To feel bad for these kids

[MrsNooneNobodyNowhere]

So every evening/late afternoon me and my partner take our 7mo for a walk around the local park or just around the neighbourhood. And every day we see these same group of kids just roaming around. Two look to be about 10-13 and the other two quite young around 6. They are out every single day, playing in the roads, swearing at passers by and just being a general nuisance to the public.

then we saw the parents, and it was clear the apples didn’t fall far from the trees. They were awful, the dad was smoking marijuana basically in front of the kids and the mum had every fake cosmetic thing going, tan, eyelashes, horrendous nails that look like bird feet and chain smoking cigarettes.

so my issue is this, the world go on and on about helping kids from underprivileged backgrounds with schooling but who on earth is going to police their parents? No amount of investment is going to stop these kids becoming just like their parents and it’s quite clear as a result of their upbringing they have no interest in school or education.

Just enjoy your walk

So they're out of the house and the parents are also there? At least they're not stuck inside in screens. The cannabis isn't great but no idea what her eyelashes or nails indicate about her parenting

Yes but who will stop your children from turning into judgey middle class people?! Won't someone think of the children?

Do you normally enjoy being sworn at while having a park walk? Odd. Takes all kinds I suppose.

I think it can be intimidating to be ‘enjoying the walk’, when there are groups of children swearing and being a nuisance. I don’t see how that is necessarily better than being on a screen indoors. They may be on screens at other times of the day anyway.

I don’t think that smoking, whatever they are smoking, is an example to set to your children.

If the parenting falls below a particular threshold then the schools can make a referral to Early Help, which is the lower levels of children's services intervention. As this is voluntary, the parents would have to want to accept the referral.

If this doesn't happen then the schools just have to keep making referrals until the family meet the threshold for Level 3 or Level 4 intervention. Even 'child in need' plans are voluntary.

I'd also say that you're viewing an isolated set of incidences in the school holidays, that doesnt necessarily equate to no interest in education and schools have various ways of implementing different experiences for children entitled to free school meals or in receipt of pupil premium which you wouldn't see in the school holidays. If the children are wandering around during term time and missing school then this would be picked up by the schools pastoral teams and by the pupil entitlement team at the local authority.