Just got called a cunt by a 10 year old. How's your Friday?

[EllisRoses]

Group of 10-12 year olds in the play park singing along to Cardi B "bring a mop and a bucket for my wet ass pussy" on repeat, throwing rubbish everywhere and kicking balls towards my toddlers head. I told them this isn't the place and to go play elsewhere if they're going to kick balls around. They all laughed and turned the music up and continued kicking ball around and singing about pussies, before asking me what I was looking at and to fuck off. I said I'm looking at a bunch of children who despite trying to act cool and grown up, still hang out in a play park, which says it all really. The youngest of the group called me an 'old cunt'. I'm 25

How's your Friday going?

And I said it is for mine 🤷‍♀️

Each to their own!

@Boatonthehorizon

"Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers." Socrates

It has always been like this. Also to not in my day, pp above, kids in the 1970s were far far more badly behaved on streets than kids are now.

The difference being an arsey teenager in a shop would be booted out without consequences from the law, and an aggressive, sewermouth in school would be punished. Those teens became the parents of todays Masters of the Universe, all the rights, no responsibilities or effective consequences.

I was in Southwater Country Park today with my DC and a group of boys aged 8/9 were awful, swearing at the children, telling them they couldn't come on their equipment and shaking the climbing nets trying to make them fall off.
When I told them it wasn't theirs and not to swear at other children, they said 'but we want to keep it for ourselves'. It's like the concept of not being entitled to something hadn't occurred to them.

If they don't understand what they're doing wrong even when challenged at that age, there's definitely some crappy parenting behind that.

Good grief, I'm not a pearl clutcher by any stretch but how on earth is a song with those lyrics high in the charts?

Yes exactly! Remember "My Ding a ling?" The caused outrage (Well only Mary Whitehouse!

I remember being called to the Headmaster's office along with a boy for running in the cloakroom. Not only was I worried about 'Getting the slipper' I was worried about having to tell my mum!

Luckily I wasn't punished and think I 'forgot' to tell my mum about it anyway!

@itsgettingweird then leave out the ‘ bully for you ‘ comment
Try and be nice , it costs nothing

I had just read this thread before going to a playground with DC where there happened to be some 'youths'.
After reading this I felt a bit more intimidated than I usually would, but continued watching DC. As we left, one of them shouted 'excuse me, is this your jacket?' and promptly ran over to it, and passed it to me when I said yes. That was not what I was expecting

One of the only benefits left to being a teacher is that you develop a special ‘tone’ that puts the fear of God into kids like this.

Sadly it has zero effect on my toddler.

We definitely swore as kids, right from infant school. But we had the sense (respect?) not to do it in front of adults, because there'd be hell to pay.

We definitely swore as kids, right from infant school. But we had the sense (respect?) not to do it in front of adults, because there'd be hell to pay

Pretty much this.

There is a world of difference between being a bit edgy and swearing amongst your peer group and calling an adult a cunt because you had the audacity to ask them to pick up their litter or whatever.

But there were still kids back then who did swear at adults for that exact sort of thing. I can remember school assemblies where the headteacher would take the assembly (which right away was a sign something was up because we never ever saw him unless it was serious), he'd stand at the front and announce something along the lines of "yesterday a member of the public phoned me to report that two pupils from this school were spitting outside the shopping centre and when she asked them to stop they direct foul language at her. She knew they were from this school because they were wearing our uniform. I am providing these two pupils opportunity to come forward now because I will find out who you are and there will be consequences..." followed by a fifteen minute lecture on being a representative of the school whilst you're wearing your uniform and the perils of foul language.

Out running recently and a lad of no more than 11, smoking, blew his smoke right in my face. I stopped and called him out on it so he started miming masturbating at me. Soon stopped when the girl with him looked at me more closely and said 'that's my German teacher'. Really, REALLY hope he starts at our school next week!!

If anyone regardless of age was trying to kick balls at my toddlers head they would be running for cover absolutely disgusting behaviour.

But there were still kids back then who did swear at adults for that exact sort of thing.

And more often or not they got a slap round the head for their efforts from said adult.

I think it is relatively common at that age group. There are little groups of borderline feral kids who roam our local streets and take delight in bouncing footballs off cars, windows, people etc.

I was regularly called all sorts of lovely names for asking them to stop booting it at my car / Dh motorbike / the front window etc at all hours of the day and night. We weren't alone, they do it to most houses locally.

All until I lost my shit a bit and told them in no uncertain terms that next time they cross my path I will have no qualms whatsoever about taking it further. And that I would be more than happy to go and hammer on their parents door at 4am and return their ball with a suitably sized hole in it and see how they appreciate the disturbance of the drug / booze induced snooze. (I am not being derogatory, I have seen their parents doing the school run in pjs with a joint and a can of special brew on hand and things haven't improved due to lockdown).

They tend to steer clear now as they know I will carry it out. And if they are 'playing' in the road and end up on my drive they now knock and ask to retrieve their ball.

I think pre-teens and teens are getting worse. I went to collect my 5 year old from school and the high school next door had been let out early. All I saw was a sea of youngsters and nowhere for me to go (anxiety was at an all time high but thankfully I was wearing a mask). One lad looked at me then spat his chewing gum at me! Now I know I shouldn't have done this but I asked him what the hell he thought he was doing!! Thankfully he recoiled and apologised but his friends started teasing him that he'd been taken down a peg or two by a mum!! I was shaking by time I got my LO.

I do feel like a lot of is down to a lack of parenting. I took DS to a play park today, there was a little boy of about 18 months with his roughly 6 year old sister. He was sitting in the road and didn't want to move, they live really close but the parents weren't anywhere to be seen and I couldn't see them at the windows watching either.

I asked her to move him out of the road (I didn't want to touch someone else's child) and he eventually did go inside the park. I felt really bad when we had to leave as I worried about him.

I'm a bit of a worrier so maybe this is me just being a helicopter parent.

And more often or not they got a slap round the head for their efforts from said adult.

Not in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up they didn't, I don't know about where you lived but where I lived it wasn't acceptable to raise your hands to someone else's child.

I walking through my school nursery on my way to the book storage and a little boy kicked the loo door open and shouted 'Oi, you gunna wipe mi bastard arse?' He was three and a half
This made me howl

In my youth I listened to music with quite explicit lyrics. I don't remember swearing that much with my friends, and I didn't go around swearing at older people or call them names. I would probably have got booted up the arse by my dad if I had! I thought the kids who hung around by the shops were a bunch of clowns. One threw some mud at my friend, and her mum went and dragged him home by his ear and his mother didn't want to know, but he never did it again.
Maybe kids do stuff like like that, swear at people because they feel their lives are generally shit and they are insecure, want to appear confident, tough, etc.

That's a pearl clutching moment!

@joystir59

I walking through my school nursery on my way to the book storage and a little boy kicked the loo door open and shouted 'Oi, you gunna wipe mi bastard arse?' He was three and a half This made me howl

You really think it's funny?

I still listen to music with explicit lyrics, but I don't let the kids hear it! Music like this has always been around, maybecnot quite so mainstream. I do remember a RHCP song coming on while I was with hubby, kids and in-laws in a hotel restaurant once, and the lyrics were filthy! Black grape came on after and there were loads of swear words. The kids didn't even notice, and if they did, they didn't repeat any of it it afterwards, but I remember my father in law saying, 'blimey, this is a bit much!'
I think it's the actual aggression more than someone just calling me a cunt that would upset me tbh. If there was a large group of kids doing that, it would be intimidating and frightening, but again, maybe that's just a way for them to feel good about themselves, because it makes them feel confident and gives them a false sense of feeling 'tough'. Their home lives must be bloody miserable, whatever backgrounds they are from.

Reminds me of when dd1 started high school a couple of years. A boy in her year, who she’d known all through primary, kept calling her a bitch for some reason. In the end I told her to go for the shock factor and tell him to fuck off. It did stop so it obviously worked.

I had a conversation with his mum not long after when she asked how dd was getting on at high school, and who said that her ds was struggling as he’s such a sensitive soul, bless him.

We had to warn dd aged 13 about the language in Game of Thrones. She was desperate to be allowed to watch it, she’s a massive fan of anything medieval. She rolled her eyes at our stern warning and told us she hears far worse at school. And this is a good school too. I guess it’s the same everywhere.