To have been taken aback by child's joke.

[Originalfoogirl]

We were at a Santa trip thing today and the "elves" were going round asking children to tell jokes. One boy, about 4 years old stuck his hand up and told the following joke.

Why didn't the sack go to the toilet?
Because it didn't have a penis.

There followed stunned silence then that kind of "oh my gawd" laughter. The parents just smiled.

I'm no pearl clutcher, and I wasn't exactly shocked, but if my 4 year old had told that joke I would have been really embarrassed. I'm not sure who would tell a joke like that to such a small child, or be ok with it being repeated in public. Thoughts?

I'm being very thick here, why would a ball sack need to have a wee? Is this a proper joke then?

I would also assume it was to do with seeing Santa's sack and just a small kid thinking the word penis is funny. Best not to make a big deal otherwise he'd probably start shouting it even louder.

Back in the 90s I was at a Butlins Holiday camp. There was a competition for children getting on stage and telling a joke. One boy, aged about 9 told a borderline racist joke. He got the most laughs and won.
Nowadays I’m sure his joke would be vetted beforehand. Kids can say things with out really knowing what they are saying.

You could have heard a pin drop? I must live on a totally different planet

A joke about a penis and wee is not concerning to me as a parent, nor would it be to any sensible person working in child protection. If there are masses of other warning signs then yes of course. But if the first and only time you meet a child they make an off colour comment...what do you do? Tag them and follow them home for a full inspection. It must be exhausting being so suspicious all the time.

It’s the sack and penis combination that feels a bit off - but hopefully santa’s present sack rather than a cock and balls

Bridgetox - careful you used the words nuts - you'll be on ginnys list!

The sack reference was clearly because of Christmas, not a reference to a scrotum at all!

It wasn’t that they didn’t make a fuss, just that they didn’t do anything but sit and smile. Surely that would have been the ideal point to remind him that’s not particularly appropriate?

If my DC had told this joke I would have said nothing at the time (in a room full of people wanting to get on with their Santa experience) but would have had words later.

Being embarrassed about your childs inappropriate jokes is just a normal part of parenting isnt it? It gets worse.

My 6 year old has learnt the penis/ vagina words in school and everything is one or the other at the moment. Maybe a sibling has recently done the same.

TBH it might as well have been "Why couldn't the snowman poo? Because he doesn't have a bum, hahahahahaa!"

Would that shock you? I don't think that penis is any more taboo than the word bum TBH. It shouldn't be really. But I think some people would find a child talking about bums and poo to be rude. IME it's best not to make any fuss about it. Otherwise they just learn that they can get loads of attention by saying these "naughty" words - it's just a body part.

I agree, it's totally likely to be a coincidence that sack is slang for penis. It's not a joke that an adult would have made up and taught to a child because it doesn't even make sense/isn't funny even in the sense of ballsack.

It is one of those unfortunate combinations that children put together completely innocently.

I didn't know that sack was slang for penis - I just thought referred to the balls

Like Ariadne, I find the combination of the words ‘sack and penis’ off.

For those who think being aware of child sexual abuse is a amusing, why don’t you educate yourselves about it.

CSA happens in families in your street. The statistics prove it. Some child your kid plays with, or maybe even your own....
Most kids are abused by someone they know, in family situations, and increasingly stats show by their peers.

For me the words that little boy used raises a flag. I work with children and their families who have suffered the horrific trauma of child sexual abuse, and my gut tells me something’s not right with that little boy.

Laugh away at my “suspicious nature“ by all means.
But it’s just as well some of us do the all too necessary work.

It can be very tough work, and I can understand why you’d want to close your ears, sing La La La and put your blinkers on to the reality: making yourself feel insulated against it by having a dig about everyone being so paranoid and suspicious @titchy

Must be nice to live in a fantasy world like that.

I genuinely hope you can live in your naice little ghetto for as long as you can, but unfortunately one in seven can’t.

I understand that, but context is everything. Using penis and sack together at the beach in August then yes, odd. Sack in the context of a Christmas party with a Father Christmas and sack of toys right there - not odd.

Not trivialising child abuse, or living in a ghetto, but appropriate awareness is key. Inappropriate awareness not helpful and potentially damaging.

I understand that, but context is everything. Using penis and sack together at the beach in August then yes, odd. Sack in the context of a Christmas party with a Father Christmas and sack of toys right there - not odd.

Not trivialising child abuse, or living in a ghetto, but appropriate awareness is key. Inappropriate awareness not helpful and potentially damaging.

For the record DS is 4 and constantly is talking about his penis... They all are. It's fairly boring really.

Sorry, it was just a typo, I meant it's likely to be a coincidence that santa's sack is the same word as used in testicular sac, and most children wouldn't make that connection. My son for example has known the words balls and testicles to refer to his own for a while but has never particularly noticed nor cared that they are contained in a "sack" or thought to call it that - just like he is extremely aware that he has a penis or willy, but has never referred to the foreskin.

I am unfortunately not at all ignorant about CSA but even so it still comes across as the kind of thing a child would put together randomly, than a joke an adult would come up with or find somewhere to tell a child.

Children do inadvertently come up with random combinations which to adult ears are inappropriate.