Wife did embarrassing thing in hotel, now DD is copying – WWYD?

[pbopkg]

Posting here because I genuinely don’t know how to handle this without causing WW3 with DW.

We were on a family weekend away a couple of weeks ago, staying in a nice(ish) hotel. DW has this (in my opinion) mortifying habit of calling out “Housekeeping!” in a sing-song voice before entering a room, including our own hotel room. No idea why, she thinks it’s hilarious.

Anyway, fast forward to this week and now DD (4) has started doing it CONSTANTLY. Every time she walks into a room at home, at PIL’s house, even at nursery drop-off! This morning she did it in M&S toilets when someone was actually in there, and I nearly died of embarrassment.

I gently mentioned to DW that maybe we should stop encouraging it, and she got all huffy, saying it’s just a bit of fun and I need to lighten up. But I can’t be the only one who thinks this is just Not A Thing normal people do??

AIBU to want this to stop before DD starts doing it at school? WWYD?

My god, you'd hate my family and friends.
We have loads of these and all the kids do them.... many of them involve breaking out into song because a phrase vaguely resembles the lyrics.

It's hardly mortifying behaviour.

I wouldn't really find it funny from your DW. But I wouldn't be one bit worried about your 4 yr old repeating it, anywhere. It's not inapproriate.

My two yr old though the other day at the shops said very loudly 'lady car dirty' about the woman next to us unloading her shopping. She did just laugh though and say, ya it is!

It's not mortifying, it is annoying as fuck.

Your wife and daughter sound like a lot of fun to me!

you, not so much.

I was once in a public toilet and heard a kid scream really loudly from the stall next to me "Mummy your bum is bleeding".
Another time there was a big queue in the toilets and this little girl pointed to the condom machine and asked her mum what it was.
The mum very quickly replied soap machine.
When another woman then came out of one of the stalls and started to wash her hands the little girl told her she needed to get soap from the soap machine.
Both situations people found it funny and the mums weren't embarrassed.
All kids say or do something embarrassing at some point

'Sexual Interiors' is going to be the name for my new punk band.

That's nothing, when youngest DS was about 4 I was pushing him in supermarket trolley and he started singing the Tom Jones song 'Sex Bomb' at the top of his voice. I know he must have heard it in his Dad's car.

It's slightly irritating, strange, and repetitive. But they could be saying a lot worse.

Same.

OP, if you want her to stop, start doing something equally as annoying back. When you want into a room, pretend to press a buzzer and make a loud honk. Every single time.

I think your 4yo saying that is hilarious.

Lol that's hilarious

I don’t think this is anything to do with your dd and everything to do with your wife. I’m a different generation so don’t get the cultural references but based on the responses a lot of people do. Just be very careful if you’re feeling your wife is an embarrassment. My ex was like that, he’s an ex for a reason (and no, I’m far from an out and out extrovert, he just didn’t like me doing anything outside his very carefully crafted list of ‘acceptable behaviour’)

Sounds like the real problem you have is that your wife’s little joke stopped being funny a long time ago, like the 2nd or 3rd time she did it, and is now just really annoying, and your daughter mimicking her just reminds you how annoying it is.

I have sympathy. I’ve known people that will do an impression or a joke that gets a laugh the first time, so they keeping making the same joke thinking that they’re hilarious and not realising they’re just tedious. To be honest, I thought it was a bloke thing, but obviously not.

Embarrassed.! Why? Trust me you really are not that important. People these days really do not give a monkeys about others, Trust me, no one will care.

Stupid thing for a grown woman to do. Maybe funny the first time, but over and over? No.

But what about it is embarrassing? Like others, I still don’t understand the actual source of your embarrassment. Is it that you find something inherently embarrassing about housekeeping itself, or think it is rude to draw attention to the existence of housekeepers? I am genuinely unclear why you feel this is socially awkward!

It’s just funny! Your wife sounds like quite a laugh, you are lucky!

My son shouts FBI open up whenever he hears doors being knocked on, so we can be walking down the road and Amazon is knocking on a random strangers door and he will shout it 😂but this makes me chuckle.
Same child when younger very loudly said 'that man looks like daddy except daddy doesn't have a huge nose' that was really embarrassing especially as it was the postman we see multiple times a week!
Let this one go you have years of so much worse ahead of you.

I think it's funny and it would make me laugh.

Mind you, I told my reception teacher that my daddy was sent to borstal when he was a boy.

He was actually sent to boarding school...

just show her where the hoover is and let her get on with it.

Really- it's quite funny. You are massively overreacting

but the idea of DD doing it in front of random people still makes me cringe

You need to unclench.

She'll soon forget it if you ignore her.

Is your wife always this cringe? Maybe this has just pushed you over. I'd find it odd and annoying.

Get a cleaning caddy , fill it some loo rolls and a cloth and spray . Everytime she does it, make her clean the room. She's 4. She'll be bored of it in a week. Also you'll get your house cleaned for free !
You really are fretting overly.