I have quickly learnt that kids are attracted to bright objects in the sky. I have also quickly learnt that the notion of responsible parenting has completely gone out the window.
On Saturday I was flying my trainer kite at one of the more popular kite boarding beaches. The wind was in the wrong direction to be on the water so there was absolutely no one on the beach.
About 45mins into my session the wind picked up and started gusting very strongly. I was starting to lose control of the kite so was starting to land the kite. Due to the strength of the wind it wasn't the easiest task. Whilst this was happening I noticed 2 kids walking along the beach, they would have been 4-5 years old max. Knowing that it wasn't the best situation I wasn't feeling very comfortable having kids around me. I was trying to tell them to stay away, however with their parents some 500m away it wasn't really working.
Anyway to cut a long story short my kite powered up again and flipped over and went into a death spin. Before crashing back to earth some 5m away from these kids. Who now proceeded to quickly move away.
So how do you deal with young kids who don't have their parents near them?? I don't really want to have an accident and risk the council banning kites from the beach.
I think the subject of parenting is too difficult or contentious to answer here, especially since we don't know the full circumstances. Like are the kids local to the area, frequent visitors to the area?. What sort of other outdoor experience they have etc, etc, etc?.
Maybe you should look at getting a trainer kite that has a proper safety system that allows you to safely land it in over powering conditions???
There are way too many 2 line trainer kites being sold that have no emergency depower and are extremely difficult to land in strong winds.
Cya and
Goodwinds
Steve
Try yelling to the squids "Hey I think I saw the $100 note your dad/mum must have lost, it's back near your parents - go tell ya folks!" Bet they are off up the beach pronto.. 
last weekend on my way to the beach for a kite , thought it was pretty kewl.. bit like when i was a kid and doing out there stuff.... like climbing a tree..
anyhow.. kids are kids... just got to be careful around them 
Haha come on elizabeth. Look at the fun they must be having. And the power lines are way up high, and I''m not sure bed sheets would conduct electricity very well.
(You may have noticed the lack of a helmet, and the travelling down the wrong side of the road)
Can imagine the mums conversation "Kids have you seen the bed sheets??!!!??!" (in naggy voice)
"ummm....ahhh...nah sorry mum, don't even know what a bed sheet looks like..."
Blaming parents for kids skate boarding with bed sheets! I can remember countless crazy (stupid) things I did as a kid without my parents knowing. As a kid you don`t say "Mom dad We`re just going to grab some old bed sheets from the shed and skate down the wrong side of the road, do you need anything from the shops while we`re out?"
About a month ago I found myself a nice quiet spot on the beach, nobody around. The winds started to drop big time and as I was comming in a woman turns up with her dogs and one of them took a big disliking to me and my kite. It wasn`t on a leash and it was doing it`s best to bite the kite and me. She was finding it funny, until I expained what I will do to her dog if it rips my kite. I know where you comming from hoskoau. Why is it always the kiters fault? Parents not keeping an eye on their kids, stupid. Dog owners who think it`s okay for their dogs to run around and sniff into your esky and snacks on the beach, stupid. Crashing my kite on that dogs head nex time the winds are strong, priceless. 
If you reckon a kite is bad, try flying an RC helicopter.. they're a kid magnet, bright coloured and noisy, and worse, you can't see the sharp blades spinning at 1200rpm.
I had an experience with one young kid who didn't speak a word of english and who was determined that he was going to catch the helicopter for me. I tried to convey the message that he was going to get hurt, and needed to move away, but it didn't seem to connect for him. In the end I did my best impression of an extremely angry person who was about to chase him and give him a beating (no parents around obviously). For some reason, that connected, (probably says something about his parents..) and he moved away just long enough for me to land and slow the blades to a less than lethal speed before he ran back and tried to grab it..
So I know what you mean - and it's really not helped by flying in a public park.
but, thinking back to when I was a kid, I would have been fascinated too (okay, so I'm still fascinated...) but would like to think that I would've had more respect for strangers and their stuff.
I've often found that kids will happily stand beside you to watch if invited, and that's probably the safest option if you can't get rid of them altogether. Better to be accused of being over-friendly to kids, than injuring them I think.. (although there's not much in it these days!)
My suggestion hoskoau if kids etc. are around on the beach when you need to land a kite urgently is to land it into the water.
If it was offshore with the trainer kite, this would be dead easy, you could also fly it over the water and avoid accidental crashes on top of people too (assuming no one is in the water).
Yep, a wet kite as a result but no risk of hitting anyone, and if it goes especially pear shaped you get dragged into water not into the dunes or buildings.
Parenting skills... oh so great. I know its not HIGH winds, but it doesn't take much!
Dustin, I understand where you are coming from, and I never said what the children were doing wasn't creative or insightful; I was talking about the parents... NOT the children.
Regardless, I removed my posts and I apologise for offending anyone.
This reminds me of my younger days (a couple or 30 years back) when we would catch the ferry over to Rotto, cycle out to Strickos, surf until it was completely blown out then on the way back to the settlement we would be that knackered that we would hold a big beach towel between two bikes and get blown back with the Souwester.
Those must have been the good old days because my mate wanted to go to Rotto for the day a couple of weeks ago and the ticket was apparently $72
Great to see kids doing some crasy **** like we all did a few years back
May crank up the misses's Dunna and my skatey next time it gets real windy and give that a bash
Geez lighten up a bit on Lithbeth. Being attached to anything that is blowin around under powerlines is not clever. 
Love the bedsheets n skatey action and the can-do kiddies vibe but location takes priority I reckon.
And also Rotto is an overated, overpopulated, overpriced grot hole these days. Yes I am over it! Er.. until March when i am praying there will be wind for the 8 days that I am there with the fam.. 
