to think teacher calling kids this is inappropriate?

This thread reminds me of my poor TA who was wonderful at her job but left shortly after a parent objected angrily and made a formal complaint about her child being called a ‘silly sausage’. The child was very much being a silly sausage.

She was so embarrassed and upset about the whole thing that she gave notice, went sick and went to work at a supermarket instead. We had a few issues with parents moaning about water bottles and jumpers, which I knew she found difficult to deal with when they were all guns blazing- but the complaint and the absolute mountain made out of an innocent comment was the final straw.

Honestly, absolute wet wipe parents are a big reason why I left.

I have DC too who are incredibly pampered souls and I consider myself a fierce advocate for them- but if a teacher had called them a wet wipe, my first response would be ‘but were you being a wet wipe?’

I didn’t say it was just you. I wouldn’t call children ‘kids’ either as to me a kid is a baby goat but you do you. I am old now and probably old fashioned. Ah I see you are one of those secondary teachers who believe that the primary teachers haven’t done their jobs correctly because of the particular intake of children you have received. I am not sure what goes on at secondary school nowadays given the issues that many young adults seem to have when they leave. Or maybe their issues are absolutely nothing to do with their schooling?

Lots of people on this thread have widened the argument to secondary, not just me.

That said, the kid is what, Y5? Not a reception child.

Our Y7s seem to be incredibly immature this year. I’m not sure what has gone on at primary or whether there was something in the water that year, but teaching them to be a bit more robust wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Bullying is systematically targetting or singling someone out.
Its amazing how many people think that its bullying whenever their child feels a bit sad or annoyed.

@noblegiraffe I have a lot of respect for you and the intelligent arguments you present on other threads. However what you and other secondary school teachers on this thread seem to have missed is that the OP is talking about primary age pupils. They are at a very different stage of development to the older pupils you teach and ‘banter’ with. Unless you have taught primary age children for over thirty years like I did? Respectfully you don’t know what you are talking about with regard to younger children.

"Wuss" feels like slang, though?
I'd expect primary teachers to use "wet lettuce" rather than wuss or wet wipe.

No it's banter and demonstrates a relationship between teacher and pupil. You are being super sensitive. Your child isn't bothered

I'd be surprised at the tameness of the horror that is Andrew Tait if 'wet-wipe' is the best he can do.

Really? I once had a student call me Susan Boyle and I took it the way it was intended. AKA a joke.

Kids like funny teachers. Teachers like funny kids.

A jokey comment from a pupil? Why not?

I threatened to throw a kid out of the window today for not showing their working. They threatened to report me to the headteacher for threatening to throw them out of the window. Funnily enough, both of us knew that neither of us meant it.

Teachers are not robots and neither are kids. You have to build relationships with them because otherwise this artificial situation in which we have to tell them to do work and they have to get on with the work would be interminable.

Nonsense - I bet the teacher wouldn’t take it from a pupil.

Being able to give and take mild teasing is very much a British value. We are famous for it internationally.

Bullying it is not, if both are in on the joke.

Some people clearly can't take a joke though.

Yes! I had a boy many years ago I called My Little Pony because he had beautifully floppy hair. Another school, a student called Bad Girl, ironically because she was perfect. They are very much terms of endearment and foster relationships.

Fgs people are offended by everything these days. I would have no problem with this at all! We're raising a generation of over sensitive wimps. I despair, I really do.

It's banter. Classes with teenagers run well on banter. It isn't an offensive term but it's funny.

English teachers like to bandy around Shakespearean insults, no doubt some people would object to being called a spleany varlot.

Is this what we have become? Questioning everything someone says. Perhaps put yourself in the teachers shoes for once. Any of you want to teach, no, thought not.

It's madness isn't it. I call the kids in my classes daft things all the time - I even give them nicknames. I wonder how many parents would be offended by me calling their kid Siri (has an answer for everything)! The kids (and Siri herself) love it.

Or your alcoholic woodwork teacher, hungover in the first lesson, lobbing lumps of 4x2 at you if you dared to breathe

Dd's English teacher used to frequently call one of the pupils a prat. And the whole class would laugh. Dd did not find it funny - she felt very uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Im glad that teachers arent allowed to throw chairs and board rubbers, or whack our knuckles with rulers anymore, but calling a kid a wet wipe seems like a pretty mild version of an insult. Like calling someone a wally. Almost an affectionate insult that youd call someone that you liked, but was doing something silly.

Teachers often use humour like this ime and its not a bad thing.

Banter is what bullies call bullying. There are ways of saying things that don't resort to name calling

Wow. I really do feel sorry for teachers.

The upset on this thread created by a harmless phrase used by a respected experienced teacher (as per the OP), said to a child who was not in anyway upset (as per the OP).

Nuts

Not unless Andrew Tate has been going for the last 15 or so years, no. It far pre dates him as a common phrase.

Yes, buy you are viewing the situation with a sense of perspective and a degree of sanity. The MO of many MNers is to ignore that they don't know certain critical information about a situation, and instead fill in the blanks with whatever assumptions they need to in order to arrive at the conclusion that there is abuse/bullying going on and that somebody needs to be sacked. If one of my kids said this but also that they weren't bothered then I wouldn't give it a moment's further thought.

🤣 It was a different world wasnt it. Don’t think anyone bore any scars