AIBU for not wanting my child to be called "cheeky monkey" by the staff at a nursery every time they greet him?

[ekatk]

My DS is 3.5 and is quite an active child and lately I noticed that one of the staff members at the nursery calls him "cheeky monkey" every time she sees him. I don't want him to feel "branded" with this and think that it's a norm to call someone this word all the time, cause someone might consider this offencing. Should I talk to the nursery staff or AIBU? What would you do?

I kind of think so too. But there was uproar when a cheeky monkey t-shirt was put on a dark skinned child in an advert so I would just avoid using it toward racial minorities just in case
Though I quite like the term, I find it cute.

YABU and overthinking this

So white kids can only be called terms of endearment. Got it.

So if a child who looked white was always taken to and from the nursery by a white parent was called 'monkey' by a member of staff, and the parents took offence because the child was mixed race, where would the nursery stand?

This isn’t a wind up is it? I’d only worry if they started calling him a little shit, cheeky monkey is a term of endearment

If you don't want them to call him that, the next time they do, just say "Sorry I know you don't mean anything by it but could you stop saying 'cheeky monkey' as I really dislike it"

Unclench and breathe.

They are being nice. Not branding him.

YABU

There's big PFB energy here

No.
Because black people have had the experience of having monkey used as a racial slur, it us covered in the press periodically when it is directed at a footballer. White people will not have had it used as a slur, only a term of endearment. A poster earlier explained that this is why it was triggering for her to have her child addressed like this.

My mum is in her late 70s. Some time back she had a chat with me and my brother because she knew that language was evolving and she didn't want to say anything that in her head sounded OK but to the listener might be offensive. The first thing that came to mind was calling my cousins' kids (mixed race) monkeys.

OP - I really hope this thread is a wind up!!

If not, you seriously need to get a grip!

"Cheeky Monkey" is NOT branding a child - it's a term of affection!

Ffs 🙄

@Love51, you're saying 'cheeky monkey' is offensive if the child is black or mixed race but not if the child isn't?

There's not a comparative word for this analogy - but let's just imagine the phrase "cheeky bimbo" became a term of endearment for boys and girls alike - surely you can imagine a situation where girl parents get offended by their daughter being endearingly referred to as "cheeky bimbo" because that term was historically used in a pejorative way towards women. Would you then say "so boys only can be called terms of endearment- got it" in that scenario?

Can you now see why it can be problematic to call a black child "monkey", even endearingly, in circumstances where monkey is still used as a racist term for black people around the world, including in this country (just go to your average football league game and see some of the chants occasionally made at black players)?

It's rude and hardly professional NEVER heard it as a term of endearment here.

Yep.

Seriously OP, let it go.

Its really not. I was called it as child.
I had this nicknamed growing up,along with little devil. I’m a woman.

If you have to think about a child's skin colour before using a phrase, it's best to find another phrase to use.

Your going to be one of those parents once your child starts school 🤷‍♀️

I think you are being completely rediculous sorry 😅

OP- is your child white?
@ekatk

I had to ask our childminder to stop calling toddler DS ‘a little tinker’. It was intended entirely affectionately, but it’s an old-fashioned pejorative term for Traveller in my home country, and I just couldn’t listen to it.

However, I am definitely going to start using the phrase 'You funny onion' more. It's just adorable

You're being precious sorry.
I work in a school and we call the children many names inc

Love
Sweetheart
Darling
Chicken

All sorts really. Yorkshire and we like our terms of endearment.

Is it rude and unprofessional that there a multitude of nurseries called Cheeky Monkeys which are implying that every child on their books is a cheeky monkey?