A policeman in the supermarket ,would you do this?

People recite this bad apple thing without understanding what they’re saying. It makes no sense just to refer to bad apples. The full saying is that it only takes a few bad apples in a barrel to contaminate the rest.

I went along with the story but if they asked i didn't lie. I usually said ' what do you think?' or something like that. I certainly wouldn't tell a child who had already worked it out that Santa was real.

I do think the bad apples are the few, but that could be geographical.

The point the OP was making was, "there's a very few bad apples", "the Police are trust worthy" etc, no they aren't and if the bad apples were the few, they wouldn't pass the training, or probationary period.

Years ago, when my son was 3, we lost him in Asda. We were frantic. Then a voice came over the Tannoy "has anyone seen the parents of M as he says he thinks they're lost" 😂

I remember working in retail a few years ago and I had a few parents say to their kids “the lady will tell you off!” And I would look at the kid each time and say “no I won’t 😊”
For some reason parents have been saying that for years and it makes no sense as kids should look for police or staff members if they get lost. Parents weren’t happy when I’d say that but I’m not bothered, it’s not the right message to teach, it’s lazy parenting and empty threats at the end of the day.

When I was a child in the 80s, it was not unusual to see Bobbies on the beat on the high street.

My parents said that all the time to me.

I didn’t grow up traumatised.

I’ve heard it quite a few times, the security guard will throw you out, the policeman will bring you to jail etc, always said meanly, always to kids who weren’t acting up that badly, always by parents who just seemed like absolute assholes!

We're discussing a young child in a supermarket, hardly the same thing. Your examples aren't people "being naughty", you are actually saying they weren't doing anything wrong, completely different

It is true

So you never said any Christmas presents were from Santa? Or Santa delivered the presents. Or the tooth fairy etc.

I’m a nurse. I remember someone saying similar to a child. If you don’t stop messing the nurse will tell you off. When that child needed a nurse for a broken arm she was already imprinted to be fearful. Same with the police officer. If my kids are lost I want them to look for the policeman/woman to help. I don’t want them fearful.

Yes it is odd. I am sure I have read things before that police discourage parents saying things like this as they want children to realise police are there to help them not to be scared of them.

And this would be fine if it were true

Some people do this but it’s very unwise.

You want your kids to feel a police officer is someone they can approach for help - not someone to be frightened of.

It's just really bad parenting.

Like parents that threaten to tell Santa their kid is being naughty to get them to behave.

Except it's worse because kids shouldn't be taught to fear emergency services.

No, but you should certainly foster a healthy sense of “don’t think police officers are all good people who can be trusted to have your best interests at heart”

There is a community hub in one of the local shopping centres and they are fantastic with that sort of stuff. They chat to the kids, let them wear their hats, colouring, stickers. They talk about what they do etc.

They can still detain you and stick you in a cell though, which in a child's mind amounts to much the same thing. Especially if you tell them about the special miniature cells in police stations specifically for holding unruly children.

Sadly some dc are well versed in these things.

Came back to this thread to post something similar.

Not a guide dog, but I used to have a small, very well behaved, fluffy dog - unfortunately she recently had to be put to sleep at the age of 15 - and would frequently hear parents tell their children as we walk passed that if they misbehaved my dog would bite them.

Some people are incredibly stupid, unfortunately some of them are parents.

Our local bobby said exactly this when he heard someone telling a young child that he was watching to see if they were naughty. That if the small child was lost surely the parents would want them to go to a police officer rather than random Joe Public, and that they'd be way less likely to do that if they thought the PC would take them away and lock them up.

Such stupid parenting.

God forbid the child at some point was in trouble and was too scared to ask the police for help.

I doubt the little girl even knows what that means.

I have a guide dog.

Was staying in a hotel once, walking down the corridor and a mum with her two kids was just in front of us, they were misbehaving in some way and she said, “if you don’t start behaving now that dog is going to bite you.”

I said that he absolutely was not, and that in a world where guide dogs and guide dog owners are routinely told their dogs are bad, the last thing we need is parents telling their children to be afraid of them.