Sun, The Sand Wizard and Slack Parenting

We’re just back from a fabulous week in Jersey. Castles and lighthouses with causeways that disappear under the sea and beaches with the perfect sandcastle sand. In fact the sand is so good, if you have the skill, the patience and 20 hours to spare you can build something like this masterpiece by Simon ‘The Sand Wizard’ Smith.

Inspired by viewing The Sand Wizard’s sculptures Pickle and I set about making our own sandscape. Pickle was in charge of the volcano and channels; the shell castle was my project. Although it quickly became apparent that achieving anything a fraction as good as The Sand Wizard was way beyond my capabilities, I did get quite engrossed in my creation.

Having painstakingly carved the 3-storey staircase and managed a near-perfect sand-pie on the castle’s third storey I wandered off to the water’s edge where Bowser was attempting to rehouse the entire beach stone population in the sea. Bowser was ‘happy as a sand boy’ (I would say ‘pig in shit’, but it’s not so apt) and Nanny wasn’t too bored supervising him so I started back up the beach but was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of a mini hooligan vandalizing my our castle. The staircase and top storey were already demolished and she was still smashing. I expected to see an embarrassed parent whose clutches she had escaped dashing to scoop her up and apologize profusely. But there was no one; just a defiant toddler staring me down. Her only response to my exclamations was to steal my shovel!

I hate that – when kids are behaving badly and their parents do nothing to intervene either because they aren’t paying attention or can’t be bothered. I can’t bear being left to chastise someone else’s child; I’m not good at it. Yeah, yeah I know: the beach is not my property; she was only a toddler, but hey, when you see your hard work being needlessly destroyed, whether you’re 3 or 43, it’s annoying.

Reading this back I sound like a real old crabby pants, but it could just as easily have been Pickle’s work of art that was destroyed and I can only imagine the tears. What really annoyed me was that later as I sat repairing the damage the same little vandal made another beeline for us. This time her mum was a few paces behind and made a snide comment: “Don’t Bella, you’ll get into trouble again”. So it appears she was perfectly aware of what her child had done yet didn’t feel the need to apologize, nor to take the opportunity to explain to her daughter that it’s not friendly to ruin other people’s work.

My feeling is that if this child is old enough to be wandering unaccompanied around the beach, then she’s old enough to be taught right from wrong. She was only 2ish, but I believe it’s never too early to be taught social niceties and to have respect for other people’s things. Trashing a castle that someone else has built just isn’t very friendly. Growing up I knew the rule: the only castle you were allowed to stamp on was your own.

Incidentally The Sand Wizard has to camp on the beach next to his sculptures otherwise big hooligans think it’s fun to trash them. I guess they were never taught respect at a young age either.

We finished our creation and enjoyed watching the incoming tide fill the moats and then destroy the buildings, which is exactly what happened to the Sand Wizard’s sculptures in Jersey’s high tide on Monday. Amazingly he also enjoys watching this happen. None of us mind the sea being a vandal.