When are kids old enough to shop alone? Should kids be able to shop in a store if parents are in the vicinity? Remember when kids rode their bike to the corner store? There comes a point when kids need to get out and do things on their own.
11-year-old, Tadhg Dunlop, was detained by a security guard at a local LEGO Store. His father, Doug, said he was extremely surprised because Tadhg (pronounced Tie) has been there multiple times before. Mr. Dunlop said when he got the phone call he couldn’t “imaging why he’d been detained…he’s a rule follower.”
Apparently, the LEGO store has a policy that all children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent. It’s interesting that this time the security guard detained the boy because he’d been to the store, alone dozens of times before. He also rode his bike, alone, to get there.
The security guard and the manager told him he was a bad parent. Dunlop says that unless the store changes their policy they will be buying LEGOs somewhere else. He won’t boycott LEGO completely because that would be “cruel punishment” for his son. The LEGO Store said they stand by their manager and the rules that are in place. They consider it a safety issue and their goal is to make sure children are safe.
Rules are rules and we, as parents, need to teach our children to respect authority. However, we can disagree with the rules and reach out to leaders to request that they change rules. Obviously, this boy is responsible and well-behaved. His parents have no problem allowing him to ride his bike a few miles or make purchases at a store. If we want children who will make good choices, we need to give them the opportunity to prove themselves.
What is your opinion on allowing kids to shop alone? If the dad honestly didn’t know there was an age limit, should he now follow the rules?
On a side note, LEGOLand and LEGOLand Discovery Centers do not allow adults in without a child.
“Rules are rules”
What tripe. Some rules are simply too silly to be followed, bent, or broken. Rules are also meant to be applied with discretion and common sense, both of which were lacking by the store manager and the rent-a-cop, since the boy had been there many times before without any issues.
Seems to me the problem is that the LEGO people, including the rent-a-cop, are the real problems here, not the boy. Yet the article focuses on the boy instead. Wrong focus.
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