Poll: was i out of line?

[lordbuxton]

It is thus illegal for anyone other than the parents to physically harm in any capacity a child. If they scream when you try to touch them.. you're considered a pedophile.

And then there was fudge.

Fuck that, my land my rules.

 

[stonethered]

I don't think you were, not even for the ear twisting (which frankly sounds totally situationally appropriate, and is exactly how it would have happened if it had been a movie). Kids should have known better than to trespass, assuming they knew it was someone's property. Lady shouldn't have yelled at you for it, but her reaction is quite understandable. She was angry, and probably a bit scared about what you were doing; odds are nobody has ever actually laid hands on her kids before (and I'd say that after trespassing and vandalizing your private property, somebody probably ought to).

Could you have handled it better? Yeah, you could have just tracked down their parents and courteously requested compensation. But at the same time, your actions will have a rather more lasting impact on all of them. And you didn't try to kill anyone, or cause permanent harm. Nobody was threatened. And everything was paid for. As long as there's no legal problems, I'd say you did fine.

 

[Delsana]

It is thus illegal for anyone other than the parents to physically harm in any capacity a child. If they scream when you try to touch them.. you're considered a pedophile.

And then there was fudge.

Fuck that, my land my rules.

The people's land, run by the government, and their rules.

Not YOUR land, you lease your land from the government, or do you not know what rent and taxes are?

 

[Delsana]

I don't think you were, not even for the ear twisting (which frankly sounds totally situationally appropriate, and is exactly how it would have happened if it had been a movie). Kids should have known better than to trespass, assuming they knew it was someone's property. Lady shouldn't have yelled at you for it, but her reaction is quite understandable. She was angry, and probably a bit scared about what you were doing; odds are nobody has ever actually laid hands on her kids before (and I'd say that after trespassing and vandalizing your private property, somebody probably ought to).

Could you have handled it better? Yeah, you could have just tracked down their parents and courteously requested compensation. But at the same time, your actions will have a rather more lasting impact on all of them. And you didn't try to kill anyone, or cause permanent harm. Nobody was threatened. And everything was paid for. As long as there's no legal problems, I'd say you did fine.

Legally, it was child abuse.

There's a very big legal problem here.

Again, I sense hypocrisy for everyone forgetting what happened when they were young kid...

 

[Vrach]

You don't have the right to discipline someone else's kids. So yes, you were out of line.

I'm not sure why you're pissed either, how old are you? Obviously the kids are gonna be freaked out they broke something with the ball and won't come directly to you saying "hey, you know what, we just broke your greenhouse window, can we have our ball back?". Sure, it'd be nicer if they came, apologised and asked nicely, but you can't really expect that from many children.

 

[rednose1]

I wouldn't say you were out of line. They broke your property (twice) and were trespassing.

The mother should have raised them properly. Had they taken responsiblity for their actions and knocked on the door, then there wouldn't have been any ear twisting. Since they didn't the result was more severe.

Glad to hear the dad was at least cool about everything.

 

[Zing]

It is thus illegal for anyone other than the parents to physically harm in any capacity a child. If they scream when you try to touch them.. you're considered a pedophile.

And then there was fudge.

Fuck that, my land my rules.

I'm going to laugh when you smack someone on your property and get arrested.

This is such a ridiculous argument.

I wouldn't say you were out of line. They broke your property (twice) and were trespassing.

The mother should have raised them properly. Had they taken responsiblity for their actions and knocked on the door, then there wouldn't have been any ear twisting. Since they didn't the result was more severe.

Glad to hear the dad was at least cool about everything.

How can you POSSIBLY make such a ludicrous assumption about the mother?

From the situation described the mother didn't even know it had happened, all she sees is some neighbor twisting her kids ears. Let me tell you, if I saw someone doing that to my children(when I have some), then I would have a thing or two to say as well.

There's really no discussion here, the OP broke the law by punishing someone elses children. End of story.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't think you did anything wrong. Kids these days have it way to easy. Their parents aren't punishing them properly when they do something stupid. Most of them will grow up to be douchebags. You should have done something about the mother as well. If I were you I'd use one of her kids as a weapon. I'd smack her around with her own kid.

Now I'm being ridiculous. I'd want to do that, but I'd settle with telling her that she's a useless piece of shit parent.

 

[Absimilliard]

In my opinion, everything but the ear-twisting was perfectly reasonable; you had every right to be cross, and I'm glad you got compensation. However, I don't approve of corporal punishment, and where I'm from it's completely illegal.[footnote]Seems we're in a minority though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment[/footnote]

 

[James Billingham]

Those bastards should be glad you just twisted their ears they deserved it

 

[stonethered]

I don't think you were, not even for the ear twisting (which frankly sounds totally situationally appropriate, and is exactly how it would have happened if it had been a movie). Kids should have known better than to trespass, assuming they knew it was someone's property. Lady shouldn't have yelled at you for it, but her reaction is quite understandable. She was angry, and probably a bit scared about what you were doing; odds are nobody has ever actually laid hands on her kids before (and I'd say that after trespassing and vandalizing your private property, somebody probably ought to).

Could you have handled it better? Yeah, you could have just tracked down their parents and courteously requested compensation. But at the same time, your actions will have a rather more lasting impact on all of them. And you didn't try to kill anyone, or cause permanent harm. Nobody was threatened. And everything was paid for. As long as there's no legal problems, I'd say you did fine.

Legally, it was child abuse.

There's a very big legal problem here.

Again, I sense hypocrisy for everyone forgetting what happened when they were young kid...

Depends on the region.
And by legal problems, I mean depending on whether anyone wanted to press charges. Generally, the police don't fuss with things unless people take issue with them.

And what exactly is it that we're all forgetting here?

 

[ZeroMachine]

It is well within your rights to demand compensation for the damages, and if they refused to compensate you for the damages, sue them.

But if I had ever seen some stranger hurting my kid, I would have kicked their ass, no matter what my kid did.

You NEVER, EVER discipline someone else's child unless you're their teacher or boss and it's related to what your job is. You ESPECIALLY never physically discipline them.

Consider yourself lucky they didn't get you for assault and battery.

 

[Voonhartking]

You were in the right until you started twisting their ears. You should have handled that better.

 

[Jayben Tibbles]

I would say you were perfectly reasonable, you didn't harm the children, though they did feel pain, and ultimately the abstract consequence of having their parents pay damages will resonate with them far less than the momentary pain. Children are not reasonable, we like to think they are because adults are, but that's not natural, it's learnt, this will teach them a harsh lesson, but one they're better off learning young and without being harmed rather than when they're old enough to be expected to know better.

 

[Realitycrash]

Grab them by the neck or upper-arm. Not painful, but very controlling. Twisting their ears might not have been uncalled for, but no mother is going to understand it. So it's rather counter-productive.

 

[Exocet]

Fuck'em. You didn't scar them, physically or emotionally, you didn't even show signs or true aggression by hitting them.
If their father isn't trying to beat the crap out of you, then you didn't do anything he wouldn't have done.

 

[Delsana]

I don't think you were, not even for the ear twisting (which frankly sounds totally situationally appropriate, and is exactly how it would have happened if it had been a movie). Kids should have known better than to trespass, assuming they knew it was someone's property. Lady shouldn't have yelled at you for it, but her reaction is quite understandable. She was angry, and probably a bit scared about what you were doing; odds are nobody has ever actually laid hands on her kids before (and I'd say that after trespassing and vandalizing your private property, somebody probably ought to).

Could you have handled it better? Yeah, you could have just tracked down their parents and courteously requested compensation. But at the same time, your actions will have a rather more lasting impact on all of them. And you didn't try to kill anyone, or cause permanent harm. Nobody was threatened. And everything was paid for. As long as there's no legal problems, I'd say you did fine.

Legally, it was child abuse.

There's a very big legal problem here.

Again, I sense hypocrisy for everyone forgetting what happened when they were young kid...

Depends on the region.
And by legal problems, I mean depending on whether anyone wanted to press charges. Generally, the police don't fuss with things unless people take issue with them.

And what exactly is it that we're all forgetting here?

You guys all broke things when you were really young, or your parents did, and you didn't want to take responsibility and you fled... and now look at you all taking issue with it and acting as if it's the worst thing ever and punishment ever made you stop.. bahaha such hypocrisy.

 

[Fasckira]

-snip-

Twisting their ears? You traveled here from the 1950s?

The kids were bang out of order and I reckon if I was in your situation I would have responded in the same way though possibly grabbing their elbows roughly or something rather than grabbing the ears.

Just need to build yourself a ha-ha [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha] round your garden behind the fence. Or rank it up a notch and make it a ho-ho (like a ha-ha but considerably deeper, some 50ft deep).

 

[Gabanuka]

You had every right to be mad but the ear twisting wasn't the best idea, probably should of gone for a firm hand at the base of their neck or something.

 

[Yosato]

I think you did right, but then again I'm not a dad. I really don't see anything wrong with it - like you said it does no lasting damage, and if parents don't discipline their kids then someone has to, otherwise they'll just keep taking the piss.