AIBU to think they have set the little girl up for a big disappointment?

[Joolsy]

OK I am more than happy to be told I'm an old grump, but on This Morning they have a 'live link up' to the California Coast with a 'real life mermaid'. This mermaid is talking to a little girl who is completely mesmerised and believes every word she's being told. The presenters are asking the mermaid q's like "do you get legs if you're out of the water for too long?" or "is it possible to learn to be a mermaid?" completely seriously. AIBU to think that sooner or later the little girl is going to find out (possibly from the kids at school) that it's not real and feel huge dissapointment and maybe embarrassment when she's older? Yes I know we all tell little fibs to our kids but this is on a much bigger scale, infront of the whole nation?

She was completely taken in by it but she had met her previously on the banks of Loch Lomond...

ELEVEN?

If she is only 2 then yes YABU

Wow, 11. OK, that completely changes the dynamics. That's bollocks and I can imagine that she's setting herself up for a tough life at the high life. Sooner or later kids will start laughing at her.

She's 11??? I thought she was 8. I'd be worried if my kid was that gullible at 11 tbh.

I am a mermaid

I agree though, 11 is a bit

11?! Got to agree with you then, that's setting her up to have the piss taken out of her for sure. I'm not even keen on 'properly' doing Father Christmas etc. We just do it in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way and I'm not going to bother with the tooth fairy at all (DD asked about it the other day, I said she can just give me her tooth when one comes out and I'll give her the money straight away)

shrugs

A lot of adults believe in bigfoot, loch ness monster.

I find it hard to get het up over TBH.

So, her imagination is going longer than most other kids. As long as she's happy and healthy. Who on earth cares.

As far as bullying go. Bullys will pick on anything. They are responsible for their actions. It's not the girls fault.

If everyone behaved and thought the same as the norm. The world would be a very sad place indeed.

I must say I was a bit when I half heartedly tuned in to what they were talking about. I didn't get the back story to it, so thought they must be more to it, but they were definitely acting as if the mermaid was real.
It went on for ages too.

She has a life limiting condition! !

Rainbow mmm, mermaids aren't a "conspiracy" thing though.

I don't have a problem with her believing in them (although it surprises me) but televising her innocent credulity seems very unkind.

I saw that. Personally I think that little girl wasn't stupid. I think she knew it was all pretend.

The man who was standing there spraying the "mermaid" to "keep her wet" looked a bit embarrassed

I didn't realise she was 11, but perhaps she has some sort of developmental delay or SEN where her mentality isn't that of an 11 year old?

I thought everyone was lovely with the child and I am sure her mum wouldn't have let her be made a fool of. Everyone was just doing a kind thing for a child who has serious health issues and it made her happy. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

She has a life limiting condition! !

Teacher, I didn't see it I just read this thread - but if she's got a life limiting condition then anything goes in my mind.

Hope she got lots of joy out of it

Just googled it and it says she's 5.

Really don't understand why anyone would see it as an issue that a little girl gets to chat with a 'mermaid'. I think it's rather lovely that children can be transported into a world of such magic.

More troubling is that fact that people were apparently tweeting because they were puzzled and amazed that there was a 'live' mermaid chatting on a morning TV show.

Mermaids are real though...

Or at least they were.

She'll figure out that it's all pretend when she's older and she'll be fine.

Yanbu
I didn't hammer home the Santa thing with my kids like most seem to do these days therefore it was no great disappointment when they found out it was just a story. In fact they didn't find out, they just came to that conclusion

Or at least fake archeologists and digitally manipulated images exist. This is posted as an online hoax Joffrey

DSis believed in Father Christmas until she was 13! She was talking to her mates at school and said, "You know what, I think Santa's really my mum and dad" and her mates all pissed themselves!

She's a little girl being kept alive by a feeding tube into her stomach and another tube into her heart.

A sick child who loves the idea of mermaids and believes they exist and you start a thread about her being set up for embarrassment when she's older, do you know the extent of her illness? Is she going to live to be much older?

You don't know the ins and outs of her condition, so yes you are very unreasonable and more than an old grump, you are really quite nasty.

Op probably didn't know, neither did I which is why I didn't post a meaningful comment. What a lovely story and very sad.

Don't see any difference between that and the elaborate yarns people spin to their kids about Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny and baby Jesus to be honest.

It was said at the beginning of the interview that the child was very ill.