Would you give money to a child at the door?

Thrillho

I think you did the right thing, a 7 year old should not be out knocking on doors for safety reasons. Even if his parents were not aware of it his sister was so someone decided to exploit him and by giving him money you're contributing to it.

Also a 7 year old would more than likely do a terrible job at car washing, not very MSE to pay him when you can do it yourself!

Thrillho

harrys_nan wrote: »

My son and his friend when young had a regular little round washing cars and really enjoyed it, my son now has a brilliant job and is also a director, his friend has his own roofing business , so in all honesty I dont think it hurt either of them.
They both have very good work ethics

I doubt your son span a nonsense story about it being your birthday everytime he knocked on a door.

SailorSam

We use to have kids coming to 'work' the Asda taxi rank. They'd help people unpack their shopping into the Cabs and say shall i take your trolly back (the trolly park was 5yds away). Some women gave them 20p/50p but many left the £ with them. The kids could easily earn £100 a day, a lot more of a Fri./Sat. All the drivers use to try and chase them, while we sat around for 20/30mins between fares we'd watch them take a tenner.
One particular lad who was there every day, he never went to school, came with his Dad who sat nearby taking the money and chasing off any other kids who tried to work.

miss_independent

I have to admit that I honestly never thought any parent would encourage their child to knock on strangers doors to "offer their services" in anyway (or beg in this case) but it seems that not only is it acceptable some parents would see it as a really positive thing!

It's an eye opener I'll admit. For me personally, I'd never take the risk and wouldn't encourage it. I could just see the headlines, "Girl, twelve and boy, seven, murdered by !!!!!phile after mum lets them wash strangers' cars for pocket money." Yes, I know it's extreme but things like that do happen in today's society. Also, murderers and !!!!!philes aside, as a pride issue, I wouldn't feel right about sending my kids door to door asking for odd jobs. In fact, I'd feel downright red faced if my kids felt they had to do that to buy me a present. A homemade card would do me fine. If my kids wanted extra money (don't have kids yet but hypothetically) for a toy or whatever, I'd be happy to find things for them to do myself around the home. I think it's disrespectful to knock on strangers doors and tout for business and I wouldn't want my children making a nuisance of themselves. However, if we had an elderly neighbour who struggled with shopping, or needed her path cleared, I would encourage my children to help but not to expect anything in return, just to be a good citizen. I think it's all very well to be a budding entrepreneur but why not sell old toys on eBay or have a cake table at the local car boot? I used to make friendship bracelets, which you could then sell in the playground, made customised tops upon request and held a garage sale with my best friend, aided by my mum but I didn't go around bothering people or putting my own personal safety at risk.

Also in truth, would you want/trust a 6 or 7 year old to wash your car?

cheepskate_2

Miss I....Its your own father, uncle , brother etc that is more likely to be a pedo and kill a child as is shown all the time in the papers nowadays.

Most child crime is actually carried out by a friend or realative than a totally unknown person.

elsien

I had the small child last year (looked about 5ish) a couple of days before halloween asking for money for trick or treat. Mum was hiding behind my front wall.
I told her that a) it wasn't halloween and b) I don't give money out on the doorstep. Felt sorry for the kid though, he'd clearly been put up to it and I'm pretty sure he'd never have seen any of the money.
Again, not one of the local children.
As far as the OP goes, I don't mind a bit of enterprise but I wouldn't trust a 7 year old anywhere near my rust bucket, and asking for a donation really is not ok as far as I'm concerned. A bit too close to the "I've lost my wallet, can you lend me the bus fare" routine.

miss_independent

cheepskate wrote: »

Miss I....Its your own father, uncle , brother etc that is more likely to be a pedo and kill a child as is shown all the time in the papers nowadays.

Most child crime is actually carried out by a friend or realative than a totally unknown person.

And there are lots of cases where it isn't a relative, look at Sarah Payne for one example. Hindley and Brady took their next door neighbour to play on the Moors loads of times but never killed her as it would be too obvious. Honestly? Would you let your kids go an knock on a sex offender's door? And if you did let your kids knock on strangers doors how would you know 100% that they weren't one?

CKhalvashi

I had similar a few years ago, and refused for the same reasons as above.

DD1 managed to drop a sponge and scratch the side of my (at the time 6 week old) car about a year ago, and there's no way I'd want another child doing it, for fear of their own life if I found it. :eek:

Saying that, from 13/14, I had a Saturday job of cleaning the taxis for my parents at £5 a go, and I had to buy the materials, too. (They used to own the taxi franchise for Stansted airport), and I could easily profit £500 on a weekend over 120 cars. That was my first business and yes, I was paying tax on it. It also taught me a lot of the work ethic I've got.

CK

Tropez

miss_independent wrote: »

And there are lots of cases where it isn't a relative, look at Sarah Payne for one example. Hindley and Brady took their next door neighbour to play on the Moors loads of times but never killed her as it would be too obvious. Honestly? Would you let your kids go an knock on a sex offender's door? And if you did let your kids knock on strangers doors how would you know 100% that they weren't one?

It's a fair point but I can also see the previous point. On a relative's road, a year or two ago, one of the neighbours, who had lived there for fifteen years, was arrested for trying to pay young girls (and I mean young) to perform strip shows for him. Who knows how long he'd been at that? And of course, the neighbours all thought he was harmless.

Although you can never be 100% that someone you know isn't that way inclined (I think it was a Telegraph journalist who wrote a piece following her husband's arrest on child pornography charges) it still at least seems to be safer than allowing children to knock on stranger's doors, particularly if those doors are some way from where the children live.

But it is true that sometimes it isn't the strangers that are the ones to worry about, but at least you can narrow down the odds by not encouraging children to interact with them more than is necessary.

art_for_arts_sake

We all make the mistake of judging people by their appearances. I was reading on another blog where a proud parent watched their young daughter from a safe distance, on her first attempt at busking to get some experience of playing in front of a crowd. An unkempt fellow busker approached the girl, drawing the attention of the parent, but then walked away, only to return with a £1 for the girl. It's so easy to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts.