Christmas Day walk in Sandringham

[Phase42]

This is such a strange thing....so the royal family walk along a stretch of path every year and people gather to watch them. These people try to talk to the Wales children and give them presents. They are photographing the children, taking selfies, etc. I think the kids are far too young to do this. It is so odd.

How on earth do William & Catherine think this is okay?!

They don’t let the children eat it in case it’s been tampered with in some way. It’s “fan food”.

So they think these fans might want to do the children harm by tampering with the chocolate, but then allow them to be hugged and take selfies with those same fans that may want to harm them.

There's an amusing clip doing the rounds with Princess Anne receiving flowers and saying " are you sure? I'm probably the last person standing" ( or similar) 😂

I used to chaperone for a panto. After the panto the tradition was that the cast lined the stairs as the audience left and chatted to them.
We've have about 20 children aged 5 to 16.
They loved doing that. Absolutely loved it.
There were occasions we didn't let them do it, either because we had a known or potential risk in the audience or they were out of hours, or other reasons, and they were far more disappointed than the time we had to pull them out of the second half of the panto due to licencing rules. In fact, their first question when we said that they'd need to be collected was could they come back to do the stairs (the answer was no).
They did occasionally get gifts. They often had hugs, although we discouraged it, and we did try and discourage photos too, but they did happen.

We risk assessed, and there were measures put in place to try and put risk factors down, including at times a front of house volunteer checking the audience for a specific known risk, in those cases often to a particular child, although in at least one case it would have been police called to remove him immediately.

I'd assume something similar. That if there was a known or potential risk, then they would be removed.
I'd suspect they have a phrase or word that if the security use, the children know they immediately leave, and similar things like that. We had little things like that that if we used a specific phrase it was a case of barrier the children and get them out asap.
And I'd also assume that the children do actually enjoy doing it. They looked like they did.

How dare you introduce some common sense to this thread 😂

😂 Love to read a post where a bit of good old fashioned common sense has been applied.

Good post @MargaretThursday 😊

I think this is different to the panto analogy though (sorry to pour cold coffee on the common sense!). Being in a theatre production is an absolute high, afterwards you want to carry on the celebration, see the joy of the audience, be congratulated on a great performance. There's a point to a panto audience meeting the cast. These kids are being pawed at, photographed, praised for... being Royal and walking to church?! It's bonkers.

I think it’s quite a good analogy by MargaretThursday. I imagine similar (and higher) child safe guarding measures were in place and sufficient risk assessments made.

Some audience members let themselves down and that can happen anywhere 🤷‍♀️

Also you’d be surprised at how much stuff even the smallest level of ‘fame’ or notoriety gets you.

i used to work in local journalism many years ago and people were always bringing us homemade cakes and cookies, boxes of chocolates etc. you accepted it to be polite but it all went in the bin. You just can’t risk it.

If the panto audience was made up specifically of people who had sought out photos, videos and information about the children since their birth and had gone there with gifts specifically to give to particular children in order to entice them to come close enough to hug or photograph then - then it's equivalent.

Did any of the audience members say, I really love little Jenny, she's 6, I've got a collection of her baby photos and I come and watch her in every show, I brought her favourite kind of teddy and hopefully she'll come close to get it and I can hug her! She might remember me, I stood outside her house on her birthday.

Or maybe if they did they'd be one of those known risks 🤔

@VikaOlson
I stood outside her house on her birthday

And I slept on a park bench for 2 weeks waiting till she was born!

The panto kids don't have the protection of the Wales children.

The common sense view is that this walk happens every year. The attendees are screened. The regulars are probably vetted for potential risk.

The Wales family have good security. Harmless obsessive aren't a threat.

Hopefully - and presumably - the children are listened to if they experience discomfort, and are empowered to act on any discomfort.

I have just helped DD with a situation she found uncomfortable, nothing malicious but being pressured to go to a Church youth group she doesn't want to go to. But doesn't want to hurt/offend the person inviting her. We came up with several things to say, from the blunt to the tactful. She can choose which she uses, and has my full support (including offending the person inviting her if they are offended).

I have no reason to think the Wales children aren't also listened to, and supported to find their own boundaries - informed by risk assessments.

But if you are determined to hold W&C to a higher standard than other parents, then of course it is a PARENTING FAIL!!!!

As opposed to the on-going conversations with your growing children about handling life situations. Which every parent does.

Hopefully - and presumably - the children are listened to if they experience discomfort, and are empowered to act on any discomfort

Good god, they are 6, 9 and 12 (or whatever) what children can express their discomfort with this?

Of course they will with people they trust.

DD is adopted, it's no secret.

She had random people projecting all sorts of things at her, about what her birth parents would be thinking and feeling, about what she 'should' be thinking and/or feeling.

We talk about it. She's in her late teens and just shrugs off the weirdness, she knows I will always listen to and support her. She can feel sad, happy, worried, excited, whatever. So other people who aren't a part of her life get shrugged off. She knows who genuinely cares and ignores (politely and graciously) the randoms. She's welcome to tell them to fuck off. But they don't matter to her, so she doesn't bother.

Do you have children?

Mine were perfectly able to (and did!) express what they did and did not like doing at those ages. Also very bad at disguising their true feelings - pretending they were happy when they were not, for example.

Yes I have children.

However, if any children want to please their parents they try their best to do that, particularly with these children.
I was tuned into my kids and would have known they would not feel comfortable with this... you will say, well the Wales kids are comfortable with this. However, kids internalise sometimes. They have expectations they have to adhere to whether they like it or not. I don't think a 6 year old can express what they feel.

My children certainly could - at all those ages - as could all their friends, and did so frequently.

I take that as a complete insult actually.

I agree.

Also, even if they do ‘feel comfortable’ or even ‘enjoy’ it, it doesn’t mean it is the best thing for them. That is a parents job to decide and I despair at anyone who says it’s a good thing for children facing crowds of strangers close up who are calling their name, getting their attention with sweets, asking for hugs and talking about their dead relatives.

Thank you.
This is my point.
Children want to do what their parents expect of them. So much more with these three lovely young children.

Take no notice. You will be someone that protects your children and acts in their best interests. William and Kate have not done that on this occasion and some people can’t hear a word against them.

Thank you. I have always been in tune with my children and to think someone insults my parenting in this way is too much.
I wonder what would happen if any of the three of them said "I don't want to do this"
I dread to think.

You know next to nothing about that poster and how they parent her children (or even if they have children) - it’s an anonymous forum!

Children of their ages, especially the younger two, will also have no idea how harmful some adults can be or the issues they can have. It’s too complex for them as they are too young. That is where parents come in.