Supermarket misgendering by 5 yr old

[Mmunatty88]

Hi. I have a 5 year old and today we went to the supermarket for some food. Probably should have re-thought it and gone after lunch but we didn’t and he was pretty tired, hungry tbh generally not well behaved.
so, I am there trying to make the visit as quick as possible and head to the check out. I leave space for people to get by but someone doesn’t notice this and gets in-front of me. I let them know and all is fine.
relise I need a bag and while I’m picking one up, say thanks to the person who rightly gave my space back to me in the Queue. they reply with, ‘he is she!’
Im taken back and ask, ‘sorry-what?’
I am a she not a he and they said ‘he pushed in front of me!’ (speaking about my 5 yr old)

the person is clearly a women, in their 50-60s with a buzz cut and wearing a track suit.

I reply with, ‘oh right ok.’ And take my bags and go.

how should I have handled this?

1. wouldn’t have wanted to make a scene there as that would have further embarrassment for the other customer.
2. it was an honest mistake by a 5 year old who has a sister and has little care for what’s ‘for boys’ and what’s ‘for girls’.

I'd have handled it just like you did. As a non-event.

The other supermarket customer sounds a bit bonkers. I agree with the PP who thinks it's a non event

I think you handled it fine.

Maybe just a talk with your five year old about haircuts and clothing choices. You might not think he cares about 'for boys' and 'for girls' but he obviously, at least subconsciously, believes that short hair and/or tracksuits are 'for boys', otherwise he wouldn't have made that mistake.

It's a total non-event. Odd that a stranger would care so much that a small child got their sex wrong, and referred to them with the wrong sex pronoun. Your response and quick moving on was a very normal and sensible reaction.

What does it matter how you should have handled it? It's too late to do anything about it now.

She was just saying wasnt she? Theres nothing to 'handle'

Did she say 'your child misgendered me'?

because discussion is how we work as a society? and that’s how the world moves forward

Definitely a non-event and you did exactly as I would have. My DC sometimes gets genders wrong (age 3) and it's not like they're purposefully doing it. The fact the other shopper wanted to correct them is a bit odd- not like you're going to be socialising with them again to make it a problem 🤷‍♀️ perhaps it happens a lot to them and they find it annoying?

because discussion is how we work as a society? and that’s how the world moves forward

You handled it perfectly well. She said something (that was true) and you accepted it. What else do you think you might have done?

Complete nonevent. Perfectly fine for an adult to correct a child if they misgender them. That’s how children learn.

I don't understand what you're asking.

I don't understand what your point is.

Your post is really confusing. Did your child say something to/about her?

What?

Did your child say something to the woman?

There is zero mention of that in your OP.

P.S.

I do not understand this and I've read it about 10 times!

It seems that when OP nipped out the queue to get the bag, and the woman moved into the queue by mistake the little boy said 'he pushed in front', referring to the woman

So the woman said to OP 'its she, not he'

She was just mentioning it probably.

And the supermarket didn’t misgender anyone.

What happened I’m confused

This is so difficult to understand. I don't know how other people know what's going on. Title says child was misgendered, no?

So a masculine presenting (to a child who won’t understand the complexities and nuances of gender stereotypes) woman was mad / annoyed / bothered? that a 5 year old thought she was a man?

Weird. Maybe she was having a bad day.

Id have done the same as you, looked at them blankly and said “okkkkk” then cracked on with my day.

Hes literally 5. Can’t even tie his shoes yet and she’s gonna correct his gendering. Some people are tightly wound aren’t they.

Yes, my kid indirectly called her a man.

should I have apologised on behalf of my son? even though he was intentionally trying to upset anyone. Rather than just rush away and out??

alike another person has mentioned, the only reason I can see an adult saying this is out of frustration. Frustration of it happening all the time.

The boy said 'HE pushed in front' that person said 'SHE not he'
The boy got the sex of the person wrong and the person corrected him.

My kid used to call everyone over the age of 40 ‘grandad’, regardless of gender (or grandparental status). You handled it fine, it’s nbd.

😐