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I took my 4 year old and 2 year old to the park today. There's also a bike path that runs next to it. I saw an older boy walking with his parents and he came onto the playground and his parents kept walking. He was quite big and was trying to get on some little ride and could barely fit in it. Whatever. He was next to us and wandered over to some other little ride that had a seat. He says to me, well this seat looks inappropriate. I looked over thinking it was broken or dirty and it looked fine to me. I said, oh why, what's wrong with it? He just stared at me like wanting me to figure it out. I looked again, studied the seat and admittedly the seat was somewhat in the shape of a penis. It NEVER would have crossed my mind unless the seat hadn't been clearly pointed out to me as 'inappropriate.' I was floored that a kid I don't know was pointing this out to me, a 39 year old mother there with two small kids. I felt a bit annoyed quite honestly...like what 'balls' this kid himself has and how inappropriate is he! I just said, well i guess it depends on what you're thinking about and walked away. I then said, how old are you? He said 9 (!!).
His parents came back and i heard him say to his mom, hey look this seat looks like a penis and she laughed and said, oh only you would think that and made some comment to her husband or partner about perverted children.
I can remember when i was 9, my mom telling me about periods I think since I was in the age range of possibly getting one. I laughed with friends about body parts i suppose but never in my life could i imagine going up to an adult i dont know at a park and pointing out such a thing. It seemed really creepy.
Is it just me? I am no prude...but I guess I am when it comes to talking about such things with children I dont know! WTF? Maybe his family talks like that about everything at home. Bad manners...maybe i should have told the mom what he said to me?
I think its normal for a boy that age. He's on the verge of puberty. Given how the mom reacted to him telling her about it, I don't think your saying anything would have done much, except maybe get you told off for criticizing her child. All he said was it was inappropriate.
I'm not saying you are wrong to have been put off by it. I would let it go. It would make you look strange to point out to another adult that the seat needs replacing because it looks like a penis. That would be awkward.
I don't really see the big deal. He's a 9 year old boy who had a random thought pop in his head, and decided to share it with someone he thought might also enjoy the humor. I doubt he wanted to have a conversation about penises with you.
I might be concerned if he was going around to toddlers and talking about penises, but to say to an adult that a toy looked innapropriate? That would just be a funny story I'd later tell my SO.
I don't really see the big deal. He's a 9 year old boy who had a random thought pop in his head, and decided to share it with someone he thought might also enjoy the humor. I doubt he wanted to have a conversation about penises with you.
I might be concerned if he was going around to toddlers and talking about penises, but to say to an adult that a toy looked innapropriate? That would just be a funny story I'd later tell my SO.
I’m impressed he used the word “inappropriate “.
For a prepubescent boy, potty humor is about the highest form of humor there is. To see something out in public in the shape of a penis must have struck him as the funniest thing he was likely to encounter all day. Of course he knows that it's inappropriate; that's one of the things that makes it so funny to him.
I would chalk it up as a young boy trying to be friendly, and nothing more sinister than that. Now, if he had made mention of the seat's shape to your young children, that would have been a different issue. But it appears that he did respect the boundary of not discussing such matters with those who are too young to properly understand them.
Sounds about normal to me. We were very open with silly things like that when the kids were younger. Mine are both on the shy side and I don't think they'd have said anything like that to a stranger, but I've had other kids make jokes like that to me. Just the other day, a friend's teenager said something about balls that was both inappropriate and funny. Older kids want to be one of the crowd. If he was there with his parents and he saw you and also little children, he would place himself in the adult category, not in the toddler/preschooler category, which is why he thought it would be fine to make a joke with you.
Just wait. Your kids will come up with all sorts of things that you find both horrifying and hilarious. And they will also use playground equipment that's too small. As much as they want to be grown up, it's hard to let go of childhood.
Really. ok. well i'm surprised that i'm alone here. Maybe I'm more of a prude than I thought. I have an Irish Catholic upbringing and knew you NEVER spoke of such things particularly to a stranger. I find it rude and have to say i hope my kids dont end up like this or have friends that think it's ok to act like this :/
Your kids probably will act like that out of your earshot and they will certainly have some friends who act like that, in or out of your earshot. It doesn't really matter if you are a prude or not. You said yourself that you joked about body parts with your friends at that age. Some kids are more bold than others, but most of them will giggle about penises and breasts and who knows what else. Just roll with it. When they're teens, it's better if they're comfortable talking about these types of things. Makes the sex and body talks less awkward! Does your four-year-old talk about farts and pooping? If so, he or she is well on the way to talking about more inappropriate and obnoxious things as the years go by.
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