Neice pulling mocking faces

Batman2017

When I was with my parents my 7 year old neice would pull mocking faces such as rolling her eyes and mimicking my mother when she would speak and sticking her tongue out. I found this to be quite rude and disrespectful but my mother didn't seem to bothered by it.

I thought if my child did that I would be very disappointed and would be disciplining them. Am I being a killjoy?

UKTigerlily

I'd find it rude too, were her Parents not around? If it were my Niece, i'd be telling her it's not nice to do that if my Brother & SIL weren't there

Petethespider

You dont have children so why even try to compare??

Fireflyaway

I wouldn't allow my child to do that, I agree its rude.
More and more, children today do lack basic manners and parents are lazy in correcting them.
I was taught to speed up and say thank you when using pedestrian crossings. Most people ( where I live anyway) don't even acknowledge you! At restaurants I was taught to stay seated, eat with your mouth closed etc. Nowadays you see kids running around and refusing to eat anything unless its shaped like a dinosaur. You can tell I can't stand badly behaved kids!
At 7 she will know its wrong but if people laugh it just reinforces that its been accepted. Trouble in these situations do you allow the rudeness or do what the parents should be doing and tell them its rude?! Do the first and the child will carry on and do the second and the parents will probably have a go at you!

Mojisola

Batman2017 wrote: »

When I was with my parents my 7 year old neice would pull mocking faces such as rolling her eyes and mimicking my mother when she would speak and sticking her tongue out. I found this to be quite rude and disrespectful but my mother didn't seem to bothered by it.

I thought if my child did that I would be very disappointed and would be disciplining them.

I would be making sure that it didn't happen again - very disrespectful!

Your Mum might think it's cute because her grand-daughter is only 7 - it won't seem so adorable when she's a teenager and is treating Grandma badly because she's learned that it's acceptable to do so.

Silvertabby

Just tell her that her face will stick like that if the wind changes direction (no, I don't know where that bit of folklore comes from!)

maman

I'd want to know whether your mother was ignoring her to avoid giving her the attention she was craving. That can be a good strategy as if they don't get the desired response then she'll be likely to stop. Sometimes making a big issue about it/disciplining although negative attention is still attention and for a child who's desperate to be noticed is better than nothing. I'd be inclined to notice good things (anything positive) that she does and praise that instead. If she knows she can get attention for being good then she's more likely to follow that path.

badmemory

If the parents aren't prepared to teach polite behaviour there will be outcomes. Firstly you probably won't be inviting her round to your house anytime soon, I certainly wouldn't. Then invitations to playdates/friends houses will start to disappear. This is what other parents will do to avoid their children being (the best word I can think of) contaminated by this behaviour.

Zeni

Batman2017 wrote: »

When I was with my parents my 7 year old neice would pull mocking faces such as rolling her eyes and mimicking my mother when she would speak and sticking her tongue out. I found this to be quite rude and disrespectful but my mother didn't seem to bothered by it.

I thought if my child did that I would be very disappointed and would be disciplining them. Am I being a killjoy?

I would imagine like others said that she was possibly ignoring her, not giving her the attention that her behaviour was possibly seeking. More than likely if she realised no one was paying attention she may of stopped. Then again it could be a game she and her grandmother do a lot and shes just having a bit of fun.

Petethespider wrote: »

You dont have children so why even try to compare??

You don't need to have children to understand what could be disrespectful behaviour. The lady didn't intervene she was merely asking opinions of others.
I have no children, yet I weirdly seem capable of teaching and dealing with the behaviour of 40 children on a daily basis and identifying what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.

Batman2017

Petethespider wrote: »

You dont have children so why even try to compare??

Because I have one on the way and am interested to see whether people think this is normal behaviour.

I have nephews who are of the same age and are so well behaved. The mother is very strict but they seem happy so to me that seems the way to go. I think my neice is going to be trouble in years to come as my brother has already said she doesn't listen when given instructions.

Marvel1

Yes you are a killjoy, your mother doesn't seem bothered.