About someone calling my DD this?

[pleasethanks]

I really don't know if IABU, I may well be, so opinions welcomed please!

My DD is 1.5. I was chatting with my mum and dad about her trying to avoid a nap and my dad said "She can be a little vixen". This is not the first time he has used that word about DD (he has used it several times over her life) and I suppose he uses it in the context of sly, but I really don't know. I asked him to stop as I didn't like that word and he got all huffy.

So, AIBU? I may well be....

I think he meant minx, which I don't have a problem with. It's no worse than monkey or scamp or pickle even - although I appreciate that it's female-specific and people might not like that.

I have asked DH- he says he would think it was meant like 'little minx' and is by it being taken as anything other than that.

I'm not overly keen on it, but YABU to make it into a huge issue I think.

Clearly he didn't mean anything by it and you've given it more meaning than necessary.

I would have asked my dad what he meant by that? Or did he use the word in a context that was self-explanatory? You could have been mistaken. Did he smile fondly when he said it or otherwise? Reading your Thread again, I still don't get the context, other than your dad was saying she could be difficult, stubborn or feisty? The latter refers to the character of a vixen, but as your dd is only 1.5 years old I find that an odd word to use.What did your mum say?

The character 'Minnie the Minx' in the Beano was mischievous rather than promiscuous.

At least I don't think she was sexually motivated, it could have gone over my head.

No, that would be ridiculous in a children's comic and definitely would have been challenged by someone.

This is your Father you are talking about, surely you know him well enough to know exactly what he meant. It's sounds like he meant it as " little madam" or something similar.

Little "vixen", I'm sure, was used as a term of endearment by your Dad (He probably wished she would go down for a nap too!)

If I were you I would just "suck it up" in acknowledgement that small children are annoying to other people, even family... even when they're your own.

Havent you ever thought of her, or called her eg a "little monster", or a "little devil" even to yourself

Lighten up!

I wouldn't like it, personally. A woman I used to know when DD was tiny and v. giggly continually referred to her as 'saucy' - that used to give me the shudders!