To call my toddler a git?

[Sandsnake]

Lighthearted but I'm genuinely curious. PIL are staying and 15mo DS needed his nappy changed. DH took him upstairs, MIL followed to help and I said 'good luck! DS can be a bit of a git about having his nappy changed at the moment'. She was genuinely shocked, it was like I'd referred to him as a really bad swear word (she later referred to it as me calling him the 'g word'). This wasn't in front of DS as he was already upstairs.

I've just never seen 'git' as a particularly bad word. Is it? I genuinely want to know if I need to reign in my casual git calling... MIL is lovely but from quite a different background to me so maybe that's it.

[harderandharder2breathe]

Said affectionately when he's not present yanbu

If you had shouted it in his face I could understand her pearl clutching. Otherwise she is overreacting

[Twatternatter]

Different generations have different tolerances. Dont take it to heart

[DorotheaHomeAlone]

She's being ridiculous. The 'g' word . If you hadn't already said it was got I'd be struggling to guess which word she could mean.

[NattyBatty]

YANBU

To be fair, I've referred to my DS as a little shit on occasion. Usually when he's out of bed again at night and I just want him to go the fuck to sleep. It's never in his hearing, though. It's usually to my DH who knows I still love my DS, even if he is acting up.

Small children are selfish. It's part of how the human race has survived. Small children go through a phase of disliking anyone except their primary carer. Again, it's a survival mechanism. But that doesn't make it any less trying for the rest of us, or mean that we don't love them to bits. Your MIL needs to chill out.

[RaindropDreams]

I think it's a generation thing. My mil hates it when I call mine a "little bugger" but it's said with affection and is a northern term whereas she is southern

[Sandsnake]

Thanks! No, certainly not worrying over it - MIL's lovely so no dramas between us. Just wanting to make sure that git isn't some awful slur to to the majority of the population (well, MN)

[sabzii]

TBH I'd cringe if I heard someone say it. Just seems a really unkind, vulgar way of referring to a toddler, like saying 'twat' or 'idiot'. Why not say something like 'rascal' or 'terror' or something softer?

[Sandsnake]

See that's interesting Sabzi as to me it is a soft term, more like terror and certainly not along the lines of 'twat' or 'idiot'. I guess that's the problem with language, it can really different connotations for different people.

[Crunchyside]

I think when said in an affectionate way it's absolutely fine - e.g. if my toddler did something cheeky like steal a biscuit and run off laughing, it's the sort of thing I'd say to DH "He's such a little git!" in a bemused tone.

[maras2]

Old gimmer here.
I never refer to my DGC or anyonelse's kids other than 'Little monkey' or 'Little so and so'
You live and learn.

[Lostpangolin]

Git is very much an affectionate term here

[SuperBeagle]

I called mine "total shit bags" when talking to my cousin the other day. Because that's how they were behaving. Of course, I don't call them such things to their face or anything, but that sort of lighthearted talk is normal in my family.

[originalbiglymavis]

I'm sure I've heard it in the House of Commons. My grandfather was generally referred to affectionately as 'the miserable auld git'. I call DS a git quite a lot!

[EpoxyResin]

"Shitbag" is our family's affectionate, modern adaptation of the term "scamp".

[originalbiglymavis]

You don't want to be around here when we've been watching Father Ted then!

[TheresABluebirdOnMyShoulder]

I think it must be a regional thing by the responses here. To me, it's not at all offensive and is usually used in an affectionate manner ("cheeky git" etc). I certainly wouldn't liken it to twat! I would be genuinely aghast if anybody referred to their child that way. So I guess if some people think that git and twat are the same, I can understand the shock that your MIL felt.

[Topseyt]

I think it is fine, though I doubt my parents' generation would have.

[EpoxyResin]

Someone else uses shit bag! I thought it was just us

[HelenaGWells]

I would say git or sod in this way.

[LostMyDotBrain]

I do grin at the expectation that we should always be lovely when we talk about children. As PP said above, children are really selfish by nature. It's hard to be around them long term and still be a saint. My toddler can be an arsehole. She just can be. I don't tell her that obviously but that doesn't make it less true.

I don't think there's a particularly nasty background behind the word 'git' that would put it off limits despite my low standards

[SuperBeagle]

Epoxy "Git" just doesn't quite hit the mark sometimes.

[Finola1step]

I wouldn't use git because where I am from, it is similar to bastard. Not in the illegitimate sense but in a cheeky bastard sense. Harsher than cheeky monkey.

[StinkyMcgrinky]

I definitely wouldn't see git as an offensive term. I call my two buggerlugs all the time and my MIL hates it. My 7 month old hasn't slept for more than 3hrs at a time since birth, I like to cheerily sing "he's a chubby little shitbag" at him around 3am when he decides its playtime. MIL definitely wouldn't like that

[ScoobyDoosTinklyLaugh]

I say shitehawk and tiny bugger.

[Screwinthetuna]

It depends on how you view the word. To me it's the same as 'get' or 'shit' so I don't say it. Your MIL must think of it in a similar way to me. I wouldn't care if someone else called their own kid a git though!