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AIBU?

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Original poster

A policeman in the supermarket ,would you do this?

286 replies

girlfriend44 · 26/06/2026 13:48

This morning there was a policeman doing some shopping in the supermarket.

A family walked past and when the dad noticed the policeman in the aisle he said to his little girl.
Look there's a policeman. If your naughty round the supermarket he will take you away to prison. The little girl. Just listened and didn't say anything .
He made sure she saw the policeman and as said told her he would take her to prison if she was naughty.
The policeman never heard but I did . I was right by them
Would you do this?
AIBU to think it's a bit odd.

OP posts:
HoppingPavlova · 26/06/2026 14:49

When we were young and mis-behaving, parents would pack us in car and drive us to prison a few suburbs away. Pull up, and tell us we were going in. If it was really heavy duty, someone would get out, talk to prison guard outside and they would come over and ‘have a chat’ about being naughty. Once, when one of us had been REALLY naughty, they got them out of the car and started to frog march them towards the entry. It taught us good lessons and made us behave and built character. Would never happen today as parents are snowflakes let alone kids who are even more brittle.

ThatLilacTiger · 26/06/2026 14:48

GreenFootstool · 26/06/2026 13:55

I can tell you for free that that sentiment really pisses off a lot of police.

Kids should be able to see police officers as someone to go to for help, not someone to be afraid of.

Threatening kids with police has its place, but if you want children to ask safe adults for help then police officers should be one of those safe adults.

I appreciate that seeing police that way is culturally and socially more complicated for some people.

Maybe the police en masse should do more to earn the trust of the public then. I don't trust police on an individual or systemic level and I'll be making sure my children, especially my daughter, know that they are not to be blindly trusted.

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:45

rwalker · 26/06/2026 14:43

I can remember my mum saying that to me
I’m not getting the drama

My mother NEVER said that to me and my Dad was one of the people these parents are teaching their children to be afraid of.

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:43

Blackcatahotcat · 26/06/2026 14:35

A copper would give you a clip round the ear when I was a kid. The father was teaching the girl to have some respect.

No the father was scaring the child because he's a shite parent.

rwalker · 26/06/2026 14:43

I can remember my mum saying that to me
I’m not getting the drama

MrsPapillon · 26/06/2026 14:39

It’s a throwback to the days when children were raised to live in fear of adults. I suspect the DF was raised the same way and is a bit hard of thinking. When I were’t lass loads of parents used to say this.

Thechaseison71 · 26/06/2026 14:39

BeSunnyLemonSheep · 26/06/2026 13:54

Yes, it’s odd.

You should not teach your child to fear the police.

No just teach them to despise the police then Far better obviously

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:38

LuckyHazelFox · 26/06/2026 14:10

Another overheard supermarket conversation amounting to nothing. The kid wasn't fazed, why should you be.

How do you know the "kid" wasn't fazed?

LaliqueSaltGrinder · 26/06/2026 14:38

TheLambtonWorm · 26/06/2026 14:35

Children should see Police Officers as people to trust and go to if they need help.

They should, but as a PP said the blind acceptance of people in power as trusted is daft. See all the abhorrent cases of sexual assault, racism, assault, murder etc performed at the hands of them.

So what's the alternative - you teach your child to be suspicious and terrified of everyone? And when they get lost or something else happens, they don't even know where to start looking for help? 99.99% of police officers are decent people.

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:37

godmum56 · 26/06/2026 14:06

🙄

Show quote history

Veggies!

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:35

BellaDinge · 26/06/2026 13:59

It’s crappy in a way, BUT we have no idea if his daughter is a right little diva that drives the family bonkers. Maybe it’s a teaching moment that will allow him to get his daughter to eat her veggies !

By threatening her with the police? To make her eat her "veggies"? Jesus. Also a toddler is a "diva"? I take it you don't have children?

TheLambtonWorm · 26/06/2026 14:35

Children should see Police Officers as people to trust and go to if they need help.

They should, but as a PP said the blind acceptance of people in power as trusted is daft. See all the abhorrent cases of sexual assault, racism, assault, murder etc performed at the hands of them.

Original poster
girlfriend44 · 26/06/2026 14:35

To say he'll take you to prison also. Wow.

OP posts:
Blackcatahotcat · 26/06/2026 14:35

A copper would give you a clip round the ear when I was a kid. The father was teaching the girl to have some respect.

GardenCovent · 26/06/2026 14:34

Yes it’s horrible. Having been married to a policeman they hate when parents say this
What happens if this wee girl needs help, she’ll be terrified to speak to a police officer.
If the girl was naughty the parents not disciplining her themselves but expecting the police to do something is shit

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:33

Fairygoblin · 26/06/2026 13:56

Father educating daughter

Wrongly. The policeman could have been a father himself.

Differentforgirls · 26/06/2026 14:32

beefthief · 26/06/2026 13:52

of course it's not odd, good lord

Of course it's odd!

Topseyt123 · 26/06/2026 14:30

Yes, it is rather odd. I'd just say that the guy was a pillock and a shit parent.

Police are people. They have to shop in the supermarkets just like the rest of us.

ShowOfHands · 26/06/2026 14:29

DH is a copper and hears this all the time. It really annoys him and says that it means children don't understand that a police officer is there to help you in the overwhelming main. But people still say it. See also, "can I piss in your helmet?" And "go on guv it's him you're looking for [points at equally drunk mate] nab him quick."

mondaytosunday · 26/06/2026 14:29

Yea I think one should see police officers as people who can help you, to go to when in trouble. Not as a creepy threat. If she was mid tantrum I might be desperate enough to say something like ‘do you want that policeman to take me away’?

FudgeFudy · 26/06/2026 14:28

MammaTo · 26/06/2026 14:24

So no one else’s dad got them in a head lock as a child and went “this one here officer, I’ve got her here” as a police car drove past. Just me?

Mine did! It's now obvious that that was the root of my deep-seated loathing of the police, and why I am now a hardened criminal with a rap sheet as long as my (prison tattooed) arm.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 26/06/2026 14:27

MammaTo · 26/06/2026 14:24

So no one else’s dad got them in a head lock as a child and went “this one here officer, I’ve got her here” as a police car drove past. Just me?

I always tell my (adult) DS to "quick , hide" when we hear a siren "duck down in your seat so they don't see you" (passenger)
He gives me a hoo'er of a look !

Anonymousemouses · 26/06/2026 14:26

My mum told my brother, when he was about three, that if he kept playing up in the car, the police we'd just passed, would come and tell him off.

We had a chain on our front door, that locked with a key. He got a stool, locked the front door, then threw the key out the letterbox, we then had to wait for a visitor to be released.

He was scared the police were going to come.

peakyblenders · 26/06/2026 14:25

People have been saying that to their kids since forever, but personally I think it's an unhelpful message to give little kids who can't contextualise it.

MammaTo · 26/06/2026 14:24

So no one else’s dad got them in a head lock as a child and went “this one here officer, I’ve got her here” as a police car drove past. Just me?