Why do parents tell their kids to stop doing this or that or I'm going to have that policeman arrest you?

baalberith11704

It's typical of people that won't take responsibilty for disciplining their children..rather than be seen as the bad guy,they teach their child to be afraid of and dislike the police(because the police were what they were threatened by-not the nice parent).

My sister-in-law used to do that with my nephew when I became a police officer. It was, "If you don't behave, Uncle RJ will take you to jail." I never liked it, but chose to ignore it most of the time, as I have always had a good relationship with my nephew and never thought it was having much effect.

But there came a day when I was riding patrol in their neighborhood and my partner and I dropped by their house. My nephew would only come near me if I was away from the patrol car. He wouldn't go anywhere near the car, and wouldn't even look at my partner (a small, thin woman who has a generally friendly personality).

After that, I had a talk with my sister-in-law about the effect she was having by using that line on my nephew. She stopped doing it, and never used that on my niece after she was born. My niece and nephew are now not afraid of the police, but look at them as people who protect them, just like their Uncle RJ. They also think it's great that I'm a "kid detective" now and work with juveniles. And my nephew even says he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.

copswife

good damn question......I abhor that and the "my taxes pay your salary" blah, blah........we pay taxes too!!!!!!!

Some parents just shouldn't be parents!!

Leogirl0804

Because parents can be somewhat cowards when it comes to their kids. (my parent's definitely are excluded in this description) We were raised to respect the police. Different times I guess.

shrty0525

I never have. But since I wanted to become an officer from the time I was 15, I knew it was a problem. I've always taught my children to go to the police if they are lost or need help.

Matter of fact, 2 of my 4 boys want to be police when they grown up (or military after my husband - or firemen..hahahah.)

My parents never did this either. And would have kicked my butt for getting into trouble.

stcgoodman

I have two girls and found myself doing the same thing becauls
that was what I was tought.
My oldest was getting scared at first then learned that they won't.
My biggest fear. I don't agree with this either.
It's not sending the right message to the kids.
I learned the hard way.

browneyed_angel2o9

because parents are to busy to be brother by their kids so if they tell the kids that they think that their kids will behave and if the kids get in trouble the parents can't be blamed cause they told the kids what would happen....so basically the parents who tell their kids this are just to lazy to take care of their kids.

Bambi slayer

Those parents are loser and are unable to control their kids without threats.

funlovingwomannky

I am not really sure I've never understood that. I don't understand why parent's threaten their children at all I think it's crazy. But like you said I guess they learned from their examples as well. Kids should be taught that people in Law Enforcement, and other things like that, are good people and they are there to help you.

Predator

My mom used to tell me that I need to be honest with the police, that I need to respect you, not to be afraid of you.
And she told me once that, whatever goes wrong, I need to call the police.
I respect your profession more than anyone else.. Maybe doctors..

sacolunga

I never told my kids that. I agree with you. I have done my best to teach them to respect police officers.

dh1977

Some parents make even worse statements than that, and start children being afraid of and disrespecting Police very early. Here's an example.

I met a friend for lunch awhile back. He was on-duty at the time and in uniform. While we were eating, a little girl (about 5 or 6 years old) was walking through the restaurant with her father. She stopped at the table and said, "Are you a real Police Officer?" My friend smiled at her and said, "That's right!" Her father grabbed her and pulled her away. He said to her, "Don't talk to him, he'll shoot you!" She began to cry and I wanted to punch him in the face. I bet that little girl will be afraid of Police for a long time. I can only imagine what people like that say to their children about the Police in private, if that's what they say in public.
I guess I was lucky that my father was a military man, and a strict one at that. His discipline was plenty. He never threatened us with getting arrested, only taught us to respect and listen to the Police.

wonderwoman

I agree with you. I think some parents lack parenting skills and instead of teaching children they confuse them , example: Parent wants child to take medicine and tells them it's candy. Or, Parent is eating candy and doesn't want to give any to child and tells them it's medicine. Go figure !!!!!
I teach my children the good and the bad.

Peace.

arcane

yeah i agree, when i was growing up, my mother used to respond to my bad behaviour with threats of 'a police man will take you away' and stuff like like that, it used to scare me! of course i'm grown up now and i would never say stuff like that to my kids. on the contrary, i tell them that if they ever get lost or anything to ask a policeman for help.

2eighty8

I've seen it up here too while on duty. All it does is create more problems for them in the long run, such as all these kids out there disrespecting law enforcement officials.

It's a thankless job: when someone needs your help, they come to you and expect you to perform magic to resolve the situation; but the rest of the time, they go on and on about how we go on "power-trips" and throw debris over an apartment balcony when we arrive on a call. Honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

jbtascam

You know why, you're just asking the question to draw attention to the problem.

Parents don't want to be the bad guy. "Timmy, personally I'd love to let you beat on that pan all day with that spoon, but the police just don't see it the way I do. Please stop, so that they won't come and take you away from me, your loving parent."

It's so much better than "Timmy, daddy has a headache. Please stop beating on that pan before I demonstrate on your head exactly what that pan is experiencing."

ChemGeek

I've never told my kids I'm going to have a policeman arrest them.

*shrug*

Pia

HEHEHE.. How times change! I used to be told the boogie man would come and get me. But monster spray always took care of them.

I guess cops are scarier nowadays, and there's no spray...

What will happen if you teach them to respect the police so much that they want to be a cop when they grow up, and then become a victim of a civil rights violation, as happened to my child? I might as well teach kids about defending themselves against police brutality, taking pictures, filing grievances, and that makes us all feel safer. When cops know their boundaries and realize they can't do as they please, *then* they become as sweet as you describe

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