Moral/legal questions about neighbors...hypothetically

[Eja117]

Ok. New scenario.

Let's say I take my kid and another toddlerish kid out for pizza. The other kid observes some people hugging and rather loudly comments on some private behavior he observed his parents doing.  Um. Do I tell them? I mean I would DEFinitely want someone to tell me my kid did that. On the other hand I think keeping my mouth shut is a very underrated strategy here and I completely lacked the guts to make a peep on this.

What would you do? I mean unless they're someone you're really close with you keep yo mouth shut like a coward, right?

My fiance wife's job is to help kids who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual attacks. So she's pretty much 'the child whisperer' at this point. You would not believe the stuff kids just say to her in a casual setting, its crazy.

And something very much like this happened to us (I only say 'us' because I was there, but I had no part in this story). They were more acquaintances than friends, but she waited for a properly discrete time and mentioned it to the mother, with the proper, "Its no big deal, happens more often than you think, and kids get over it as long as you're honest and don't make a big deal out of it."

I did nothing, and if she had opted to also do nothing, I would've encouraged that. But that's me.

welllll...yeah...but I'm definitely not a child whisperer.

The kid doesn't seem negatively affected in any way and it seemed the parents may be aware of what he saw, which wasn't THAT bad (Sorta high end R rated). He just blurted it out nice and loud and all.

No right or wrong answer

[Chris]

Ok. New scenario.

Let's say I take my kid and another toddlerish kid out for pizza. The other kid observes some people hugging and rather loudly comments on some private behavior he observed his parents doing.  Um. Do I tell them? I mean I would DEFinitely want someone to tell me my kid did that. On the other hand I think keeping my mouth shut is a very underrated strategy here and I completely lacked the guts to make a peep on this.

What would you do? I mean unless they're someone you're really close with you keep yo mouth shut like a coward, right?

My fiance wife's job is to help kids who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual attacks. So she's pretty much 'the child whisperer' at this point. You would not believe the stuff kids just say to her in a casual setting, its crazy.

And something very much like this happened to us (I only say 'us' because I was there, but I had no part in this story). They were more acquaintances than friends, but she waited for a properly discrete time and mentioned it to the mother, with the proper, "Its no big deal, happens more often than you think, and kids get over it as long as you're honest and don't make a big deal out of it."

I did nothing, and if she had opted to also do nothing, I would've encouraged that. But that's me.

welllll...yeah...but I'm definitely not a child whisperer.

The kid doesn't seem negatively affected in any way and it seemed the parents may be aware of what he saw, which wasn't THAT bad (Sorta high end R rated). He just blurted it out nice and loud and all.

No right or wrong answer

I would say there is nothing wrong (and the parents would probably be happy) if you just told them that he said something inappropriate.  And then if they ask for more details, you can tell them. 

But I think you should make it about the kid acting innappropriately, rather than about what he saw. 

[Eja117]

Ok. New scenario.

Let's say I take my kid and another toddlerish kid out for pizza. The other kid observes some people hugging and rather loudly comments on some private behavior he observed his parents doing.  Um. Do I tell them? I mean I would DEFinitely want someone to tell me my kid did that. On the other hand I think keeping my mouth shut is a very underrated strategy here and I completely lacked the guts to make a peep on this.

What would you do? I mean unless they're someone you're really close with you keep yo mouth shut like a coward, right?

My fiance wife's job is to help kids who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual attacks. So she's pretty much 'the child whisperer' at this point. You would not believe the stuff kids just say to her in a casual setting, its crazy.

And something very much like this happened to us (I only say 'us' because I was there, but I had no part in this story). They were more acquaintances than friends, but she waited for a properly discrete time and mentioned it to the mother, with the proper, "Its no big deal, happens more often than you think, and kids get over it as long as you're honest and don't make a big deal out of it."

I did nothing, and if she had opted to also do nothing, I would've encouraged that. But that's me.

welllll...yeah...but I'm definitely not a child whisperer.

The kid doesn't seem negatively affected in any way and it seemed the parents may be aware of what he saw, which wasn't THAT bad (Sorta high end R rated). He just blurted it out nice and loud and all.

No right or wrong answer

I would say there is nothing wrong (and the parents would probably be happy) if you just told them that he said something inappropriate.  And then if they ask for more details, you can tell them. 

But I think you should make it about the kid acting innappropriately, rather than about what he saw.

That is a very interesting idea to work on. I definitely feel like it's a little too late now, but that's a good idea