Kid's friends want to be police officers -- how to handle

[Anonymous]

These anti-police troll posts are out of control. Jeff should really look into that.

[Anonymous]

My preschool kid wants to be a giraffe when she grows up. I am also very deeply concerned. How is someone with a long purple tongue ever going to gain admittance to an ivy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JFC. When DS was 3 he wanted to be a lobster. At 4, he wanted to be a famous soccer player. At 5, he wanted to be a fisherman.

What are you going to tell your kid....don't be friends with those kids because they want to be cops? All cops are bad?

+1,000

My daughter wanted to be a unicorn trainer at age 3. LET IT GO.

[Anonymous]

They're preschoolers. Of course they want to be police officers and firemen and nurses etc. The places where they see examples most often are cartoons and books where those characters are always positive. There are no bad cops in kids books. Mr. rogers called them "helpers". Teach your kid about the world and introduce reality and what's happening as it's age appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My preschool kid wants to be a giraffe when she grows up. I am also very deeply concerned. How is someone with a long purple tongue ever going to gain admittance to an ivy?

It's a hook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of our African American employees has three kids at home while she works. She got a text from the kids that a black man had broken into her home and was pointing a gun at the kids. African American woman called 911- the police, left work and raced home. Police were on the site before she was. Police diffused the situation and the African American male that broke into the home was escorted out.

African American Mom was glad to have a phone number to call and police who showed up and protected her children.
The three children were safe.

THis was two weeks ago. In Maryland. Not Baltimore.

There is nothing wrong with a child wanting to be a police officer who helps and protects people.

If you don't want a functional police department move to Venezuela or Mexico. Middle class people end up hiring their own security in those countries.

Sorry to be a nag, but was "diffuse" a result of typing on phone or do you not know the difference between diffuse and defuse?

https://grammarist.com/usage/defuse-diffuse/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just sent around a year end video. Part of it was asking each kid what they wanted to be when they grew up. This was done at home, so the parents recorded the video. I'm not sure whether it was done pre George Floyd's death or not.

Two of the kids stated that they wanted to be police officers and talked about how they help/protect people. I'm not sure how to react.

First, should I say anything to my kid to offer a more balanced perspective, or should I just let it go? Should this change the degree to which I let me kid play with those kids, or should it change my interactions with the parents?

Especially if this was done post-Floyd murder (although let's not pretend the same thing has happened repeatedly in recent and less recent history), it seems at best tone deaf to submit those videos of the kids idolizing the police. It is very easy to redirect a five year old and I am sure the parents could have encouraged their kids to say something less controversial. I don't know whether this was intended as an overt political statement, but it is surprising they wouldn't realize how at least some people would view their kids' statements and I wonder more broadly what they are teaching their kids.

I am in NO way minimizing what happened to George Floyd and I think that taking anything away from the real issues is a huge problem, but I will say here that you MUST realize that most cops are good, right? Fighting for police reform and calling out bad behavior and asking for more accountability are all necessary things, but I really think that asking a preschooler to understand the complicated issue of racial oppression by certain police officers is a bit much. And I am all for talking about things to my kids, who happen to be in kindergarten, so they aren't that much older than yours. But this is really taking it way too far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes definitely you must talk about this. Address it head on. Tell the kid he is better of joining MS 13 or similar organization. Then call the kid's parents and give them a piece of your mind and educated them about the police. Never allow that kid to play with your kid again. Block the kid on FB, and all your other social media. Ghost the kid and the parents. Go print pamphlets and warn all the other parents and kids about this kid.

Thank you for this post. It's great!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our preschool just sent around a year end video. Part of it was asking each kid what they wanted to be when they grew up. This was done at home, so the parents recorded the video. I'm not sure whether it was done pre George Floyd's death or not.

Two of the kids stated that they wanted to be police officers and talked about how they help/protect people. I'm not sure how to react.

First, should I say anything to my kid to offer a more balanced perspective, or should I just let it go? Should this change the degree to which I let me kid play with those kids, or should it change my interactions with the parents?

Especially if this was done post-Floyd murder (although let's not pretend the same thing has happened repeatedly in recent and less recent history), it seems at best tone deaf to submit those videos of the kids idolizing the police. It is very easy to redirect a five year old and I am sure the parents could have encouraged their kids to say something less controversial. I don't know whether this was intended as an overt political statement, but it is surprising they wouldn't realize how at least some people would view their kids' statements and I wonder more broadly what they are teaching their kids.

OP, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Agree. She is utterly, 100% crazy and stupid. Her poor kid!

[Anonymous]

My black child is turning 8 next week and wants a Police Officer uniform as a present because she wants to be a Police Officer. She knows about George Floyd and what happened to him and BLM. Both on a very basic level.
She still wants to help people and thinks Police do that. I am NOT taking that away from her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes definitely you must talk about this. Address it head on. Tell the kid he is better of joining MS 13 or similar organization. Then call the kid's parents and give them a piece of your mind and educated them about the police. Never allow that kid to play with your kid again. Block the kid on FB, and all your other social media. Ghost the kid and the parents. Go print pamphlets and warn all the other parents and kids about this kid.

Thank you for this post. It's great!

+1

I aim to please! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

OMG, the kids are in preschool. I've talked to my 10 year old about a more nuanced approach (he does not want to be a police officer at this point) to understanding the police and racism. But not preschoolers.

[Anonymous]

Our preschool just sent around a year end video. Part of it was asking each kid what they wanted to be when they grew up. This was done at home, so the parents recorded the video. I'm not sure whether it was done pre George Floyd's death or not.

Two of the kids stated that they wanted to be police officers and talked about how they help/protect people. I'm not sure how to react.

First, should I say anything to my kid to offer a more balanced perspective, or should I just let it go? Should this change the degree to which I let me kid play with those kids, or should it change my interactions with the parents?

Especially if this was done post-Floyd murder (although let's not pretend the same thing has happened repeatedly in recent and less recent history), it seems at best tone deaf to submit those videos of the kids idolizing the police. It is very easy to redirect a five year old and I am sure the parents could have encouraged their kids to say something less controversial. I don't know whether this was intended as an overt political statement, but it is surprising they wouldn't realize how at least some people would view their kids' statements and I wonder more broadly what they are teaching their kids.


OP, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

I love the Billy Madison quote, thx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're preschoolers. Of course they want to be police officers and firemen and nurses etc. The places where they see examples most often are cartoons and books where those characters are always positive. There are no bad cops in kids books. Mr. rogers called them "helpers". Teach your kid about the world and introduce reality and what's happening as it's age appropriate.

OP here. I'll respond to this post which was constructive, unlike many posts just calling me crazy.

I understand that kids might want to be police officers and it might be too much too use this to call into question what they are generally teaching their kids because of the things you mention. That makes sense.

But it still strikes me as tone deaf to submit those videos at this moment given what the country is going through. Sure, it isn't a statement that All Lives Matter or the kid wearing a MAGA hat in the video, but I never would have submitted that video right now. And if the video was done pre-nationwide protests, they had almost two weeks to submit something different.

Why submit/stick with something that could be interpreted as thumbing your nose at the current protests and be triggering to some people?

[Anonymous]

They're preschoolers. Of course they want to be police officers and firemen and nurses etc. The places where they see examples most often are cartoons and books where those characters are always positive. There are no bad cops in kids books. Mr. rogers called them "helpers". Teach your kid about the world and introduce reality and what's happening as it's age appropriate.


OP here. I'll respond to this post which was constructive, unlike many posts just calling me crazy.

I understand that kids might want to be police officers and it might be too much too use this to call into question what they are generally teaching their kids because of the things you mention. That makes sense.

But it still strikes me as tone deaf to submit those videos at this moment given what the country is going through. Sure, it isn't a statement that All Lives Matter or the kid wearing a MAGA hat in the video, but I never would have submitted that video right now. And if the video was done pre-nationwide protests, they had almost two weeks to submit something different.

Why submit/stick with something that could be interpreted as thumbing your nose at the current protests and be triggering to some people?

Ok, I'm not going to call you crazy, but I'll say that your viewpoint seems unreasonable to most of the people who have reviewed your post. I don't think it is appropriate to tell a 4 year old that they can't say that they want to be a police officer, regardless of the fact that there have been several very terrible incidents recently. Do you advocate eliminating the police entirely? If not, society is going to need at least some officers in the future.

As a second point, there are huge problems with racism in law enforcement, but really, there are huge problems with racism in our country as a whole. We see the effects more clearly in law enforcement, due to the power dynamic and potential for violence inherent in that job, but I guarantee that there are many racist lawyers, judges, accountants, teachers, doctors etc. as well.