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Spurn, a day of nice folk and t*****s. (1 Viewer)

:clap::clap::clap:

That's it exactly! :t: I chose not to have children when I was 10 years old (45 now and never regretted it one bit) as I believed then that the planet was overpopulated and didn't need me adding my bit to the problem. But I don't dislike well behaved or polite bairns and will go out of my way to show them what's about and let them look through my scope etc....anything to try to get them interested in nature :t: Ok, so some might be a touch boisterous and loud at times with excitement when you show them stuff but that's just young 'uns :-O The thing that boils me is the attitude of some parents.....the ones who don't believe in discipline or the word No! If you so much as DARE to look disapprovingly at their precious angelic child who is running around and screaming and shouting you are virtually accused of being a child-hating monster :eek!:
 
I love to see kids getting enthused about nature, and don't really care if they're a bit loud or overenthusiastic while they're doing so. The problem is only when parents rock up to hides to selfishly indulge their hobby and ignore their kids misbehaving at the other end. But it's a joy to watch parents taking their kids to nature reserves and trying to get them interested.

I'm a big believer in encouraging the next generation to get involved - it's piquing their interest when young that means we have the birders and conservationists of the future, which is more important than keeping your kids away from nature reserves in case some grumpy old birders, who often do all their birding at flagship nature reserves and then complain when there are other people around, get mardy about the fact a child is somewhere nearby. ;)
 
I guess I'm lucky that my 2 are really enthusiastic about wildlife & enjoy being outdoors. OK, I wouldn't make my daughter sit for hours on end in a hide as she doesn't have that sort of attention span.

My son is even contemplating a future career in wildlife film making/photography/presenting!!
 
When it comes to kids in hides, I only like it when there's an oven in there so I can slow roast them, saves me having to pack lunch. ;-)

Truthfully - if they are reasonably well behaved then I've no problem with it. As has been said by others - I loathe the the parent who lets their kids run riot, not the kid as it is not their fault - they have not been taught anything better to do.
 
Its an interesting topic. Here in North Queensland hides are exceptionally rare (I only visit two sites with hides and one of those is shut) and so majority of birding is done out and about. I have three children (11,8 &5) and initially when walking through the rainforest I was constantly shushing them in case they scared the birds more than other birders as I rarely see anyone else put and about. After a couple of months doing this and then comparing what I see when the children aren't with me I found no difference - the birds don't seem to be bothered at all, some in fact find the noise interesting and come and investigate the children ( a male Victorias Riflebird virtually landed on my 5 year olds head) the only person getting stressed and bothered by it was me - so now I don't worry the kids have a great time experiencing nature and I see just as much as before with no stress
 
Parents are not the worst ones. In my experience the worst situations involving children concern organised groups, such as schools, clubs, daycare providers etc. There is a well-known reserve in the North East of England where I have often seen organised groups of kids making a great racket, always in groups with childcare professionals of some sort. The adults don't seem to understand that a nature reserve differes from a play park, and allow the kids to behave as if they were on the swings in the local park.

Even worse, the volunteers/staff of the organisation which owns this reserve do nothing to try to stop this; I have even seen the staff encouraging children to make a racket in hides. The biscuit was taken one day, when a staff member of this reserve complained that about the behavious of BIRDERS. He told me (not in quite these words, but this was the substance of it) that one day a mega dropped in in front of a hide where the playgroup was currently running and jumping; apparently some birders then dared to try to enter the hide and use it for the purpose for which it is intended. They even asked*gasp* children who were playing in the hide to move so they could see out of the windows. Wasn't that shocking!!!!

I really do think staff at reserves ought to ask people (of ANY age) who are behaving innappropriately for a reserve to leave. If the children behaved like this in a cinema the family would be ejected, and no-one would complain that this would put kids off the cinema for life, so they should be allowed to run and jump. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Birding needs to get some backbone and do the same. But of course, all those kiddies are non-members, so they are paying entry fees/parking. The birders who entered the hide probably weren't paying.

Rant over.
 
I have had the same problem with some birders looking down on me because of my inexperience, I've even been looked up and down to see if I had the correct gear and that was at a well know reserve in the North East, and was from one of its volunteers, however it is only a sad few who act like this, it should not matter about your background, we're you are from, what gear you have, how much you know. We do what we do because of our love of birds and only that SHOULD matter. My hobby and the volunteer work I do for the RSPB and BTO is all about the birds and there protection, fact, end off.
 
funnily enough i was in a local hide back in the summer a couple entered with there three children children in tow ,the kids had some hired rspb binoculars and sat down quietly looked at the birds and commenced to draw them in there books i don't think any of the little angels uttered a word .:t:

there mother however was running up and down the hide like a demented cat with its arse on fire ,pointing out every duck and sparrow she saw to everyone at the top of her voice ,and when a kestrel appeared flying towards the hide she nearly went into a post orgasmic screaming fit and totally scared it off .its not always the kids is it .:eek!:

as a by note we left the hide shortly after and she must have left a few minutes later and we could here her screaming out her sightings as she made her back to the entrance ,never heard the kids at all 8-P
 
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