A mum has praised the actions of a group of teenage boys who took the time to play with her young son in the park. Admitting she's sometimes been nervous taking her little ones near older kids, Laura Negus, from Stretford, in Trafford, says the incident has changed her opinion.
It happened on Saturday afternoon when she had taken her two children, four-year-old Wilf and 10-month-old Woody to nearby Moss Park. Her eldest approached a group of four teenage boys, aged 13 to 14, who were playing basketball and 'insisted on playing with them'.
Rather unexpectedly she said: "This group of lovely boys spent over half an hour entertaining him. They chatted with him, taught him how to shoot the ball and then played football with him."
She was so impressed by their actions that when she returned home she took to social media, to praise their efforts on a local Facebook group.
In the post, she said: "I wanted to acknowledge this because I know teenagers these days don't always have the best reputation. But these were the loveliest and politest boys and I hope this reaches the parents because you should be very proud.
"You have made my little boy's day as he has not stopped talking about his 'new friends'."
Her post was well received by the Stretford M32 group, with dozens of people commenting on how it made a change to hear some praise for older children, who don't often get the credit they deserve.
"How lovely was that. Such kind hearted boys. Their parents should be justifiably proud of them," said one.
Another added: "Well done boys, a nice story about good, decent younger people. There's plenty of nice and well behaved children these days. Not all badly raised/badly behaved. Good parenting is what it's about."
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Laura said she was 'amazed' by the response her post received.
"I suppose it just highlights that positive posts are few and far between and there is so much negativity these days," she said.
"I chose to write the post because I feel there is such a negative stereotype when it comes to teenagers. You hear a lot on the news usually involving violence or anti-social behaviour and unfairly this tarnishes the reputation on the majority of lovely kids. And this particular group of boys made such an impression on Wilf.
"They made him smile and feel special. I've been guilty of feeling nervous around teenagers in parks when I'm with my young children and these boys changed that for me."
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