Still a little stunned

[logandc99]

So we had quite a crowd last night with lots and lots and lots of excited children which was great. Unfortunately I had to be child safety officer for the few going wild unsupervised, not only for their safety but to try and prevent damage to the display.
But the one thing I am still stunned about is that parents stood and watched their two kids climbing our twelve foot brick wall of the carport ( concrete driveway below) from where you can get onto the house roof. They were almost at the top to the roof when I spotted them and had to ask them to climb back down. Sometimes I wonder how some parent's kids make it to adulthood [emoji15]

 

[lithgowlights]

Yes we have had similar things happen here. Kids wandering in the display while parents watch, and they get upset when we call them out, and the parents don't give a stuff about it at all.

I have had to ask a couple of people to leave before due to screaming, yelling or disrespectful kids

 

[ShellNZ]

Yeh, have had the same thing here. Hasnt really happened this year due to Maori Wardens managing the crowd but last year they ran rampant. I remember hubby asking a boy to hop out of the display, hubby then got abused by the parent for it. ugh

 

[logandc99]

Unfortunately our display is very much one you wander in amongst which is fine for 90% of the people but at times it turns into Lord of the Flies. I have resisted putting a sign up but I think I have no choice now as things have got a bit feral some nights. I want people to have a magical time, not end up in A&E.

 

[mborg10]

I purposely built gardens and put all my lights in the gardens surrounded by retaining wall blocks. Unfortunately kids think the walls make such good balancing beams. I have an announcement saying "parents for everyone's safety please keeps kids off the grass and out of the gardens" then in a real stern voice the voice over says "kids GET OFF THE GRASS" originally it was get off the bloody grass but the wife thought that was inappropriate.

 

[Karob]

We are lucky our display is mostly behind a fence, but even with signs asking for no climbing, Kids will still climb the fence right next to the sign to catch snow, most parents this year have told the kids to get down but my trick to get them off is to not push the snow button, they soon step down.


I do worry about the way the kids run around at the front of my display, we are on a corner block with a playground opposite our house, many kids turn from the lights and just run accross the road to the playground, Have been thinking about some bunting flags to act as a mini fence but knowing my luck some kid will run into it and hurt themselfs.

 

[mborg10]

Our charity night is tonight and we give out free glow bracelets and necklaces so at least the cars have some chance of seeing the kids. For some reason parents still dress their kids in black.

 

[scamper]

We had a bunch of kids come in on Thursday night, they ran up to look at Santas Workshop and jumped into the Sleigh, which is great. But when they tried to dance around the mega tree like it was a maypole, I had to put a stop to it.
There is 60 wires hanging out the bottom of that thing, talk about OH&S issue

 

[DrNeutron]

This is one problem I do not, nor will ever have.......
Everyone stays in the car and listens intently with the occasional kid hanging out of the window...
Too cold to go wandering around a Christmas display in Nova Scotia...

 

[Habbosrus]

Bad behaviour can't be excused from children or their parents. It's simply a case of having consideration for for others.We've been very lucky with our visitors. They have all been well behaved. A couple of very little ones have tried to turn my candy canes around but that's it. I have to say that the parents have been very attentive too. Everyone has used their manners when I give them a candy cane. One or two have forgotten but I don't mind reminding them.
I hope yourfuture visitors are better behaved.

 

[#1mate]

Steve, saw your display last night with the family for the first time last night. We all are amazed with what you have created. Don't let the minority rule for the majority. We loved it and was impressed with your hard work.

 

[fasteddy]

This will always be an issue as some parents have no consideration. I have had many things damaged in the past and even has signage stolen, so i always put a partition around the lawn using wooden stakes and barrier tape making it very clear that no one is allowed past. If you leave your yard open then you are inviting kids to come up close and personal with the display. So the best advice is if you want to keep them out then you need to have a barrier that clearly blocks access.

 

[scamper]

I have just rectified this problem with a couple of Bunnings rope lights.
I have my sleigh and Santa's workshop that the kids are welcome to see, but after the maypole incident, I needed to keep them away from the rest of the display.
So I attached a couple of rope lights along the ground to create a path, and then put in some star pickets wrapped in tinsel and then attached another rope light to act like a rail that runs along side the path.
Now I just mumble under my breath every time I have to walk around the long way :-[

 

[Habbosrus]

Now I just mumble under my breath every time I have to walk around the long way :-[

Just think of the extra little bit of excercise you are getting. There's always a silver lining, sometimes we just have to look a little harder for it.

 

[MarcD]

We had our Santa night last night. We mentioned it on the local Neighbourhood Watch page and it reached 800 people within 24 hours. We were slightly panicked. I think about 100 people turned up. Santa was there for a full hour and some of the older kids started to get a bit rowdy and out of control. That's why we pulled the plug on it. One of the elves (my youngest son's fiance) got touched up by some of the older boys and decided to stay hidden in a corner.

Surprisingly, the sleigh dashboard came through relatively unscathed. A couple of the LED's got pushed in, but they'll be easy to fix. I noticed at one stage there were about 10 kids in there. The worst behaved kids were the same ones we had problems with on the movie night. Parental neglect. Most parents were respectful and appreciative. Others just couldn't give a s***.