Stupid idiot children!!

lastchancer said:
Sorry but it's not the OP's job to educate other peoples kids. Not sure why this country feels that we have some duty of care towards the Lazy, feckless and/or idiotic, or their offspring.
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I missed the bit where the OP says the little girls were lazy and feckless.

Certainly, it isn't anyone's job to educate other people's children, but surely, explaining why a 5 year old girl could have been kicked in the head without making a judgement about her background and social worth, is what being a member of a community is all about.
 
I pass a local school a couple of times a week riding out & yes the children ran up to him at first & I gently told them not to run at him as he may get scared. I then encouraged & welcomed them to stroke his nose. They asked his name & age etc... Now when we pass they always say hello & pat him. Two minutes of my time to educate & letting them get to know about horses may stop one of them treating animals bad in the future is priceless imo.
 
lastchancer said:
Sorry but it's not the OP's job to educate other peoples kids. Not sure why this country feels that we have some duty of care towards the Lazy, feckless and/or idiotic, or their offspring.
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It's the job of every adult to educate the young.

What's the alternative?
The society we have now.

Years ago an adult wouldn't have hesitated in reprimanding children, whoever their parents were, if they were behaving badly. And then following it up with a word with the parents.

It's people postulating the idea that nobody has a right or duty to reprimand or educate children that has got us into the state we are in.

Funny how everybody is so keen on their rights and never so keen on their duties.
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
It's the job of every adult to educate the young.

What's the alternative?
The society we have now.

Years ago an adult wouldn't have hesitated in reprimanding children, whoever their parents were, if they were behaving badly. And then following it up with a word with the parents.

It's people postulating the idea that nobody has a right or duty to reprimand or educate children that has got us into the state we are in.

Funny how everybody is so keen on their rights and never so keen on their duties.
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I believe from the description of the situation that that is what the op did (reprimand the children and then visit the parents that is), that might have been what you were saying though :)
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
It's the job of every adult to educate the young.

What's the alternative?
The society we have now.

Years ago an adult wouldn't have hesitated in reprimanding children, whoever their parents were, if they were behaving badly. And then following it up with a word with the parents.

It's people postulating the idea that nobody has a right or duty to reprimand or educate children that has got us into the state we are in.

Funny how everybody is so keen on their rights and never so keen on their duties.
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Excellent post. The last sentence is sadly very true.
 
ester said:
Why not? That sounds like you'd never do anything to help anyone a bit!
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You'd probably be very surprised...

However I reserve my efforts for those who actually deserve and appreciate them.
Divvy kids like that would most likely learn more from a short sharp rollocking than a long boring lecture anyway :)
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
It's the job of every adult to educate the young.

What's the alternative?
The society we have now.

Years ago an adult wouldn't have hesitated in reprimanding children, whoever their parents were, if they were behaving badly. And then following it up with a word with the parents.

It's people postulating the idea that nobody has a right or duty to reprimand or educate children that has got us into the state we are in.

Funny how everybody is so keen on their rights and never so keen on their duties.
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All true
That's why I think that the OP was justified in reprimanding the kids.
However it does get tiresome when you come across the ignorant and irresponsible every time you go out on a horse or in a car.
 
I think you did the right thing telling them off there and then but to be honest I wouldn't bother going to the parents this time.
You told them off and they know they did something stupid or at least you scared them into knowing they did something wrong with you making them cry.
With anything animal or human you don't keep going back and punishing them over and over for the same thing. You tell them of so they know they did wrong and then I'm afraid you have to let them learn from their mistakes (hopefully!!)
Hopefully now you've slept on it an calmed down yourself (I would have been livid too) you can see the best thing is now just to let it lye.

However if anything like this happened again I'd be straight round to the parents, marching the kids with me. To be honest it doesn't sound like they would pay much attention or do anything about it if they leave 5 young children on there own...perhaps not the role model those kids need!!
 
Thanks to the sensible replies! Just some responses....

To the poster who thinks I 'barged through them stressing my horse out' ?!?! I would never ever ride my horse over small children!! It's worries me you would think anybody would?!

Again. I didn't swear!! Honestly! It might be what others do when they are angry but have more control over my language.

The children may of been playing. But it wasn't appropriate play?
If they had been taunting a dog or chasing a cat would that of been ok? What about playing chicken on a main road?
Kids play, if they don't learn consequences to their actions when that 'play' endangers themselves or others then what will they do next and what kind of accidents would happen.

Put it this way. If you saw my face splashed across the daily mail this morning something a long the line "kiddies killed by feckless horse rider" it would he a different story, if those children had been kicked in the head, as could of happened this would be a different post.

I do not run a petting farm and will not be encouraging the local children to come and pet my horse, I will continue as always, wave back when they wave and say hello.
I really don't think I'm alone in wanting tiny children in sandals to stay at a safe distance from nearly a tonne of unpredictable animal with metal on its considerable feet.
 
I really don't see what's wrong with telling naughty children off??

If I'd run out into the road and pulled a horses tail (not that I would, I had too much respect for my elders, like most children used to have....) I would have expected to be reprimanded fairly severely - not have a quiet kind lesson about why my actions were wrong.

If children make a mistake, then they should be educated.

If they do something effing stupid they should have a good telling off. Maybe they'd have a bit more respect.

It's a shame the world is coming to a state where people are scared to tell a silly, naughty child off for fear of upsetting it :rolleyes:
 
I don't think anyone is saying that they would be scared to tell them off, just that they would have dealt with it differently. Fwiw I always felt worse having been given a calm talking to than being shouted at- poss because dad did the former and he didn't do it often so made it really serious. I very much expect personal experience is playing a huge part in people's opinions.
 
Ebenezer_Scrooge said:
I pass a local school a couple of times a week riding out & yes the children ran up to him at first & I gently told them not to run at him as he may get scared. I then encouraged & welcomed them to stroke his nose. They asked his name & age etc... Now when we pass they always say hello & pat him. Two minutes of my time to educate & letting them get to know about horses may stop one of them treating animals bad in the future is priceless imo.
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I'm interested in this. Are you saying that when you pass a local school, children run out to see you and your horse? And they are allowed to stroke him and generally have a chat? This in school hours?
 
I think in the heat of the moment people react a certain way especially if took by surprise and you don't know what the hell happening next. I was out in my fairly green 5 yo the other day and I also had a group of screaming kids come running out of a garden after me, I felt like the pied piper, luckily none if them decided to hang from my horse
 
Buds_mum said:
Thanks to the sensible replies! Just some responses....

To the poster who thinks I 'barged through them stressing my horse out' ?!?! I would never ever ride my horse over small children!! It's worries me you would think anybody would?!

Again. I didn't swear!! Honestly! It might be what others do when they are angry but have more control over my language.

The children may of been playing. But it wasn't appropriate play?
If they had been taunting a dog or chasing a cat would that of been ok? What about playing chicken on a main road?
Kids play, if they don't learn consequences to their actions when that 'play' endangers themselves or others then what will they do next and what kind of accidents would happen.

Put it this way. If you saw my face splashed across the daily mail this morning something a long the line "kiddies killed by feckless horse rider" it would he a different story, if those children had been kicked in the head, as could of happened this would be a different post.

I do not run a petting farm and will not be encouraging the local children to come and pet my horse, I will continue as always, wave back when they wave and say hello.
I really don't think I'm alone in wanting tiny children in sandals to stay at a safe distance from nearly a tonne of unpredictable animal with metal on its considerable feet.
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I think you behaved calmly and applaud you for trying to go back to talk to the parents. You told them off, big deal, it was necessary. It could have very very easily been a different story if your horse had kicked out. And what if you had just smiled and made nothing out of it and the children did it again..and WERE kicked. I don't have children, but I have endless access to nephews and small people at the yard and honestly don't think any of them would have dreamed of behaving like that.
 
As a parent myself if my daughter did something like that I'd be horrified and thank the rider for telling her off after apologising myself.
Even at 5 and younger she knew not ever to run on the road or hurt animals (which tail pulling would come under)
They totally deserved what they got and could have been saved from serious injury by the op who's probably stunned them into never doing it again,

How do we know adults were not In the house? ... Just a wonder!
 
I got told off by a mother once for yelling "STOP!" repeatedly at two small children (probably under 6) running at our horses shouting "Horsie! Horsie!" and likely heading for the full-speed leg-hug. Oh, and one was dragging a huge broom across gravel as they came.
"You shouldn't shout at them, you frightened them" she said.
"I would rather frighten them than see them hurt. In fact, I'd rather frighten them than see me hurt...".
So she ushered them a short distance away (no chance to let them pat horse that were by now ready to head off at speed). Then she walked off and left them at the side of the road and guess what? They started running towards us again, with the broom...
Op, sometimes when we see it all going horribly wrong the words that come out might not be ideal, but personally I think there was nothing wrong in you reacting as you did.
:-))
 
Think of it this way - if you were driving in your car and some small children ran out in front of you, fully aware that you were there, would you wind your window down and have a nice, quiet gentle word? Well, this did happen to me once - and what I actually did was get out and have a very firm word, pointing out in no uncertain terms that they could easily have been very badly hurt or even killed. And yes, they did cry, which was unfortunate, but better a few tears that show they've got the message than another victim on the roads.
OP's situation is similar and I've been there myself. Last year some small kids were messing about with spud guns in their gardens and ran out saying 'let's shoot these horses!' I was totally horrified and suffice to say that they got a very sharp telling off!

Thing is, if any of these kids had ended up being kicked and badly hurt, who do you think would have the finger pointed at them? OP is right about the potential tabloid headlines, no doubt followed by hundreds of idiot adults campaigning for banning horses from our roads because they are such a danger to children.

When riding through the estate we do get kids shouting 'can I stroke your horse?' I say yes, but don't run, walk to the side, etc - and then tell them nicely how horses are easily scared and the best way to approach them, etc. However, the other week I noticed that the kids who came up to us were wearing no shoes at all and were walking in the middle of the road!!! Not good parenting, but I bet that if my horse had casually shifted its foot and caused a great deal of damage it would have been my fault rather than that of the parent who allowed them to go barefoot on the tarmac!
 
I do think its the job of all adults to educate other peoples children on things like how to behave around horses, as its something most kids don't meet everyday. Lets face it most adults don't know how to behave full stop!
We always took the girls schoolfriends to the field with us, where they could run around and play games all day, but we did tell them never to play in the field the horses were in, or go behind them. Its up to us to explain these things as most kids never meet horses.
I think I would have been more than a bit annoyed if some kid pulled Nicos tail.
 
Whilst on holiday in the Lake District, OH and I were enjoying a pub meal in their garden, as we had our 2 dogs with us. They laid down and were asleep under our table. A young couple come and sit at the next table with a child of about 3. The child wanders over when she sees our dogs, and process to deliberately jump on my Labradors tail, The brat then laughed and got herself ready to do it again, until I shouted NO at her in a very firm voice. She then started to cry and stoop down at which point her parents finally noticed her. I told them what she had done, and there was no apology, they just glared at us.
Now if my dog had reacted by barking or worse still, biting the child, my dog (and I) would have been held to blame. The problem was clearly the child, and thankfully my dog was such a gentle soul, she just got up and moved away. Ggggrrrrr. I hate seeing kids having no respect for animals...
 
lastchancer said:
Sorry but it's not the OP's job to educate other peoples kids. Not sure why this country feels that we have some duty of care towards the Lazy, feckless and/or idiotic, or their offspring.
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I do feel that it is my duty to "educate" others if they put themselves in dangerous situations. This is especially true for children. I was raised to have a sense of social responsibility. It's just what you do. I've never really questioned this until reading your post.

I am not sure how I would have reacted in the OPs situation. i might have shouted as well if they had caught me by surprise.
 
Buds_mum said:
Err sorry did I say I swore?! No I didn't so please read the thread properly before putting your two pence in!

Next some brat swings on my horse's tail I will give the darling creature a lolly pop shall I?

Honestly.
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I flecking would have uttered a few blue words :mad: beastly stupid children! I would probably have tracked down who their parents were and sworn at them too. A lot:mad:

Sorry it happened to you but very glad you and bud are ok other than seething with understandable rage x
 
Nothing wrong with that. A sharp telling off will stick with them much more vividly the next time they (don't) think about running up to a random horse. Rather that than a hurt kid and law suit!
 
To a certain extent I agree with the OPs reaction but I also agree that it is everyones responsibility to educate every child. In a way she did just that maybe not in a quiet approach but they learned a lesson one would hope.

A sharp word or even a quick smack never hurt a child in a dangerous situation where as carefully explaining that you will be seriously hurt or die from sticking your finger in the sockets does especially if that child is too young for comprehension or the seriousness of the situation. They were probably totally unaware that the horse may kill them and a bit like playing chicken in the road thought it would be funny. Yes parents should educate their kids but it is our responsibility as adults to ensure the safety of every child. No matter really who they are.

Scenario and what would you do two small boys about 3 and 5 hitchhiking along a quiet road nearest town 6 miles away
Would you A) leave them to carry on
B) take them home explaining the foolishness
C) take them to a police station
D) shout and scream at them and drive away
 
The trouble stems from the parenting or lack of it. I probably would have used a few choice words.
I have chastised teenagers in the past... I used to ride a motorbike in the UK. One winter some teenagers thought it would be smart to throw snow balls at me whilst I was driving almost causing me to crash.
I circled round the block parked up and wandered up to the kids. I managed to grab two who ended up eating a fair amount of dirty road side slush. Was it politically correct probably not.
Actions have consequences a few choice words may prevent those children getting there heads kicked in by a horse in the future.
 
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