Kids

[Ben102009]

This is relative to building in any trade although I'm a carpenter, I'm sure I'd like to have kids some day but for now I don't....in saying that, the amount of houses I have turned up to where the parents let their kids run around me or be generally present in my work environment is shocking.

People lacking general sense and common courtesy!

Not only do they infuriate me but it's dangerous, I'm half an hour away from drop kicking one of them over the wall, thanks.

 

[TheTiddles]

Does someone need a hug?

 

[Ben102009]

Does someone need a hug?

A hug isn't going to solve the problem.

 

[Daniel2]

If a hug doesn't do it for you, how about having a polite word
with the parents ?
Possibly they don't realise the issue.
Believe me, you'll see it differently once you've had children of
your own.

 

[Ben102009]

I knew this was going to be a no kids issues with people, it's very simple....if you have workers coming don't have kids around, it's hard to have a word sometimes, so it's best people use their common sense no?

 

[Daniel2]

There's nothing common about sense

 

[Cabinetman]

You could think of it as you being in a very fortunate place and you may be the first working man they have seen, some of them may even grow up to want to be a joiner/carpenter. Tell them they can watch from a distance, but I do agree with you about the total lack of parental control and stupidity sometimes. Ian

 

[Daniel2]

When I had an earthmoving/landscaping business, child control was often an issue.
As Ian says, let them watch from a safe place. Set the boundaries, but don't
completely exclude them. It's exciting for them, and they want to watch. You might
be participating in forming their future ideas.
Not least of which, is how they perceive trades people.

 

[MARK.B.]

If you must drop kick one of the little pippers, then make sure nobody else is around and avoid the cameras

 

[artie]

I did a job a few years ago in Ballycastle. There was a kid running around asking questions and generally being a kid, he wasn't in any danger so I indulged him as his Granny was a repeat customer.
After he emptied my bucket of felt tacks out on the grass twice and his mother and granny laughed and joked while I picked them up, I vowed I would handle it differently next time.

 

[Doug71]

Even if the kid is at a safe distance the endless questions they ask can be annoying

A decorator told me he knocked over a tin of paint on someone's carpet, picked up the nearby rugrat, put some paint on the childs hands then blamed the child for knocking the paint over for which the parents apologised

 

[paulrbarnard]

I did a job a few years ago in Ballycastle. There was a kid running around asking questions and generally being a kid, he wasn't in any danger so I indulged him as his Granny was a repeat customer.
After he emptied my bucket of felt tacks out on the grass twice and his mother and granny laughed and joked while I picked them up, I vowed I would handle it differently next time.

Charging them at the appropriate rate for picking up the tacks (obviously you didn't include that in your origional quote) might have wiped the smile of their faces and helped them understand. Unfortunatly parents are often blind to the antics of their kids. I speak as a father of four.

 

[Daniel2]

Charging them at the appropriate rate for picking up the tacks (obviously you didn't include that in your origional quote) might have wiped the smile of their faces and helped them understand. Unfortunatly parents are often blind to the antics of their kids. I speak as a father of four.

But, surely you're not blind as to how your children are behaving ?

 

[Spectric]

I have turned up to where the parents let their kids run around me or be generally present in my work environment is shocking.

People lacking general sense and common courtesy!

Just the tip of the iceberg, since removing discipline from education and disolving parents control the kids are now becoming feral, they know they are free to do what they want and with no comeback so we are now starting to see the end results of the polically correct brigade as these kids are now teenagers.

 

[paulrbarnard]

But, surely you're not blind as to how your children are behaving ?

It's often a matter of tolerance. People tolerate much more from their own kids than from others.

Of course mine were all angels.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Just a thought - humans have evolved to learn not by schooling, but by watching and taking part. It's part of the human condition for children, especially boys, to learn by watching men of the tribe as they go about hunting and gathering and making tools etc. Girls are different, and like to play with nuts and berries (calm yourselves, gentlemen), but boys like to make tools. Anyone doing hand tool work is like a flame for a child's moth brain.

I tend to use it to advantage: "Hold that for me, would you?" If you involve them, they will have the best day of their young lives (or rapidly get bored and wander off in search of a screen) and you get a Santa's Little Helper, and the client thinks you are a god amongst men. Kids are brilliant fun, if you take the time. Of course, being on site means time is a limited resource and you are stressed. If you have a persistent watcher, just tell him what you are doing as you go, and he will follow you around all day and pick up whatever you just dropped.

My offspring claim to have learned to swear by helping me with plumbing, so that was useful. Hopefully they learned not to be plumbers at the same time.

 

[doctor Bob]

I quite like having a little chat with them, they can be very funny.

 

[Doug B]

I quite like having a little chat with them, they can be very funny.

Nice to be talking to someone who isn’t taller than you Bob

 

[doctor Bob]

Nice to be talking to someone who isn’t taller than you Bob

True doug, fortunately not as strong, a good thump in the guts usually shuts em up, however some of them are suprisingly wirey and have stood up and given me a good hiding............

 

[Spectric]

But you have to feel sorry for them, the one thing we had was structure to our lives and a childhood with the freedom to enjoy the outdoors without meeting any sicko's . On top of this we were not bubble wrapped for safety and we learnt many good lessons the hard way which helped in later life. It must be really horrible to have hundreds of virtual freinds whom you will never meet and you only contact the ones you do know online in the world of unsocial media.