A policeman in the supermarket ,would you do this?

[girlfriend44]

This morning there was a policeman doing some shopping in the supermarket.

A family walked past and when the dad noticed the policeman in the aisle he said to his little girl.
Look there's a policeman. If your naughty round the supermarket he will take you away to prison. The little girl. Just listened and didn't say anything .
He made sure she saw the policeman and as said told her he would take her to prison if she was naughty.
The policeman never heard but I did . I was right by them
Would you do this?
AIBU to think it's a bit odd.

Wrong thread is my guess.

I agree. I’m not a police officer but did used to work in a supermarket and we would occasionally get “if you don’t behave, the lady will tell you off” - generally at the checkouts while the parent was trying to pack the bags and kid was messing around.
What I generally wanted to say was “why don’t you parent your own child”, but just smiled politely instead.

Compelling chat, look forward to doing it again some time

He was being a dick. Some sorts of adults like to wield power over people they can, and children are an ideal target. She won't respect him for it when she's older.
Although potentially it is also what his own parent did to him.

Bit inconsequential.

Making threats about things that are not going to happen is daft. Children are not daft. They’ll soon realise.

But the word naughty is being used for the child's benefit as it's language they understand. 'Naughty' in an adult sense could be rape and murder, but it's not appropriate to explain to a young child that the police arrest for rape and murder.

Very old school isn’t it …

How the hell if that educating the daughter? Stupid thick dad teaching his daughter to be scared of the police. My what great education that is. Let's hope he is a teacher

Kids should be able to see police officers as someone to go to for help, not someone to be afraid of.

This has to be a joke surely? Considering the ridiculous levels of misogyny and racism which even the police admit is a massive institutional issue this is nonsense.

As a woman, I do NOT feel safe with the police and this is based on personal experience with them not some comment made by one of my parents. My teenage boys arent white - there is no way I trust the police.

And then they won't believe anything the parents tell them.

I hate this stuff. I've seen parents saying it about waiters and shop staff too. One woman told her 3 year old son that the waiter would put him in a cupboard if he misbehaved.

trusting the police worked super well for Sarah Everard didnt it?

I've said stuff like that to my 7YO and we have a laugh about it. Maybe this parent has a similar relationship. I'd never say it to genuinely worry her though - she sees the police as trusted people to go to if she needs help and loves waving to them.

Sadly they were not safe adults if you were (are?) a working class girl being serially raped by a majorly Pakistani rape gang.
Otherwise, yes, they are a safe adult as long as they are in uniform.

Cases like that are rare and unforgiveable which is why they make such big news. What would you tell your child to do if they were lost?

Me too - ooo look we will have to behave ourselves 😄 then give a cheery hello to the officer

Is there no nuance in the world? Do you really give kids zero credit for having a day-to-day relationship with their parents and having a mite more understanding of what they say to each other? Maybe your kids are a bit slow, but I agree with @dizzydizzydizzy that kids are generally sharp enough to understand this stuff without being as OTT as some people here. It reminds me of Douglas Adams' advice about writing for Doctor Who - "make it simple enough for the adults to understand but complicated enough to hold the children's attention."

Ask an older lady for help

I had that when I was on tills at Sainsbury's ("the lady will tell you off!") I was tempted to point out im soft as shite and won't be telling anyone off

Parent was probably feral in a vest

I saw a post from one of the police forces online telling parents not to do this. Kids should not grow up fearing the police, they should know that they’re there to call whenever something bad happens and they need a friendly helpful face.

I think it’s quite sad. I’m not a fan of police as an overall force however, children should know who to go to if they’re scared/lost etc.

When we saw a police officer in wandering around a shop we explained to DS that the uniform meant she was police. He immediately started talking about bad guys and getting arrested (he was 3) so we made a point of talking about how they can help if you’re lost etc.

You seem surprised by this, havent you heard it before?

Quote routine for chavvy patents

Ok??? The parents aren’t worried about their children committing crimes though. They are wanting them to not run about or mess about or whatever child behaviour they find “wrong”

”naughty” is such an outdated word. Most kids aren’t naughty. They just act like kids. Hence why majority of kids all act the same!