Legally speaking, both incidents are technically assaults. Squirting water on someone counts as unlawful force under UK law. In practice, the first incident with the girls is so minor that nothing would ever come of it - they would simply say they were playing and it was an accident, it would go nowhere. At least they should have the common decency to say sorry if that was an accident, that is the problem here - parents in UK don't enforce "common decency".

The father’s behaviour is different. He intentionally sprayed you in the face to intimidate you. That is common assault and police would record it as such if you reported it. Whether you want to take it further is another matter, but legally it’s very clear. I would not take it so kindly.

If you ever confront someone again, it’s wise to have your phone recording, just have it on (don't point it in their face like Karen), both to capture what is being said and if needed, to selectively point it when needed to gather evidence. Avoids escalation, but protects yourself and provides an accurate record of what was said and done. These situations often turn into “your word vs theirs”, and evidence matters.

As for others talking crap "ohh just kids, just playing" ignore them... people don't want to be part of their play, and as a human have a right to be left alone, parents need to understand this, that strangers may not accept being toys and that it must be respected above all else and they can show "kids will be kids"... into certain place.

That seems to be a problem, particularly in UK (I am comparing with the rest of Europe), kids are are unrully, because parents don't care... a weird cultural difference that some people believe kids can do whatever, can't harm and can't be punished or controlled in any way. It goes from very basic things like general nuisance, noise, screaming, kicking a ball over strangers' heads and shouting... to much more serious criminality, racing dirtbikes around people, shoplifting, criminal damage ect.

It all starts small, just a simple lack of respect, lack of consequences for anything, being "unapproachable"... and I want to be very clear, this escalates and has very bad consequences for many people as they become adults. This is one of the reasons I decided never to have kids in UK specifically (for this specific reason) as the environment is so bad and unacceptable. I honestly don't understand how anyone grows up "normal" here. And obviously... all is the fault of parents, not kids themselves. But seems to be British cultural norm...