A five month old baby girl can be ladylikereally Prince William.

[goodiegoodieyumyum]

Am I being unreasonable to find this the most ridiculous thing to come out of Prince Williams mouth. Princess Charlotte may be a very different baby to Prince George but ladylike at 5 months old that is utter tosh.

[AbeSaidYes]

Yanbu. It's ridiculous.

[Cerseirys]

YANBU, I read it too and though wtf? I feel sorry for Charlotte in a way - all coverage of her, for the rest of her life, is going to be based on what she looks like and what she wears and heaven forbid if she's not as photogenic as her mother.

[Aussiemum78]

Ladylike while shitting your nappy? Lol

[AuntieStella]

I suppose he's playing it down - he is after all one of the few people who could call his DD princess.

But I really hope the the remark's out of context, ie the markers that it was joking sarcasm have been removed, and it's been given undue attention compared to the totality of what he said. The coverage I've seen of last night's speech was entirely centred on the work of the Child Bereavement Trust and personal comments about his mother.

If he chose to say it because he thought that was a normal description, oh dear. There's still a long way to go in breaking down gender stereotypes (which for infants and small children seem to have become more, not less, entrenched in recent years).

[EllyHigginbottom]

Surely this is just something that people say when they're pressed to make small-talk?

[EponasWildDaughter]

Ladylike?

I assume it was some sort of joke. Odd thing to say. I imagine some people lap this sort of thing up though.

[YouBastardSockBalls]

Oh FFS.

Haven't we all said things like this about our children?

[londonrach]

Sounds like something someone would say when pressed to say something by the press or random stranger.

[Senpai]

YANBU, but at the same time, DD has been acting "girly" and "dainty" since that young. Getting upset when dirt is on her hands, tilting her head for pictures, enjoying getting her nails trimmed or hair done. It's certainly nothing we've enforced. I forbade pink gender stereotyping crap, and she still wants dolls, dresses, and my little ponies despite my best efforts to get her to like super heroes, playing in the mud, and catching bugs. I've thrown in the towel on it. though not completely, she's still getting "boy colored" sports balls for Christmas

If it's a cute observation that's fine, so long as he isn't using it as a basis to stick her into a box.

[cittigirl]

Agree with You bastard. I don't think it has anything to do with her looks at all, just that she's a gentler soul. You really need to get out more

[CallaLilli]

I've heard people describe their toddlers or little girls as "ladylike" but never a 5 month old!

[SquirmOfEels]

"Haven't we all said things like this about our children?"

No.

But them again, I do remember reading about that study which showed how people interact differently when presented with a baby to play with. Same baby for all adults, but for some it was handed over using female pronouns and some male. And then the interactions were filmed. And the difference in language used was striking - boys strong, exploring, into everything, cheeky; girls sweet and cuddly.

And I made a deliberate decision and conscious effort not to do that to my DC as I though tit was detrimental to both sexes.

[Northernlurker]

It annoys me rather but these are his children and it's not a derogatory description. I rather hope Kate has given him hell though and the next time we see Charlotte she's in navy blue rompers but I slightly doubt that .

[EllyHigginbottom]

I find myself saying the most ridiculous crap when I'm forced to make small talk. How many times do you think he's been asked about Princess Charlotte? How many observations can he possibly make?

[Luckystar1]

Squirm I remember reading about that when DS was hours old, my most precious little thing, and I made the decision there and then to always, always comfort him etc as he needed. I read that boys (from a very, very, very young age) will be left to cry for longer, will not be comforted as much and will not be spoken to as much as baby girls. How terribly, terribly sad

[SoupDragon]

I bet everyone has said something stupid about their children.

[Sparklingbrook]

I bet he's bored of answering questions, and just said something on the spur of the moment. I can't get all frothy about it.

[ollieplimsoles]

Sounds like it was just something to say really, I wouldn't get worked up about it
At our 20 week scan, our baby had his/her feet together and legs crossed, and the sonographer said 'you have a very dainty baby' we laughed, I was small talk...not a big deal

[MajesticSeaFlapFlap]

Its smalltalk, i should imagine if we were contstantly asked shit about our kids we would say anything.

[GrannyGoggles]

Ego - Charlotte needs a man to save her? Really?

[goodiegoodieyumyum]

There are so many other things he could have said about his daughter, as someone who is used to engaging with the media he should have thought before he spoke. He obviously takes after his grandfather.

[Sparklingbrook]

Really? I can't see all the angst. There's not a whole lot you can say about a baby. Whatever he said would have been picked over and misinterpreted.

[carabos]

I doubt that goodie. If he'd been channelling Prince Philip he'd have said she looked like a monkey, or a Chinese ambassador or something else offensive. .