Where do the children play?

This is an aside. Yesterday I was in a shopping centre (ie a mall) and a bunch of kids ran through the food court, maybe 10 of them all around the 9-12

A grumpy lady shouted at them "kids you shouldnt be running!"

I turned to whom I was eating with and our discussion could be summarised as "kids should be running. The problem isn't they're running, the problem isn't even directly where they're running. Where they're running is a symptom of them having no where else to run"

Sorry, but no. You shouldn't be running in crowded areas like food courts (or indoor areas not specifically created for athletics), and playing smug semantic arguments like that doesn't help.

The kids aren't running because they're unable to go outside. They're running because no one's been enforcing that they act within the standards of basic decency.

Kids should be screaming and singing sometimes, but you wouldn't tell someone in the library not to hush them.

No? I grew up in a rural area, with fields and places to run... and run I did.

A nearby huge city had a mall. City being 30k people. Yet left in that mall, with 10 friends, I'd run there too.. until chastised. No real difference 50 years ago, in a rural area with a mall than now.

Groups of kids running tend to bump into things, fall into people, excited kids aren't known for taking care. It's been typical for at least going back to the 50s to stop that.

It's also why kids are typically told to stop running around a house.. and to go outside.

So strongly disagree that it is a symptom of no where else to run. Of course, I find it sad if kids have no place to go run.

Local parks can help with this in urban areas.

I don't disagree with you, but the fact that something has been done since the 50s when it comes to child care is not necessarily an indicator that it's good. We imposed many things on children during that time that would be widely considered damaging and counter productive today.

> You shouldn't be running in crowded areas like food courts (or indoor areas not specifically created for athletics)

I guess this is a cultural thing, i.e. what is expected of kids. Among my age-group in Eastern Europe (25-30 y/o), we joke around that our parents didn't let us stay in home, which has a lot of truth to it. Once we were out in the city, they didn't even have a idea where we went, and we didn't have mobile phones either. We used to run around everywhere without exception - malls, forests - you name it. That is still expected of kids nowadays, but the kids themselves are far more drawn to the digital world nowadays

>and playing smug semantic arguments like that doesn't help.

How is it semantic? They go outside and now they are running in a giant parking lot. They go a bit further and now you're a bad parent for not keeping an eye on your kid. Tell them to sit down and play on a tablet and you're also a bad parent.

There's no winning here.

>you wouldn't tell someone in the library not to hush them.

I don't consider a mall the equivalent of a libary in this situation.

It does not even have to be urban areas. We have parks all around the city. Our schools have playgrounds. Everything is still there from when I was a kid, i.e. ~20 years ago.

If you let your kids run around in giant parking lots I would argue you are a bad parent. That seems like asking for an accident.

> Tell them to sit down and play on a tablet and you're also a bad parent.

Yes. If this is the alternative to playing in parking lots that comes to your mind first, I really wonder what kind of experiences you had.

> There's no winning here.

Ever heard of parks?

I'm guessing you are talking with someone who is used to life in the North American suburbs, where kids need to be driven around and most of the options for activities are indoors.

Kids should be running but not if they cause a nuisance - this is the part not highlighted in the article, societal oversight. When kids are out in the forests they aren't bothering or harming anyone, but when in public they will have to conform to some standards / rules.

"It takes a village" is a well known saying, I've always interpreted that that it's not just the parents that raise kids.

Why is everything so black and white?

Do kids need more places to run free, yes.

Should they be running in mall food courts, no.

Just because this trend of kids having less free play outside doesn't excuse parents of these kids from taking any space they want. Any reasonable person can see there are still boundaries, are we just disagreeing on what those are? Kids still can't/shouldn't run at swimming pools, it's been that way for decades (just an example).

And in Eastern Europe 25-30 years ago, other adults would have no problem yelling at you to behave in their own language/words.

Very much different than today where people mostly mind their own business and judge in silence.

I'm good with the former, it's inline with "It takes a village".

How do they get to the park?

> And in Eastern Europe 25-30 years ago, other adults would have no problem yelling at you to behave in their own language/words.

Nobody yelled at us then or even thought that we were doing something wrong. If you would yell at a kid in a shopping mall for running around like crazy - people would look at your weirdly. It was expected of kids to behave this way in my culture, and still is to this day. This may not be the case elsewhere, hence why I think that there is a heavy cultural aspect.

> If you let your kids run around in giant parking lots I would argue you are a bad parent.

> Ever heard of parks?

I remember being bored as hell when my parents used to take me to the city park. Many other kids thought the same, too. I couldn't wait to run around with my friends wherever else in the city afterwards. I'm thankful for my "bad parents" for letting me roam around anywhere I wanted, as was the norm back then for kids where I grew up in Europe

You're right it is cultural, I was thinking more Slavic where bad behavior from other kids isn't tolerated by adults and they have no fear expressing it.

Telling kids not to run around indoors where they can collide with objects or people, break things, injure themselves, and generally get in the way isn't damaging - or at least is significantly less damaging than the perception in this thread that telling kids not to do something is awful.

This is just standard manners and teaching children how to interact with an adult society. Why does anybody think telling kids not to run indoors is wrong?

Kids should be running, but not in food court. 9-12 old are big enought to recognize space full of plates and food.

No need to put words in my mouth. I specifically referred to the fact that just because something has been done since the 50s that it doesn't have automatic relevance when it comes to modern child raising, not that telling kids today to cut it out when running on public places is a bad thing.

Ok, no disagreement there, but that wasn't my point.

>Why is everything so black and white?

because you see the effects but fail to trace the cause. I'm beyond tired of people attacking the symptoms but ignoring the cause.

>Ever heard of parks?

Yeah, my city did a great down tearing down amenities for the kids and yelling at kids to stay off the grass. I love my city.

Sadly, yes. The nearest park is 5 miles from me or the mall. The buses run on the hour and will get you within 2 miles of the park. They stop running around 7pm.

I wonder why more kids aren't at the park.