hating, or just a GF. Either way

My husband and I both work from home. School and nursery still out and likely to be dramatically reduced. Any time I have without the kids is spent working or exercising. I am not going to use my very rare and precious non-child time to go to the garden centre when Amazon will deliver tomorrow.

I would prefer to go to the garden centre for lots of reasons. My kids are very well behaved.

I feel in so many ways, the UK government and British culture is telling working parents with kids that we do not matter.

I'm not a single parent but I can fully sympathise that this hits single parents the worse. My friend leaves her 9 year old in the car as it's that or leave her home alone. It's hardly ideal for her or her dd. Thank God shes not a baby or my friend would stuffed. Her parents are over 70 so is totally on her own with no help.

I used to take my older kids out a lot and they learnt how to behave very well. I had lots of positive comments. but my younger son has ASD so its constant snide remarks so he s not learning tthosetype of skills.

Kids dont turn 18 and just automatically know how to behave I public. They need experiences to learn

Some parents let their children run riot, which is now not only very annoying but also dangerous. Elderly people should be able to enjoy going to the garden centre without worrying about catching covid from a feral child running into them

This reads like satire. I sincerely hope it is, otherwise it’s the most depressing post so far on an already pretty depressing thread.

The othering of young people on here (and I’ve seen the same about teens on a fair few other threads) is unbelievable.

Some of us don’t have a choice about taking children shopping.

My DH and I are having to work alternate days because we have no childcare so there isn’t any day where we are both available to have the children. I work 2 days a week and he does 5. Key worker roles so can’t work from home.

If something is needed from a shop then the one of us at home has to take both children with us. Er are trying to limit this and order online where possible, but at the same time our children need to be able to see the real world every now and again and not be stuck indoors.

At many shops it is one in out out, if 20 customers have a child with them it is going to take a lot longer for customer 21 to enter. Single parents do need to take small children with them, others don’t.

I went food shopping myself for the first time today, fifteen minute queue to get in, there was a little boy of maybe 7/8 running around the veg and salad section of sainsburys touching everything and chucking loose potatoes about. There was one other adult in this section, it didn’t look like the child was with them. Our sainsburys have opened up their fresh baked goods, a little girl was handling the rolls she could reach while her mum/carer ignored her.

At least we have always been able to take our children out. Didn't Spain say children had to be kept indoors for the first 6 weeks.

Our local garden centre is open, but it isn't meant to be a place that you spend ages pottering around at the moment, they have limited numbers allowed in, so with all shopping at the moment, it should be go in for what you want and get out as soon as possible. It is not really a leisure or learning activity for children.

Children behave a lot better than plenty of the adult clods you see out and about - or feel, as they hover over your shoulder or barge right past you. In my personal experience, children keep a much more polite distance than a frustratingly large minority of adults. Many older, and raging if you ask for a little space. 🤔

Blame other parents.

Unfortunately, many parents allow their kids to run riot throughout shops. While this always was a problem, at the moment, shop owners are obliged to conform to certain rules. They can't do that if kids are running around. They won't know that yours are well behaved, so they're being cautious and banning all of them.

Some parents let their children run riot, which is now not only very annoying but also dangerous. Elderly people should be able to enjoy going to the garden centre without worrying about catching covid from a feral child running into them

Assuming this isn't a pisstake, I suppose garden centres, like other stores, could implement special shopping hours for 'elderly people' to buy their essential pot plants, thus ensuring they don't come into contact with a "feral child running into them".

That way, any single parents, or indeed anyone with children who have been deprived of their usual activities for the last three months, could also spend a little time buying essential pot plants.

This is why I do my grocery shopping online in normal times and I'm still doing click and collect.

Of course i could be bashed for being selfish because my disabled ward is a kid and not adult but it clear from posts every day on MN since March that people will bash peoples choices, views etc whatever they do.

There has been some lovely community spirt and there has been some rather scary hate talk too. Overall I think as a mum of young kids it's made me feel more inclined to be more introverted overall and less likely to tell people stuff. Then you cant be judged.

It's not illegal or immoral to take your kids out side of your house OP. Find somewhere you do feel welcome and let other people think what they like. They can hardly report you to police or sue you however much they want to.

It’s been shit for everyone, but they’re not being singled out as some sort of evil plan.

If evil plan is your barometer, you've got the wrong one. It's worse than evil, it's disinterest. Children and their primary carers (let's be honest, mothers) not being on the priority list at all. And something doesn't have to be deliberate to be a problem. Redolent summed it up very well.

I'd agree garden centres aren't exactly the most egregious or important example of this, but it is quite a telling example of the general mentality surrounding the pandemic.

It is an absolute disgrace and a travesty the way children and young people have been treated throughout this. I would make sure not to give my custom to any business currently discriminating against children. Given that the government clearly could not care less about getting children back to school it is up to parents to ensure they do everything they can to minimise the damage this is doing to children's mental health and that includes ensuring they get out of the house as much as possible and are able to mix with society.

Perfectly healthy children are being treated like lepers, I agree it is a disgrace. We should boycott places that have anti children policies and indefinitely. I certainly won't be continuing my support of ANY company that behaves that way.

We were out yesterday, loads of children and babies everywhere - all welcome everywhere just as they should be. There is no excuse to discriminate against some one younger.

You should ping them an email and ask if they have checked with their legal term that they can discriminate in this way. Can you imagine the uproar if they said no over 70s allowed???? Enough said.

**team

There is such a thing as age discrimination and it SHOULD work both ways.

My DM as she is in her 80s was also advised by the government to avoid places like shops where possible. They are not risk free. We made the decision very early on that I would be the person who did the shopping in our house, I also shop for DM and elderly neighbours, as we wanted to limit the risk to one person.

Perfectly healthy children are being treated like lepers, I agree it is a disgrace. We should boycott places that have anti children policies and indefinitely. I certainly won't be continuing my support of ANY company that behaves that way.

Ditto.

My dc love the garden centre because they love growing things, so they are never happier than when they are there choosing sunflowers, seeds etc. They will be the customers of tomorrow, how short sighted of the garden centre. Stupid decision made a brainless jobsworth who has absolutely no idea how this could impact their reputation and future business.

Wholeheartedly agree with you OP and I have thought this from the beginning. The way children’s wellbeing (in every way) has been disregarded during this pandemic has been appalling - even negligent - and says a lot about our government, it’s motivations and priorities

I'm pleased to see that, although they are limiting the numbers to two per household, none of the garden centres near me are discriminating against children at least.

Against single parents with more than one child, yes, unfortunately.

But if places are limited to numbers who can go in a shop at one time, they are not wanting families to come in.