MIL wants to sell my baby

[TheExtraPickle]

Apologies for clickbaity title. But now I have your attention...

I'm a paramedic. Several times in the last couple of months I have heard a parent say to their child some variation of "Behave or that ambulance lady will be cross/tell you off/take you away".

Don't. Do. That.

Don't make your child afraid of us.

Don't make them so afraid that when I try to examine their broken arm they scream and squirm and do more damage.

Don't make them afraid to call 999 and ask for help.

Don't make them afraid to approach us if they are lost in public.

Don't make them too afraid to open the front door when you've fallen down the stairs and are unconscious.

I've also heard "the police will come and arrest you if you don't stop". Also not a good message.

Teach your children that the emergency services are here to help and are friendly and trustworthy. You never know when you might need us. Don't use me to discipline or calm your child because the first thing I will do is turn around with a big smile and tell that child it isn't the case.

This has been a public service announcement from TheExtraPickle. (Who's MIL is lovely and in no way involved in child trading)

[UterusUterusGhali]

Great thread. _

[ziggzagg]

I'm a Social Worker and I have been on a home visit where the parent has said "Don't talk to me like that or ziggzagg will take you with her!" Gobsmacked! I just said "No love that's not what I do, I teach mum how to parent you herself!"

[WorkingBling]

Couldn't agree more. And what I love is how people in uniform are so quick to be kind to children to reinforce the message. Ds wanted a selfie with a policeman in London once and waited politely to ask. I was a bit nervous but policeman dropped straight down to ds' level, popped his hat on ds' head and took the picture. I was so pleased that ds had learnt that police are friendly and then had it reinforced.

[heavenlypink]

This was a police campaign a while back

[ReanimatedSGB]

Love the idea of ringing up Action Man's mum BTW...

[Hmmalittlefishy]

Thank you for all you do op and others
Noone on here but I wish people wouldn't always refer to policeMEN fireMEN etc
My best friend is a police officer and she often gets when in uniform. 'oh fishy friend I didn't know you were a policeman'. She looks down at her body and says 'I'm not'

[BeyondNoone]

We go so far the other way, that probably irritates too being very friendly with people who are trying to get on with their job, to prove to the DCs that they are normal, helpful people (especially the armed police back in the summer - DCs were rather nervous of their guns)

[user327854831]

if you are rude to me then your teacher will be annoyed with you - how to get your child not to want to go to school.

[Louiselouie0890]

If annoys me and I'm just a shop worker. I can completely understand the frustration

[CurlyBlueberry]

Am so with you. I have always told my children "the nice nurse will give you the injection so you don't get certain illnesses later". Even at 3 with the preschool jabs they can understand this.

[chitofftheshovel]

My ex was a dick, still is, and used to slag off the police to our children. I had to repeatedly tell him that one day we might need them and that the children need to see them as normal people but also to respect them.

[MagicMarkers]

I was in a restaurant with a friend once. We were both with our toddlers. She told her toddler that if he didn't behave the waiter would lock him in a cupboard. It's really weird.

[dnwig]

Yanbu.

Also, don't say "Behave yourself or the doctor will give you an injection!"

That is not helpful!

[Believeitornot]

It's lazy parenting. One of the mums at school is constantly threatening her dd with the head teacher, or random person on the street to get her dd to behave ffs

I "big up" the emergency services and we talk about how clever and brave they all must be.

[PickAChew]

I thought it quite reassuring when armed police started to appear in public places and they often had an adoring young fan club asking them loads of questions. Probably helps that Police Interceptors had been filmed in our region and their public appearances always drew huge crowds.

[tigercub50]

I was a nanny years ago & the Mum used to say " Beryl will get you " to her DD3 if she was misbehaving. We were on the tube once & heard someone say Beryl - the poor kid was terrified. It did work the other way tho. The Mum was trying unsuccessfully to blowdry her DD's hair when she piped up " I want Beryl to do it"!

[GetOutOfMYGarden]

twitter.com/ryankingg/status/457518204559306752?lang=en Reminds me of this

I had a mum tell her child that if he was naughty I'd send him to naughty boy school and never let him come back. Made it easy to see why he ended up in an MDT anyway

[PickAChew]

And yeah, the same lot that made that poster!

[BoysofMelody]

Or having worked for social services, there's the depressing spectacle of other 'professionals' like teachers using the stick of a referral to social services as a stick to ensure compliance. No wonder it was a battle to convince parents we weren't some kiddy snatch squad who'd bundle their children into the back of a car and they'd never see them, when our colleagues were using us an all purpose bogeyman.

[annandale]

Yabu not to mention your FIL. Can he get involved with pricing, or an auction could be a lovely family event?

Incredible and sad that people must experience all authority figures as terrifying bogeymen and want their children to feel the same.

[VinoTime]

I used to get this all the time when I worked in retail.

"Behave or the lady will tell you off and you won't be allowed back into the shop."



Half the kids in my town likened me to Freddy fucking Krueger at one point in time!

I don't know why parents do it. It's shit parenting. You are teaching your children to be scared of the wrong people. If your kid gets lost in a supermarket or, I hate to even say it, but if a stranger was to lead them out of the shop, your children have to be able to approach/talk to/call out for a member of staff to help them if they cannot find you! Arf.

[choochooo]

I love paramedics. In my son's first year we went to hospital by ambulance 3 times. They are bloody brilliant. So kind and lovely with my son and so reassuring with me that we were going to be ok and no I wasn't wasting their time. One first responder sat with us 2 hours as there was a long wait for an ambulance.

They all spoke to me about their own children. You could tell they really care.

Love love love them!

[SparklyUnicornPoo]

"Behave or that ambulance lady will be cross/tell you off/take you away". why would you even think to say this to a child? Police yeah, they tell bad people off, same with security guards in shops, teachers regularly tell kids off, it's crap parenting but I can see the logic there but when do paramedics tell anyone off?

[NomDePrune]

Kind of the reverse; today I saw a sign by the road:

"KIDS PLEASE HELP
your parents not to throw litter"

Aimed at the parents who set bad examples, I'm guessing.

[missymayhemsmum]

I'm afraid with my kids I went too far the other way.
As a toddler, ds was fearless, and regularly in casualty.
I once told him 'don't do that, you might hurt yourself' and he replied 'and then we'll go to hopital and they'll mend me.' He was a very cute kid and liked all the attention.
So i actually ended up asking the paramedics to tell him off for being careless and hurting himself again!

Can't stand that 'so and so will tell you off' from parents. Effective parenting requires you to be the scary authority figure sometimes, it's not something you can delegate.