Topic: Children on Allotments

[Fork]

Like I have said before on other topics relating to this....children on the allotments are fine by me.....BUT...they should be accompanied and not left to roam on other plots.

We are insured but I still would not want a child to wonder onto my plot and hurt his or herself on something I had left laying around.

[BAK]

On a Council allotment I would challenge the Council's power to make a rule banning unaccompanied children because it is not obvious that the Allotments Acts allow it.

I look forward to reading about your exploits

[manicscousers]

we have notices up also, shirley..I would worry about their safety if they were alone on the site  :)

[Borlotti]

I would certainly worry about children's safety if they were alone of the site.  I worry about mine, especially as it dark so early.  Old people (like me) should be banned as I don't take my mobile phone, leave it in the kitchen drawer, and the other day all alone on the allotment and I tripped over, luckily I managed to get up.  Told OH and he said someone would either look for you the next day, either at the tennis club or the allotment. Margaret, the old lady who had to give up her allotment, always called out to me, as she was registered blind, told her she should have a mobile but she said she couldn't see the numbers and had no-one to ring.  She was quite philosophic about it and said someone would find her eventually.  I don't like to be the last person on the plot, and the man who feeds the cat always tells me to go home if it too late.  (Sorry, off topic, again). 

[Unwashed]

Like I have said before on other topics relating to this....children on the allotments are fine by me.....BUT...they should be accompanied and not left to roam on other plots.

Why do you assume that a child who is responsible and keen enough to have her own allotment and work it without her parents' supervision is going to roam on other plots?

Our plots are beside the nature area where there is a pool to attract wildlife. The area of the pool itself is fenced off and there is a large notice warning people of the danger of children going in there alone.

Why do you assume that a child who is responsible and keen enough to have her own allotment and work it without her parents' supervision is going to wander into the wildlife pond and drown?

[Unwashed]

Joshua Clark, 14, from Ripley, won a civic award for his allotment last year.

[Borlotti]

I think 16 would be a suitable age to help on a plot without mum and dad always there. 18 would be more sensible if they wanted to take it on on their own. Surely there is something in the bye-laws, 5/6 years having an allotment. This is a ridiculous thread, young children alone on a plot, just think of all the dangers, apart from the obvious temptation of a bonfire.  We have one child that I can't take to, he is left to roam, and teases the chickens and jumps off the water butts and the parents take no notice.  Probably just bored but I do watch him if I am there and make sure he doesn't hurt himself.

[betula]

I think 14 is a good age to expect a child to be responsible.

Any younger ,unsupervised is a no no in my opinion.

You can imagine it can't you,a kid having an accident three plots down and it would be your fault for not keeping an eye on him.

I don't go to the lottie to keep an eye on other people's kids and yes I am assuming they would get into trouble because that is what kids do.

[tonybloke]

we have a 13 yr old lad on our site, and he's a bloody good gardener!!

[Unwashed]

Tony, does he work unsupervised?

[Fork]

Like I have said before on other topics relating to this....children on the allotments are fine by me.....BUT...they should be accompanied and not left to roam on other plots.

Why do you assume that a child who is responsible and keen enough to have her own allotment and work it without her parents' supervision is going to roam on other plots?

Our plots are beside the nature area where there is a pool to attract wildlife. The area of the pool itself is fenced off and there is a large notice warning people of the danger of children going in there alone.

Why do you assume that a child who is responsible and keen enough to have her own allotment and work it without her parents' supervision is going to wander into the wildlife pond and drown?

Ok..if you are going to be picky....Im talking small kiddies here.Any child old enough to have an allotment(and what age are we talking here?) should by my reckoning be sensible enough not to walk all over someone elses plot.

We recently had 2 families take over a plot and they brought along 5 kids...who immediately wandered onto the nieghbouring plot where the plot holder had planted his winter onions and garlic!.Admittedly,they were quick to realise the problem but the damage had already been done.

[shirlton]

I have seen the same happen on our site. We cannot expect children to automatically know where they can and cannot go. They have to be taught.
Hopefully this is what plotholders should do when they start to take their children to the allotment site. Sometimes this just does not happen so they wander onto other peoples plots.

[tonybloke]

Tony, does he work unsupervised?

yes he does, and organises a load of muck to be delivered in the half-term, so he can start to dig it in thru' the autumn.!! His parents do come down with him sometimes, but mostly to help with the harvest. he lives adjascent to the site, his grandparents have had a plot there for years, it must be in the blood!!

[Unwashed]

Thanks Tony, that makes the point better that I could.

If an under-eighteen wants an allotment why should their age be an issue?  They'll be subject to just the same rules as anyone else so any restriction on the basis of their age is arbitrary.  If there's a question of the child's capability or responsibility then that's a matter between the child and her parents.  Sure, we might not approve of other people's parenting decisions, but then we don't know their children as they do.  If the child makes a success of it then what price can you put on that confidence and experience.  And if they fail, well, plenty of new allotmenteers fail so where's the problem in that.

And what if a site does ban unaccompanied children?  By the current reckoning it wouldn't make much difference because very few children work their own plots anyway, but then they wouldn't, would they, if there's a ban on unaccompanied children!  And where there isn't a ban, let's face it, some grumpy old child-hating comudgen will inevitably make allotment life miserable for an unaccompanied child tenant, with complaints about this and that, because there's alwas someone on a site who like to tell other people what to do.  And we're talking about the child here.  If the child is tolerated on site when she's helping her parent that's not her hoby is it.

As far as capability and responsibility go I don't see any great difference between the demands of allotmenteering and fishing, so I'd be pretty sure that the reason children don't have allotments is not because there's something difficult, or dangerous, or even intrinsically naff about the hobby, but because they're excluded.  And when a section of society is excluded that creates stress, so at the end of the day everyone suffers.

Bans on unaccompanied children are wrong.  It's just plain on prejudice and intolerence.  I'd like to see a campaign against it.

[Borlotti]

Subject says children on allotments, not young adults.

[betula]

Can't talk for all Allotments,I have had three at different times in my life and when I go down on week days they are normally deserted.Maybe the odd person.They are not somewhere I would leave a Young child unsupervised.

14 is young enough....it is just common sense   :)

[Unwashed]

Children == people under 18.

Sure Betula, and I'm defending your prerogative to say what's appropriate for your children, but just yours, no one else's.

[betula]

So you think that it is OK for children to be left alone in a deserted place...............you lost me ages ago....no logic to the argument......... :)

Also I think by law you are obliged not to leave your children unattended..sticky wicket I reckon .

[Unwashed]

So you think that it is OK for children to be left alone in a deserted place?

No, I think it's the parent's prerogative to decide, because the parent is the proper person to make that decision, knowing the child's capabilities and the situation.  If a parent tells their seventeen yearold that they can't go to the allotment on their own then who am I to disagree, and if the 13 yearold's parents from Tony's allotment say he can work his plot on his own I'd like to convince you on Tony's evidence that they've made a sound decision.

[snipsnip]

I think you've lost the plot Unwashed  ;D