"If your gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough...."?

Question

this is my ex boyfriends new motto. He said it to our 3 yr old daughter today when she accidentally ran into the guinea pig cage. First off it wasn;t relevant to the situation, second of all I don;t think you should call a child dumb for hurting herself, and thirdly, its just a stupid saying. And he claims he says it to everyone! Do you think this "motto" is as dumb as I think it is?

Answer 1

I think it's hilarious and quite befitting. I say something similar to my students- if you're gonna break the rules, have the decency to not get caught. I know this isn't exactly the sort of thing most people would have their children learning in public schools, but the kids get the point- breaking the rules is dumb, and getting caught is even dumber. Fortunately they don't get smarter at breaking the rules- they eventually just realize it's not worth the trouble.
While I think that just bumping into a cage isn't cause for being called dumb, I can see why he said it. She was probably not watching where she was going and ran into it. If she's going to be running into things and hurting herself all the time, she's gotta develop a thick skin. She won't understand what he's saying now, but when she gets older and has heard it enough, she'll realize she's got 2 options- she's either gotta act smarter or develop a higher threshold for pain.

Answer 2

Yeah for a little kid. It's not so bad for an adult who is being stupid just for attention then whine when people insult them. That is never OK for an adult to tell a kid. You ex-boyfriend needs a reality check for real. Hopefully you keep him away from you kid. Your kids are more important then any man, your kids always come first. Don't put your kids in situations with abuse like that. When you first notice it put your foot down and stop it.

Answer 3

Nope there are brains(smart) and brauns(dumb) in a situation.