Sale of Flour and Eggs to under 18s

West Mercia police are on a big crack down at the moment. I came across this poster at our local shop.

Preventing the sale of flour and eggs to under-age children!

Hopefully this will put an end to any unsolicited pastries and cakes that the children may decide to make over the next few weeks!

On the serious side I understand that unsocial behaviour is not pleasant and that many children may purchase eggs for purposes other than baking, but I don’t think that justifies treating all under 18s as though they are up to no good. It’s a slippery slope when we start treating people as criminals before they’ve done anything wrong. There are plenty of good kids and treating them all as potential criminals is not the way to encourage good behaviour.

Children do cookery at school so may need to purchase ingredients, they may be helping out their parents (tasks like going to the local shop can help encourage independence). There are some kids that may be helping out an elderly friend or neighbour with their shopping.

I think it would be good to put up signs warning kids about the consequences of their actions if they do engage in unsociable behaviour, but treating them as criminals before they’ve done anything wrong is not a way to set a good example. It is not something that we would accept as adults so I don’t see why we should be doing it to children.