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.

Ok we get it. Many of you never understood about the virus or lockdown so it just looked bewilderingly like the government and the shops, etc were bullying you.

Eventually this will be over so don't bother trying to understand it now. Just wait it out.

Ineed There is one thing in stopping an elderly frail person who may possibly die if they go out shopping or to a garden centre and catch covid, and quite another to stop a perfectly healthy child entering - especially given their risk is tiny. I am also pretty sure your mother is not being asked not to come!!!

Jeez

Why are you even comparing the two?!

Ok we get it. Many of you never understood about the virus or lockdown so it just looked bewilderingly like the government and the shops, etc were bullying you.

LOLOL.

Bless you. What a silly-billy you are.

I've experienced fewer issues with kids being out than adults - why do couples need to go to the shop/garden centre/supermarket together? Or friends wandering around using it as a social event, whilst picking up a few bits. Why should that be allowed if kids aren't? Nowhere is enforcing that rule of one shopper only any more, or has been since the very first few weeks of lock down. These people in small groups aimlessly wandering make it much harder for anyone to socially distance than a child walking at the side of their parent or sat in a trolley!

Plus to the person who said we're still being told not to go out very much - well why are they opening 'non-essential' shops and businesses then? By their very definition no one would need to go there. Ridiculously confusing messaging as always so they can blame the public for not following the vague 'rules' if deaths start to increase.

ineed A child can spend their money on flowers in a garden centre in the same way that anyone else would! Why are they being relegated to a second class citizen. It is entirely unacceptable, and I would be making my feelings very clear both to the garden centre and the local paper.

I don't want to live in such an unfriendly country that thinks it is okay to discriminate others due to age.

Many shops are stopping couples going into shops, it is not discriminating against children, it is limiting numbers.

I have NEVER seen any couple refused entry nor on any website telling couples to stay away!!!! You are making this up. It would be the death knell of most functioning businesses (if covid wasn't already enough!)

I have seen shops only letting one person in a couple in, the other has to wait outside.

They are doing that in the shops near us, why is it a death knell. As said before they have to limit numbers, so unless you are a carer they are limiting adults to one

I am glad I don't live where you are !!! We are sensible and people that queue to go to a shop do not get asked to wait outside or at the back of the queue until their dp finishes

I think my post has shown that a lot of people would prefer shops / garden centres to be child free areas anyway.
I didn't specify in my op but I have 3 young children.
One has actually been lucky enough to go back to school as he is in yr1, which he is thrilled about . For those saying children are dirty and don't wash their hands , they would be amazed actually at how quickly children do adapt and learn quickly about when to wash hands etc and this becomes part of their normal routine, sometimes reminding adults. That being said how are we guaranteeing adults are effectively hand washing. Surely when you have children with you you all wash hands at the same time.
The reason for my post is not that I'm desperate to drag my kids round a garden centre letting them pick everything up and run riot . But the fact that these places are advertising as being open yet asking people not to bring children which I just find intolerable . As a mother who had a baby a week before lockdown started I just find it so insulting to myself and my family to actively discourage me from taking my children.
Yes maybe some of you will think that is entitled but now all "non essential" shops are open why are children being discouraged to attend?
Thanks to the pp for the advice that parents should be entertaining their children .... I have been yes for three months we have been going to parks they enjoy it but it's boring now. We have also been in the garden a lot.... growing lots of plants and vegetables which two of them have been actively involved in . Yet they are being frowned upon for entering a gardening store.
I agree with other posters that have been far more eloquent than me in saying that children are being discriminated against.

@pigeon999 I have personally seen couples/groups of adults being refused entry into supermarkets with only one of them being allowed to go inside. My Sainsbury’s even has a designated place for them to wait (other side of entry queue)

@dingledongle
Imagine the uproar if people were told 'no over 60's' or 'no adults allowed'
Oh there is uproar- accelerated to manager, national organisation and numerous phone calls when I gently suggested an 80 couldn't join us a new charity volunteer...

I'm surprised at this, they are going back to school aren't they, because supposedly they are low risk? What are we all worrying about then? Or is it just a pain to accommodate other people's children?

Definitely because of the parents who are freestyle & let little Rupert climb up the hydrangeas and pull the flower heads off on the other side of the garden centre whilst the parent studiously ignores him or says ‘boys will be boys’ with a tinkly laugh...sadly you can’t just ban the shit parents so everyone suffers!

I won't take my 11 month old daughter shopping with me just yet. Doesn't quite sit well with me yet and I don't want to risk anything when I can go shopping alone when my husband gets in from work.

Imagine the uproar if people were told 'no over 60's' or 'no adults allowed'

Would make more sense given the risk. If the over 60s complain perhaps they could go for a nature walk or do some crafts at home or walk a few circuits around the local park instead? Apparently children should still be lapping that up after 3 months, so surely their grandparents can manage...

"Would make more sense given the risk. If the over 60s complain perhaps they could go for a nature walk or do some crafts at home or walk a few circuits around the local park instead? Apparently children should still be lapping that up after 3 months, so surely their grandparents can manage..."

This exactly!

Vote with your feet op, put it on SM and go elsewhere. Somewhere friendly and kind to children. When they go bust then it will be their own silly fault.

Adults that actively dislike children are the worst, they seem so bitter and unkind. Even before I had children I could spot one of these types of people a mile away.

Why would a child want to go to a garden centre anyway.

Ds (5) loves garden centres plus thanks to MiL he loves gardening plus all of ours normally have play parks/fairy walks etc. They've spent years marketing themselves at parents with children.

I'd much rather shop where there were no kids. IME they tend to run around unsupervised shouting and screaming .

I think it is disgracefu.

children and parents of primary school age children / pre-school children in particular have been forgotten about / left to just suck it up / get on with it.

But none of these attractions are open at the moment. So there's no point in dragging a child round. That's my opinion. Cafe isn't open and toilets not either. Quite sensible I think to discourage them at the moment. I agree they are nice places to visit with children but not with all the restrictions in place.

It's more about numbers than children. If 4 adults turned up in a group, rather than a parent and 3 children, they would ask if an adult could go in on their own, especially if there was a queue.

In some shops near me, small town, only person is allowed in a shop at a time. Only 3 in Boots, only 2 in Lloyds.