DD assaulted in Manchester

[Livinganewadventure]

My DD17 went into Manchester with her boyfriend after school. She was being a bit daft practising her sidekicks (Morecambe and Wise style). She accidentally landed about a metre behind a girl and made her jump. DD apologised.

The girl and her female (14-15 years old) friends started ranting at DD. Then, DD was thumped in the face and knocked to the floor. The boys in the group started trying to hit DD’s boyfriend so he couldn’t go and help.

A couple of homeless men asked DD if she knew the girls and when she said, no, they helped her to get away. DD asked the homeless men to go and get her BF. Which they did.

All this happened in a main, busy shopping area, two weeks ago. She’s only just told me as she thought I would probably stop her from going into the city. I don’t know what to do or say. She seems okay and doesn’t want to report it.

I don’t really know why I’m writing on here, other than I’m struggling to get my head around things.

No one does side kicks for ‘fun’ in a busy high street.

@Devon24 - seriously? My best friend did them every Saturday in the middle of the town. It was the 80s and no one ever "jumped" her because of it. Some people called her a clown, but nothing worse. It's the kind of nonsense teens do. I've raised three of them,and they've all had a lot of friends, so it's not like I've never met a teenager.

Someone quoted me above and said they had concerns about the parent being told till weeks later and that somehow seemed dodgy? I probably told my parents less than 10% of what was happening in my life when I was a teen!
Also my brother was a copper for years and once in the line of duty was hit on the head with a bat. He thankfully wasn't more seriously injured, but it has caused him a very small but slight permanent damage to some nerves. My point: he tried to tell our mum as little as possible about the whole matter as he knew she would be very upset and worried. And she was.

A sidekick is a little jump in the air where the heels click/touch to the side. It isn’t a violent action but one of jubilantion. My daughter said the noise of her landing made the other girl jump in surprise. She does wear DM boots so it would make a loud noise. It wasn’t provocation for an attack. She apologised straight away. My DD said she did have redness then slight bruising which she covered with makeup.

When walking down the road?

I was attacked on Princess Street while waiting for a taxi with my friend. The reason? It was after 2am and I just happened to glance in the direction of the coked out female who headbutted me. The police did absolutely fuck all about it.

A heel click is what Dorothy does in her red shoes in the Wizard of Oz. A sidekick involves a jump too.

I do sidekicks and I'm over 50. Eric Morecambe did them until he was 60.

Clever of him, since he was only 58 when he died.

When I was a teen I and my group of perfectly nice friends attracted the attention of a gang of girls who were clearly looking for a fight. This wasn’t in an urban environment but in a village. It was quite frightening, we hadn’t done anything to warrant their interest. Fighting is a pastime for some people, they don’t need any provocation. I’m sorry your DD experienced this, it will probably never happen again.

I’m very glad we cleared up what side kicks are. I would probably avoid doing them anywhere crowded.

This. She was being silly and annoying. She didn't deserve to be attacked but she sounds very immature.

No, it's not. That's clicking your heels together. It sounds rude but... Google it and you'll see

• A heel click (aka leprechaun click) is what you're talking about her doing.
• A side kick is a karate move.

Your OP basically read "my daughter aggressively jumped in the air kicking her leg out like a ninja and landed really close to these young girls, scaring them. They reacted to my daughter's aggression with more aggression and I don't understand why.".

Now that I understand you meant a heel click, landing so closely to those other girls could still appear confrontational. While I don't agree with it, I understand why those girls went on the offensive when they thought they were being (or going to be) attacked.

Yikes. No wonder people are reluctant to report things to the police, tell people etc if some of these comments are going to be the general responses.

Victim blaming at its finest.

Did the other girl think your DD attempted to kick her? It's still not right!

I agree, I’ve got no idea how people are brave enough to post anything on here anymore.

No-one needs to be beaten up in public, but some people like to have a fight, especially if they are in a rowdy group.

My brother walked in front of a car without looking when he was about 16 and the guy in the backseat got out the car and beat him up and then they drove off. This was about 3pm in the afternoon in the summer in a middle-class neighbourhood in full view of the road and the houses. Bizarre.

Jesus , the poor girl got beaten up for daring to have a bit of fun in a public place with her bf
What the hell ?!
She apologised to the girl she made jump it's no different than dancing in a pub and accidentally bumping into someone and apologising , all this "teach your daughter how to behave in public " is victim blaming.
Have none of you ever had a bit of a laugh in public before ?
Op I'm glad she is "ok" it's so hard being a mum when they're older and out and about isn't it

I don't see victim blaming, nobody has said OP's daughter deserved to be attacked BUT a lot of people have said that unfortunately in IS necessary to keep yourself safe in many big cities by not drawing too much attention to yourself.
I spend a lot of time in Manchester and its generally fine but you do have to keep your wits about you a bit, OP doesn't say exactly where this happened but I suspect it was Picadilly Gardens where there are a lot of issues with young people congregating and causing trouble. Its common knowledge
Of course OP's daughter or anyone else should be able to act a bit daft like that but the sad fact is that we all have to be careful not to do anything to antagonise groups who are looking for trouble
I am surprised that at 17 and not unfamiliar with Manchester OP's daughter wouldn't know this.

Tbh those just looked like someone skipping to me on the video someone linked, something we did as kids everywhere? I think there's more to the story, could have easily kicked the other girl and just doesn't want to say anything, there's no 100% honest teen!

It really doesn't matter if she's telling the complete truth or not. Don't overanalyse her. She needs to know you support her.

Kids are allowed to have fun and be a bit silly. It's hardly immature at her age at all.
No one deserves to be attacked. Some people are just looking for any excuse to have a fight

I’ve led a very unsheltered life, which is why I know getting thumped is a predictable consequence of acting like a dick and doing ‘sidekicks’ near other people in the street.

In my 20s, I have been sexually assaulted in the street by a group of young men. About two or three years later a group of teenage boys were walking past me behaving, I suspect, much like the OP’s daughter. Loud, full of themselves, owning a public space, jostling each other - much like the group who had previously assaulted me. As they walked past me, one of kind of flung his arm out right at me as a ‘joke’. But given my past experiences, I didn’t take it as a joke. So I hit him. Not in any premeditated way - it’s fight or flight, anger, panic, fear. The poor lad apologised. He was terrified, actually; I felt a bit sorry for him. But this is an illustration of how what parents might think is their exuberant teen being carefree and silly is the sort of thing that might result in them getting battered.

There certainly is- it’s incredible and sort of upsetting how people love putting the boot in.

Goes to show the benefit of learning some self defense and standing up for yourself

The best form of self defence is to avoid and/or remove yourself from potentially threatening situations
We encouraged DD to take self defence classes and the instructor taught a lot of avoidance and self awareness and said that the physical techniques he taught were ONLY to be used as a last resort. He said that he didn't want his classes to encourage people to stay and fight if they could have run away.

It seems Wellard has entered the chat.