KELLY BROWN Mum's the Word... Outrageous behaviour makes having fun no stroll in the park

It seems some have nothing better to do than hang around a small children’s playground and ruin it for the little ones.

I got so cross on Sunday afternoon and had to bite my lip after experiencing this first-hand at the park close to where I live. When I arrived with my little man there was already a group of five young teenagers all hanging out on the bigger swings.

Not a problem. They were not bothering me, they were just swinging and chatting and ignoring us.

So munchkin and I were playing at the other end of the park on the toddler climbing frame, ladder and slide combo, and he was having a wonderful time with his usual daredevil stunts and insistence he didn’t need mummy’s help to slide down the fireman’s pole.

(For the record little one – you do.)

We moved on to the seesaw, and then the baby swings close to where the teenagers were continuing to chat (with far too much bad language), smoke and ignore us.

Then another group of teenagers arrived and entered the park to talk to the first lot, complete with a football which they started kicking around.

What was irritating is about 15 metres away from the park is one of those youth shelters, complete with a purpose-built footie area and large field.

So why they insisted on hanging out in the children’s park is beyond me.

My son then wanted to go back on to the slide so we headed over the other side of the park.

And in the 30 seconds it took for us to cross the park, one of these delightful teenagers had hung the baby swings all of the way around the bars so they couldn’t be used. Pathetic.

So what do I do? Get into a row with them in front of my little boy (not something I wanted him to see) or just quietly judge them and explain to an upset one-year-old the swings were now broken. As I was on my own I chose the latter, but even now I’m still so cross at their pointless actions.

When I was a young teenager I used to hang out with my friends, but deliberately ruining the fun of a little boy would have been unthinkable.

There are so many lovely young people out there. But it is this kind of pathetic display of behaviour which gives teenagers a bad name.