My niece creeped me out - death comment

[Lanzy]

Tonight my niece (7 year old) looked at the hand print I had recent done with my 7 week old. My niece then innocently goes is that so you can remember Em? Then does this gesture of putting hand to throat (slit) I went what does that mean and she went death.

I’m now worrying as niece also few weeks ago kept saying “EM I don’t want you to grow up be this size forever” of course maybe innocent but had seen some TikTok of woman who said that then next thing.. tonight it freaked me though ger saying that!
i’m now :( - I said why did she think that and she didn’t really say…

You’ve explained why you played the music and it makes sense. I think op just wants to find out why her niece said what she did. It may be something like you’re talking about. Op is just wondering what led her to say it. You gave context and Op would like context in her situation as well.

it sounds like your niece is being allowed too much freedom to roam the internet.
that is v concerning and may lead to all kinds of disturbance.
i think you need to raise that with your sister.
why is the child being allowed to watch unsuitable material.
i'd also keep her away from your baby.
if she asks why, say the baby is prone to infections.

I'm sorry but "prone to infections." That's hardly believable after she's been allowed near her for so long. And what would OP's sister say to that as well. Let's not be ridiculous - the niece isn't a monster, if she's been allowed too much time on the internet, that needs to simply be monitored. She shouldn't have to not spend any time whatsoever with her cousin. Maybe not alone, but I don't see why that would be allowed anyway as she is young.

Mystery, it was just a real-life example of how innocent childhood exploration of serious concepts like death can look really fucking creepy within an adult understanding, but aren't sinister when seen within the child's framework, meant to show the kinds of thought processes that might result in this kind of thing. I didn't know how many other people would have detailed personal childhood memories of saying/doing something like this themselves, and thought that as the niece doesn't seem comfortable talking about it to provide context, an adult's own account of their similar childhood behaviour and the internal processes accompanying it might help OP with thinking through the reasons her niece could've said what she did, to provide a contextual framework herself, since the niece isn't too forthcoming and is only a child who OP probably won't want to upset too much.

I don’t know if this will give any context but this is an experience I had, when I had my newborn, his older cousin 6 wanted to kindly share his fruit shoot and crisp with him. I without thinking told him that the baby couldn’t have normal food because it would make him sick and he could die from choking. Cut to months later starting the weaning process and my nephew getting really upset with me telling me to stop because the baby will die. Sometimes we can spend too much time emphasising how cautious little kids have to be round babies without thinking about the impact of what we’re saying and how they process situations. Has anyone made any innocent remarks about being careful round the baby that she could have misinterpreted?

I’m not sure if in Wednesday they do the slit throat gesture but in the Guardian of the galaxy they definitely do. I wonder if she watched that?
Actually my daughter did this gesture after I had an operation and she thought I will die. She was about 10yrs then.
Also I’m sure they talk about death around this age at school, I remember my daughter talking about dead people etc.
Congratulations to your daughter!

Don’t worry OP. Wednesday is probably the reason why. Great show but lots of death (not sure if totally suitable for a 7 year old) and the whole plot focuses on investigating murders. Pretty sure there was a severed head in the series as well if I’m remembering correctly.

Pretty sure your niece is not going to turn out to be some psychic predictor of doom or any sort of child killer as suggested by some PPs 😅

If it helps, my sister was a right little odd child and went through a phase of wishing death (including chanting and casting spells) on anyone she took a bit of a dislike to. She was probably a similar age to your niece. Fortunately, everyone survived her “spells” and my DSIS is now a very normal woman in her thirties with no psychopathic tendencies that I know of. Kids are weird sometimes.

this is the kind of stuff that would be on wednesday.which is too old for her btw. way too old.
you should have followed it through with your neice to be honest. the moments gone now so her emotions around it needed to be adressed then.
talk to her mum

That's what I was coming on to suggest.
Wednesday seems to be being watched by fairly young children.
Even in the older Addams family films the character Wednesday makes similar gestures.

There is a lot of over reaction about this. Not letting her in the house, reporting it, etc.

I teach this age group. If you sit and watch this age group play they say and act out lots of things that would seem inappropriate or potentially concerning. But it is almost certainly just the children processing things they've overheard or seen such as in tv, in films, etc. Children do, unfortunately, see a lot of stuff they shouldn't. Hence play can often involves guns, shooting/killing, such gestures, saying strange things.

Play and talking to 'safe' adults is how they process these things. Children of 7y aren't known for their tact and will often say things which feel out of the ordinary and wrong. It's how the adults respond that can be key.

The op says that the niece is otherwise perfectly nice with the baby and her. She will have seen the gesture and/or the comments and be processing them in a child like way.

My immediate thought was Wednesday. I teacher 6-7 year olds and they’ve all been watching it.

Sounds like boundary pushing combined with her learning about death and ways people remember their loved ones at school in PSHE/RE. Totally agree with @Abraxan that kids will pick someone safe to say things they shouldn't, to test waters.

But almost certainly she's seen at least one trailer of Wednesday doing the throat slit thing!!

I saw something online the other day about a mum who had a stillborn daughter. She had hand and footprints taken to remember her by.
Could she be thinking that?

If it makes you feel any better, my 6 year old says really matter of fact things about people’s death without understanding the impact at all.

She's a daft kid, not a bloody psycho

Well today my niece said as was on topic of something

“Em will have a baby and you’ll be a grandma..baby girl”

SO i’m feeling better, I was never meaning from this topic of worry about my niece causing harm. It was more the comment and shocked she knew and that’s what thought of

I’m sure someone mentioned roblox on this, she has that app on her ipad - Is that norm for her age or!

Yeah I’d say it’s normal for kids her age. My nephew and son are around her age and they play it. The only thing I would say is check what games on Roblox she is playing, some of the games have horror film characters in them as the “bad guy”. You can check the settings and put age restrictions on it to limit what she can play if she needs them. There’s a lot of the games on Roblox that use Wednesday as the main character which is why she’s shown an interest and probably wanted to watch the show