Don't call her gorgeous!!

[gidddyasakipper]

I found this really sad, but maybe I'm in the wrong???

I was stood on the pavement outside a cafe waiting for my food order. It was a glorious sunny day in a tourist village so there were loads of people milling about. My 9mo baby girl in her pram.
A man (late 30s?) walked over carrying a toddler. He said his dd wanted to look at the baby. A little bit of small talk followed in which I introduced my baby to the toddler. I asked how old his dd was (22 months) and said to her, "hello lovely, aren't you gorgeous!"

The man looked me sternly in the eyes and said, "oh no, don't tell her that, language like that ruins them!"

AIBU to find this quite sad?

I work with children, I have lots of friends with children. I often use language like this. This is the first time I've come across this kind of attitude and I must admit I thought he was joking and laughed in his face.

My totally ‘feminist’ neighbours daughter celebrated her graduation in law and posted some beautiful photos on FB. This girl is smart (obviously) AND gorgeous. The trouble is she has no confidence in her looks whatsoever. Why? Simply because she grew up with parents who believed girls should never be complimented on their looks as they are worth so much more. They never stopped to think that one day their daughter would grow up to be the smartest girl in her class and yet to this day believes she is too fat (she’s like a rake) too tall and needs a nose job. She has friends who are not beautiful in the classical sense,yet they believe they are due to being told so by their parents. As such they are far more confident in day to day life with and without makeup. Incidentally this neighbors daughter trowels the makeup on in shovels,much to her parents disgust. As the old saying goes, go figure!

He’s ridiculous. I understand that he wants her to know there’s more to her than physical appearance. To say a compliment from a stranger will ruin her is laughable.
In any case, people will think and say things he may not like. It’s his job as parent to teach her what’s important, it’s not going to get done policing what other people say.