Protest marches

crystaltipps. How I agree with you! I thought the OP was maybe thinking of the recent very well covered on TV march about the Brexit situation. That had many children and toddlers in it as shown in the Press etc.

But to make a "one rule fits all" statement is completely impossible and unsuitable as you so clearly said!

I remember when Glenfield Hospital in Leicester was under threat. At our Church one of the children had had his life saved by some heart surgery there. He was a baby. Without that hospital the nearest would have been so far away the family would have had terrible trouble either being with the sick baby or looking after his older brother. So many of us campaigned and children did have banners saying this hospital saved my life.

So that is one example of a good reason to have toddlers with banners.

I do worry about very big marches. However well organised, the fact that they are big and highly publicised can easily lead to crowd problems, even difficulty finding a loo. My friends said it was very difficult getting transport home, even getting back to the station after the last big "People's Vote" march in London. To cope with young children's needs in under these circumstances would be stressful.

So the answer as it nearly always is, becomes "*It depends* upon several factors...."

paddyann. On a public thread there is no such thing as "Just for Chucky"

Also what has it to do with the OP? She asked about taking small children on marches/protests.

Please keep to the subject and don't start sniping at one person. It is not fair to the OP, to the person you are attacking or to the rest of us.

crystaltips

I take your point there is a difference to say protesting outside of your lical hospital, Council office etc. so I should have made it clear I do not generalise.

However I stand by my opinion that I would not place my child in the middle a protest march that most people would not be surprised to see had turned violent, accept that some are there to cause trouble and find abusive behaviour acceptable.

If you are of the belief things cannot turn quickly into abuse and violance and children are in no harms way then all that means is we hold a different option.

There isn’t just one type of demo or protest march, so we can’t say that they are all bad/ good/ unsuitable for children / people in wheelchairs etc - so stop making generalisations. There was a march to save our local maternity unit recently lots of kids and prams on that one with placards saying “ I was born in xx unit” on it. And eventually the campaign was successful and the unit was saved. The March was nothing like “ drunks on a night out”, what a slur. Blanket “ protest marches are all wrong/ a waste of time/ unsuitable for anyone not able bodied/ under 18” whatever, sorry, that’s just wrong we are entitled to free speech , that’s what many of our mums and dads risked their lives for.

Surely the point is ' whichever' side is behaving in an abusive, threatening manner it should not matter a jot. Physical threats and contact are now common place and I find it perverse some seem to think it is OK for ' my lot' to do it but not the ' other lot', that is an hypocrisy but principles to some seem to be very one sided.

They are ALL as dumb as one another.

As for the OP question then I would not take my child to any protest march as things may start out peaceful but things can take a turn for the worse very quickly and you are in the middle of it all possibly. Why would you take the chance with your children's safety.

Violent behaviour, swearing, looking at the words and pictures on some of the placards ( if they are old enough to understand) is not what I personally would want my child to experience.

I think parents are frankly sending out a mixed message to their children but certainly one that makes them believe this is typical adult behaviour and it is not typical of adult behaviour, it usually belongs to the drunks on a night out.

Just for Chucky ...this is the usual "unionist* that turns up to cause trouble ....watch it and see for yourself the low lifes they are .

youtu.be/Vmt9T-WrsvQ

I can't help wondering, since we are looking at the wisdom of taking young children on protest marches, what it is actually teaching them?
All marches are in essence to protest. The idea that when you can't get what you want you march for it and yell is not what we teach our children in the home. Yet many marches and protest movements in history have been glorious and brave and have moved civilisation forward, shown injustice to the poor and, as the Dagenham girls showed, demanded equal pay for the same work whether the worker be male or female. The "Ban the Bomb" marches may have seemed very moral and right and to be worth instilling in our children's minds.

So the cause would seem to be the criterion on which to judge the worthiness of bringing our children to the experience of the march.

I cannot help wondering how the people on the Independence march justify their cause. I would love to hear from them. I cannot get away from the fact that they are trying to reverse the referendum vote to leave the EU. It seems to me that this is behind their marching. This I do not understand. This I do not want young children to learn. For it teaches them;
"When people have been given a fair chance to choose about something, and most people have chosen one thing, in this case to leave the EU, so the decision is fairly made that we shall leave, then children, if you do not want that, then go on a march and shout protests until you get your own way ! It does not matter that more people voted to leave. We want to stay so we shall march and protest until we get our own way.

It is exactly the same as when mummy says, "No, only one ice cream!" But Billy wants another, so he lies down on the floor and screams and bangs his feet and causes such a disruption that mummy gives in.

I think marching, protesting, refusing to accept the decision fairly won, just because they don't want it, is not what I want children to learn.

Lindylou51. I do agree with the feeling of distaste when seeing these little tots older children holding their placards, It does seem out of place to me and terribly wrong in many instances since the children are too young to understand and make up their own minds on the subject. I hated it when recently some children were interviewed and clearly repeated mummy and daddy's views learned at the table or in the car.
Was it Greenham Common where we saw the arrival of babies and children on the scene of protest? I remember seeing some in a news report. But the scenes there became nasty so I imagine the children must have been moved away. Does anyone remember? Yet the Police there became very rough in their handling of the women. A friend of mine told me she had her breasts grabbed and rubbed by a policeman under the guise of pulling her away from the fence.

MaizieD. You are so right! We have worked to attain a high standard of farming and animal husbandry in Europe only to leave and start all over again with the horribly low standards across the rest of the world. It does not just apply to chicken, but pork, lamb, and beef are not afforded the standard which we insist upon here. I have stopped eating anything but British meat. If it is dearer I just eat less. Also, when I used to travel, I tried to be careful about what I ate.

paddyann. I didn't understand what you meant by:
"and here comes chucky who never knows the facts but likes to make them up...THERE has never been ANY independenc marcher arrested during or after a march". I looked at chucky's posts and couldn't find the reference to an arrest. Also you said "chucky who never knows the facts but likes to make them up"
I take strong exception to that personal indictment. I can prove that you are wrong and that chucky has written may facts and not made up things. On another thread recently she was extremely well-informed and helped all of us understand the subject in hand with the information she gave which she learned from the original source which disseminates the facts she gave us.
I think you owe chucky an apology for your indiscriminate, misleading and unfair remark.

Ilovecheese. I think there are many peaceful protests where as you say:
"People just want their opinions to be noticed and to be listened to, whatever they are protesting against."
There are just so many types of protest and marches going on nowadays.

The OP was asking about the babies in buggies and young children being in marches where there is noise and chanting and shouting. I agree with her, it does not seem the right environment to me for a little child. It could be frightening. It most certainly could be boring. It could be cold and wet. It would be so much better to be at home or in the park playing.

JenniferEccles said:" people commenting on here are quite correct in stating that the rent a mob protesters are all left wing."

That's not true though is it. People protest about all sorts of things.

Those protesting against the war with Iraq were not all left wing, just sensible.

Protesters against chopping down some trees in Sheffield were not all left wing, they just liked their trees.

People just want their opinions to be noticed and to be listened to, whatever they are protesting against.

If the protesters are in Portsmouth I hope they are rounded up and prosecuted, not one of them are fit to lick the boots of the people who served our country.

and here comes chucky who never knows the facts but likes to make them up...THERE has never been ANY independenc marcher arrested during or after a march ..speak to Police Scotland if you dont belive me .Its a carnival atmosphere and if you're fightened by people singing ,enjoying themselves bands and Banghra drums then I'm sorry for you .
There have been in the past month THREE arrests of people causing trouble with the YES bikers ,3 men out simply to cause problems and thats not counting the clowns who try to side swipe us with their butchers aprons as we walk past .As far as I can see its the LOW lifes that come to wave it...the guy who is always there PAID folk £20 a head in apub to stand outside and harangue the marchers.Proud to one of them ? Good for you!!

Most of the children I saw in the 1970s at protest marches were enjoying themselves and they were with their parents, which is surely always preferable than being left somewhere while mum and dad go off and do something.

Admittedly, some of them as adults couldn't be bothered with politics or good causes because they said they were fed to the back teeth as kids. But that's the risk you run, when bringing up children.

We bring our children up to do what we feel is right, take them on protest marches, out collecting for charity, to church, concerts, the theatre etc. etc.

Tinydancer “actually bother to vote in elections. Well if you do then you will have that right to vote, and many other things because of protest

Completely agree that we have the right to vote because of protest. That is what made us, and other countries such as the USA, democratic countries!

Unfortunately, it now seems that democratic decisions are what many of these protesters are marching against!

So I guess that as far as many of these protesters are concerned, this means that democracy is only okay if what they believe is what wins the vote!!

Doesn’t sound very democratic to me!

“JUST because its not YOUR way of doing things doesn't make it wrong”????

So protesting because you didn’t get your own way in a democratic referendum is right????

So, by your thinking paddyann we should just do away with all referendums and take to the streets to demonstrate until we get our own way?? I actually thought we were supposed to be a democratic country, not ruled by dictators!

the only problem we have on Independence marches are from Unionists who come alongto cause trouble.

What a load of crap!! Just because you’re posting on a new thread paddyann doesn’t mean that you can turn round and ignore all the other threads where people have said how scared and threatened they have felt when coming across these peaceful protests you do seem to love!

Remember, you did get the referendum you wanted.....and lost!! However democracy doesn’t matter to individuals like you, whose only view is that if it’s not what you agree with it (and all those who voted against what you want) has to be wrong!

I really hope any protesters in Portsmouth have been quickly rounded up.

How flipping disrespectful, if it wasn't for the sacrifices made 75 years ago by brave servicemen/women who knows where we would be today.

Oh no, a tiny group of anti Trump protesters have turned up in Portsmouth apparently. Today is not the time or the place. I think it’s disres to say the least.

Trump has described the protests as ‘organised flops’

Oh I'm not there. It's only about an hour's drive from where I live, but I certainly wouldn't want to join the rent a mob crowd.

I joined the crowds in Sainsbury's instead. Much better behaved

Hope you don't get too bored. Is retirement on the cards any time soon?

Yes I am at "that place" today JenniferEccles but most definitely not hard at work (as you have no doubt guessed by my postings) . I spend most of my days sitting on my own waiting to respond to calls and emails. My accounts are all up to date and I am basically bored out of my tree so thank goodness for the splendid company of Gransnet.

I have a visitor coming in at 1.30 so will give a quick tidy around before he arrives. Oh joy of joys...…

I would love a day out in Portsmouth although it would take me a whole day to get there from here. Have fun... I'm only a teensy bit

Thanks Gillybob

Are you hard at work at the coal face aka 'that place' today?

I bet you would quite fancy a day out in Portsmouth instead of working like most folk?!

It has probably escaped the notice of the protesters that Trump's visit here is primarily to commemorate those who lost their lives at the D Day Landings, so whether or not you agree with his politics is neither here nor there

Indeed JenniferEccles well said.

Well I guess this thread has set a record.

We have actually got to page 3 before the inevitable idiotic oh so predictable comments about the Daily Mail surfaced. Take a bow, Tinydancer

Far from being 'ignorant', people commenting on here are quite correct in stating that the rent a mob protesters are all left wing.

It is also perfectly reasonable to wonder how so many are not at work. I have often thought that myself.

Please stop spreading undue fear about Trump and the NHS. We have absolutely NO details yet, and anyway he appears to be back tracking on that.

It has probably escaped the notice of the protesters that Trump's visit here is primarily to commemorate those who lost their lives at the D Day Landings, so whether or not you agree with his politics is neither here nor there.

Also stop thinking you are somehow superior to other humans. With opinions such as you have expressed you most definitely are not

….and you are I suppose TinyDancer ?

Oh and for the record, yes I do vote in elections. Sadly as an lifetime labour voter I could not bring myself to vote for the left wing, communist, union puppet that is JC.

I cannot believe the level of ignorance I am reading on here today. I take it the people sniping at "professional protesters" and wondering what these people do for a living actually bother to vote in elections. Well if you do then you will have that right to vote, and many other things because of protest. Sheeple? You need to step out of your right wing bubble and look at the truth and just what is at stake from Trump, the NHS for starters. May I suggest you stop reading the Daily Mail or any of the other trash that passes for a news these days. Try learning a balanced view of people. Also stop thinking you are somehow superior to other humans. With opinions such as you have expressed you most definitely are not.

Annual leave, zero contract hours, shift patterns, retirement .... plenty of reasons people can attend.
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