We tend to use 'adults only' sites, or go during school term due to one particular bad experience. Five kids were kicking a football around outside their own tent, next to us, when their irate mother came out with a load of abuse (four letter words) & told them to 'f off & play elsewhere'. They did, in front of our tent Looking at the woman & hearing the language she used, neither of us wanted a confrontation with her - I doubt that it would have done any good anyway.
We were packing up to leave that day, thankfully, but it was still darn annoying when the ball hit our tent four times & our car twice We usually pack up in a leisurely way, having a break for a coffee, then continuing, but that day we just rushed to get everything in the car & left a couple of hours earlier than we had intended That little episode spoilt our holiday really.
A lot of parents have this 'out of sight out of mind attitude'I would never tolerate kids hitting or kicking a ball at my or near my tent.What I have seen in the past is parents sat outside their units glugging away on the old vino while their kids are running amok around and inside the toilet block.If I get any lip from kids I just get OH to give them their one and only warning.
------------- Sue & Phil
--------------------- I Love My AeroBed
We also use mainly adult sites and mainly because of ball games.Our worst experience was at a site in Lyme Regis where all the tents were pitched in a circle around the outer of the field leaving the middle free.
A group of adult men with a few kids started a five a side football game. Our tent was hit numerous times and so was our neighbours and a lot of others.
We packed up the next day and left as did our neighbours.
I wrote into the site and complained but didn't even get a letter back from them.
We don't want to spoil others peoples fun but if there's not an allocated field for ball games they should be banned from the site.
Saying that i could cope with a couple of kids having a kick about but half a dozen grown men, all trying to impress each other, who can kick it the hardest is a bit hard to take. And they'd all been drinking.
I agree totally with the mutual respect approach. As parents, we have a responsibility not to disturb those around us. However, there has to be a degree of tolerance. Excessive noise, loud music, bad language, balls repeatedly hitting tents are all out of order on the more' intimate' campsites.
However, I think that we all will agree that we go camping to get away from it all. No Tv, mobile phones, computers etc and I for one am only too pleased when my kids wander off to make their own entertainment ('Like in the old days' as someone has already mentioned). But I do find a 'holier than thou' attitude to kids enjoying themselves a little wearing. We all need to show some tollerance. Even to kids in 'Heelies'!
Hi all
Camping is the only holiday were kids can be kids and safely go of and play around the site,They can play chase and trip over the odd guy rope Like we did a young campers in the 1940s they can go off into the woods or play in the streams.On a campsite they are safe from the slight chance of been molested at their home to Zero on the camp site.
Kids get memories that will last a lifetime from the freedom that they get on UK campsites, But and it is a big but.
Football, the flying of kites, and the rideing of pushbike
Close to people units were damage to these units can and does happen is not acceptable. Just a bit of dirt on a canvas tent,it will wash off you say, That is if you can reach it,if not your ball playing will be responsible for a £1600+ leaking tent The kite may dive down onto a tent and the kite pole will Pearce a hole through the tent, another leaking tent. Now when a child or even an adult trips over a guy rope normally very little if any damage occurs but a push bike traveling at speed,say no more.
Parents must be responsible for their children on site and make them stick to the rules, Misbehaved children are just as bad as misbehaved adults and should be expelled from a site after a couple of warning for breaking site rules.
Well that is what I think.
Rex.
------------- "Be the person your dog thinks you are" (BM)
No, I feel the same as you. When we were at Thorpe Park, Cleethorpes earlier this year, there was a bunch of teens playing footy and cricket etc right next to our tent and the ball was constantly hitting the tent and the car. They too could have moved further up the field where there was more space. Even when we asked them not to kick it near us, they completely ignored us and just carried on regardless. I just cant get over how inconsiderate some people can be. I'd be absolutely mortified if my step children were doing this to someone else and causing them to be unrelaxed and miserable. Well, they wouldnt be in the first place as they have been taught to respect other people and their belongings.
We had a family pitch up next to us at Normans bay earlier in the month who within 30 minutes had set up a game of rounders using chairs etc...
Luckily for them nothing hit my or anyone elses tent or car as i'm not known for my patience or my tolerence and would have had no problem in setting them straight regardless of who they were! As it was a few disaproving looks in the right direction from not only myself but a few others soon put a stop to it.
My two boys are well aware of how to behave and perhaps more importantly what will happen if they don't!
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Topic: Ball Games!
Looking at the woman & hearing the language she used, neither of us wanted a confrontation with her - I doubt that it would have done any good anyway.
We usually pack up in a leisurely way, having a break for a coffee, then continuing, but that day we just rushed to get everything in the car & left a couple of hours earlier than we had intended 
That little episode spoilt our holiday really.
