As the old saying goes, “Kids say the darndest things’, but while their lack of filter often leads to impromptu humour, their lack of social filter means they have no fear when it comes to broaching topics that might otherwise be deemed taboo.
Parents and grandparents are often on the receiving end of such brutal barbs and while it goes without saying that they should be taken with a pinch of salt, that doesn’t change the fact that some of the off-the-cuff remarks made by our kids and grandkids can still trigger a reaction.
These cheeky comments became the topic of a hilarious thread on forum site Mumsnet recently, as one woman revealed the hilarious reaction she got from one of the young children she teaches, having taken a day off sick from work.
“I was off sick recently with flu, and when I finally went back to work a child in my class happily said ‘Oh, you’re back. I thought you were dead!’, she wrote. “She didn’t look all that bothered either. Luckily I did also get a lot of hugs from others in my class.”
Pointing out that the thread was light-hearted, rather than a serious discussion, she added: “What’s the most forthright comment a child has ever made to you?”
The post received hundreds of responses from parents and grandparents who had plenty of tales to tell when it came to back-handed compliments or rude remarks made by their little ones. One woman wrote: “We were baking together and I asked DD [dear daughter] to divide the bread dough into two pieces. She pulled and pushed it around energetically, before delightedly saying: ‘I can’t mummy, it’s too squidgy…like your tummy!’ She still asks if we can make ‘tummy bread’.”
Another woman revealed her child had repeatedly pointed out that her “legs are lumpy” in the swimming pool, adding that it prompted her to get her varicose veins fixed. While another woman said: “Child looks doubtfully at giant archway BUILT FOR CARS TO PASS UNDER: ‘Mummy, do you think you’ll fit through that gate?'”
While one grandmother commented: “Last week my alarm didn’t go off so I had to dash out of the house in 10 minutes to pick up my grandson and do the school run, so no time for anything other than a quick drag of a comb through my hair. He took a long, considered look at me and said ‘Nana, you look older.’ Fair enough, I thought. Then followed it up with ‘Your face is all wrinkly, like a pug’.”
While one woman revealed she was quickly put off by her new short hairstyle, after her child told her: “Ooh mummy you look like a pretty Hitler.”
In the end, these candid and often unexpected remarks from children remind us to laugh at life’s quirks and cherish the innocence that accompanies their unfiltered honesty.