Destructive kids

You did just the right thing!

He will probably not even remember this tommorrow, but hopefully he will stay away from your flowers.

I'd put a bott where the sun don't shine...and threaten to rip his head off like he did to the flowers. Now, THAT would put some fear into the little bugger.

I wouldn't say that they was thoughtless, because it might have been a game. I listen to This American Life, and an interesting one was called Kid Logic, for example: two girls talk to eachother about the toothfairy, one says that her dad is the oothfairy, but they don't find that unusual at all, because, adults can do lots of stuff: drive, cook, etc... There was also this boy who hated his baby sister, who was born right after his father died, he hated her because of the Lion King, because somewhere int he Lion King, a father dies, and a baby lion is born to take its place, so the boy thought his sister was alive because his father died. I don't know if you ruined his life. Maybe. How do you know they did that last year? Saw them? Have you noticed that in a garden, usually, the most interesting part is the flower, and since they like the flower, they might want it, or imagine it as fun, plucking flowers. In movies, don't some people pluck the petals of flowers? It's probe for enjoyment, not trying to upset you. Do you think they would want to get you upset by plucking the tops of flowers. If they are young, then they might not understand how hurting your plants is bad. If they did that on purpose, you could move the flowers somewhere else.

~I am with Rob~

At least he had the sense to apologize.... some kids would just sass

You did the right thing. Hopefully he learned his lesson and will not touch the flowers again! Here, we don't have kids plucking the heads off flowers, but we do have lots of animals around who make a nice salad with them.

Well, the fact that he looked mortified meant that he wasn't really trying to hurt anyone. Kids sometimes do thing without thinking. I would have told him the same thing, too, because how else will they learn?

Zel,

Yes you did the right thing. In addition to teaching him something about flowers, you taught him to respect his neighbor's property, and taught him he needs to behave even when his parents aren't there to admonish him for misbehavior. The latter lesson may need to be reinforced through repetition which is why we all have a responsibility to admonish children when they are uncaring of others or are engaging in reckless, risky behavor. Parent can't be everywhere which one of the reasons, it does takes a village to raise a child.

Rob and Jackie,

The lasting lesson of threatening a child with such violence is that it teaches him he can make those smaller and weaker than he is, fear him. In other words, it teaches him to be a bully.

I don't recall threatening anyone. Maybe that was to someone else that made a comment?

Carol was referring to ron and Jackie's comments Zel. No worries for you. I would have been sooo frustrated myself, but it seems you handled it very well.

Wow, your icon switched from the red fabric and silver chains to the landscape right when I posted my response. Wild.

How about that "move the flowers" comment. Isn't that always the way...YOU have to move YOUR stuff to protect it from SOMEONE ELSE's kid (or dog, or cat) who happen to be in YOUR yard.

I apologize for getting in the way of irresponsible people.

Sheesh.

Carol, you give good advice and I agree. But, I've had a problem with parents getting upset when you admonish their children to the point of getting violent. To me, it seems that parents are very defensive about their kids nowadays.

Zel, if it had been my lillies, I would have done the same.

kids need to be confronted more and more by other adults! I don't see much of that anymore these days. I know that I was confronted a few times while I was growing up. I guess you could say that it "takes a village to raise a child". I didn't want to believe that but it is good for the children and for the "village" to help develop the conscious of a child.

Good for you and good for the child. Maybe he will have more respect for other people's property now? Let's hope so anyway.

You definitely did the right thing. Kids don't seem to have respect for other people's property anymore. But of course, it means they aren't learning it at home.

Yesterday a much smaller kid was trying to tear the heads off the flowers. I asked him not to.
Today when I got home, the two flowers which were the closest to full bloom were bent in half just about at the height the little boy could reach. When I asked him if he broke my flowers he said no. I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The petals were wilting. I cut the stalks with pruners and stuck them in a vase. Nothing else I could do.

Learning respect for nature is very important.