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.

So you never said any Christmas presents were from Santa? Or Santa delivered the presents. Or the tooth fairy etc.

It is true

We're discussing a young child in a supermarket, hardly the same thing. Your examples aren't people "being naughty", you are actually saying they weren't doing anything wrong, completely different

I’ve heard it quite a few times, the security guard will throw you out, the policeman will bring you to jail etc, always said meanly, always to kids who weren’t acting up that badly, always by parents who just seemed like absolute assholes!

When I was a child in the 80s, it was not unusual to see Bobbies on the beat on the high street.

My parents said that all the time to me.

I didn’t grow up traumatised.

I remember working in retail a few years ago and I had a few parents say to their kids “the lady will tell you off!” And I would look at the kid each time and say “no I won’t 😊”
For some reason parents have been saying that for years and it makes no sense as kids should look for police or staff members if they get lost. Parents weren’t happy when I’d say that but I’m not bothered, it’s not the right message to teach, it’s lazy parenting and empty threats at the end of the day.

Years ago, when my son was 3, we lost him in Asda. We were frantic. Then a voice came over the Tannoy "has anyone seen the parents of M as he says he thinks they're lost" 😂

The point the OP was making was, "there's a very few bad apples", "the Police are trust worthy" etc, no they aren't and if the bad apples were the few, they wouldn't pass the training, or probationary period.

I do think the bad apples are the few, but that could be geographical.

I went along with the story but if they asked i didn't lie. I usually said ' what do you think?' or something like that. I certainly wouldn't tell a child who had already worked it out that Santa was real.

People recite this bad apple thing without understanding what they’re saying. It makes no sense just to refer to bad apples. The full saying is that it only takes a few bad apples in a barrel to contaminate the rest.

I’m a police officer, if I ever hear this I always go and tell the child that the police don’t take children away it’s their parents job to teach them to behave. Police are there to protect people especially children and we deal with the naughty grown ups- whilst throwing a stare at the parent.
It really makes me cross!

Plus Santa is a lovely fantasy, which when they realised he didn't exist we were all chuffed as now they knew we bought the presents. But it was a great thing. I used to get them to write their lists on Christmas cards which we would leave in the fireplace. When I say "write", they dictated them to me and I wrote them down word for word.

One year my oldest son "wrote" (I still have this, I have them all from both of them - comedy gold) "I'd like a computer (he was 5, his wee brother was 1), I know it's a big thing Santa but it's not just for me, it's a present the four of us can use, so it's actually a family present. So I'd also like...." 😂

Santa is not the same as telling them that if they don't do what they're told, they'll go to jail. As a toddler. Toddler jail. 😬

Maybe the kid had been a turd all day and the parent was exhausted, or the kid usually acts up in supermarkets.

I was in a community hub and police pop in a lot to say hello and have a nose. One time, a pair of cops came in and a little boy went up to them... but was clearly too shy to say anything. One of the cops put his radio to his mouth and said "what was that? a little blond boy about 5 years old, wearing a blue dinosaur T-shirt? He is right in front of me. We got him"... and the little boy burst into tears.
I think the cop was hoping for the opposite reaction.

Oh I would absolutely have used that to help prevent and maintain better behaviour from my ND child! I wouldn't have used it as a threat of being taken away/used the word naughty, more oh we best be on our best behaviour. Every litttle helps...

In typical Mumsnet style - "why are you siding with the criminal here? 😡"

Yeah this sort of comment is normally made by parents who aren’t very bright or emotionally intelligent.

God people say stuff all the time. You do you and just finish the shopping!

Awful thing to tell your child. Teach them that the police are there to help, and deserve respect. Let them jump the queue, if they are behind you. Often they are grabbing a quick bite to eat, between call outs, and if one comes in while they are queueing, they don’t get to eat on their shift.

And when it's the police who cause the issues with young kids themselves, like in my earlier post. ??

How do they expect those kids to grow up to think they'd get any bloody help from them

Ffs. You don’t need a toddler / young child to know about paedophile police officers. What you need them to know is when someone is in danger you call 999. A police officer, fireman or paramedic will turn up at your door to help.

They also need to know about privacy, what good and bad touch is and that secrets are discouraged.

Every child and adult could harm a child but if your children need help you want them to be afraid of the world?

Hope you are saving up for their therapy

I'm a police officer and this is my bug bear. Whenever it's said to me, and if happens way too often, I make an effort to get down on the kids level and ask their name, would you like to wear my hat/turn the sirens on etc.

Well since Sarah Everard it's not as clear cut is it.

Of course it is. That case didn’t change anything. Every profession has bad apples.