In what way is it valid? A player doesn't want to be hassled every time he picks up his kid from school by kid/parents for autographs and shouldn't feel he has to commit to it every time whilst concentrating on time with his kids/football/time off?
I think it's always a nice gesture for players to sign stuff for kids but it's not like he is compelled to do so... I can imagine in this case there were other contributing factors that have not been mentioned.
I'm struggling to understand why the footballer can't just deal with this himself. How difficult is it to smile and say "Sorry, not today guys"? It's really this simple. His overblown approach smacks of typical footballer preciousness. Part of me is wondering if he also rolled around clutching his face when he was "hassled" by these children.