A girl keeps picking flowers from my garden – and her mum won’t stop her’

A woman has shared her frustration after a mum and her seven year old daughter kept picking flowers from her garden during their school run. She noticed that the pair would stop by her garden each morning, reach over, and pick flowers.

The woman was worried about how to handle the situation as she didn’t want to seem like an “ogre” for confronting them. However, she was upset that the flowers were being taken and then discarded on the street.

The gardener was also concerned that the mother was “encouraging” this behaviour and wasn’t sure whether to ask them to stop.

She took to Mumsnet to share her dilemma: “Kid keeps picking flowers from garden bushes – shall I say something? The last few days a girl, about 7 years old, and her mum have stopped outside my house, presumably on the walk back from school, and have reached over the railings and picked some flowers from some of my hedges.

“Today she must have picked about 10 and then dropped them in the street while walking off. Am I being petty to be peed off? I don’t want to seem like an ogre and upset a child if it keeps happening, but surely an adult should be teaching the child that this is someone’s property and not encourage it. Am I being unreasonable? “, reports the Mirror.

In the comments, users were horrified and told the woman she wasn’t being unreasonable for being annoyed her flowers were being picked.

One user said: “Nothing wrong with saying ‘would you mind not doing that’.”

Whilst another wrote: “Wouldn’t bother me if it was just a one-off, but if it’s happening repeatedly and with the mum doing it as well that is rather taking the p**s. Tomorrow just stick your head out and just ask them to stop.”

Another person said: “You could politely ask them to stop, but considering the mum is allowing her child to reach over onto your property and pick flowers off, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Saying that though, the mum may be embarrassed and has been allowing her daughter to do so because she thought no one was watching.”

Another user fumed: “I’d be furious to see them picked and then just dropped in the street. At least take them home! I’d be having a word, myself.”

One Mumsnet user explained how she taught her son a lesson about picking flowers, writing: “My son (7) has been asking me for weeks to pick a crocus to take home, I’ve been saying no because they are for everyone to enjoy and if we pick it, it will die.

“In the end, I let him pick one, he put it in water and it died quickly. He doesn’t ask to pick them anymore so lesson learnt I think! People definitely shouldn’t be picking your flowers in my opinion.”