In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 5 May 2013 15:05:46 +0100, Sacha wrote:

The children could - and should in any case - be taught to wear shoes
when running round the garden ...

Aye, I expect they will be jabbed up against Tetantus but Cellulitis is
not very pleasant(*) and can be life threatening.

I strongly disagree. Such problems are as likely to be caused by
any other accident and, arguably, are more likely in people who
have not had their immune system properly challenged as children.
It is only within my lifetime that shoes have become more-or-less
mandatory for children even in the UK. They should be taught to
wear them when necessary which, for children who regularly go
barefoot, does not mean in a well-kempt garden[*]. There is
also the problem that people who never go barefoot are far MORE
likely to injure their feet on the beach, because they are not
accustomed to avoiding problems.

... and to be calm when walking through the 'bee area'. Standing in
front of the bees' homes and flapping arms about etc. is asking for
trouble whether they're in a wall or a hive.

Aye.

(*) Understatement. It is flaming agony, I dread to think how a child
would react to the constant worst pins and needles you can imagine.

I strongly agree with that. I have a couple of times had bee
swarms blocking my only feasible route, and have walked slowly
through them. Some of the bees bumped into me, but regarded me
as some sort of mobile tree stump.
[*] By which I mean free of broken glass, rusty metal and other
such dangers to bare feet. Regrettably, it does include the
branches of some thorny plants, but I carefully remove those as
I don't like thorns in even my horny soles! I had a strict rule
that the only person who was allowed to clean up broken glass
barefoot was me - and showed them why!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.