Would you be offended if someone called your child 'gorgeous'?

Would you be offended if someone called your daughter ‘gorgeous’?

Sweet, cute, adorable…who doesn’t coo over little ‘uns? But one mum has a word of caution for anyone who might consider describing a child as ‘gorgeous.’

Taking to parenting site Mumsnet the mum describes a meeting with a dad and his toddler while she was out with her 9-month-old baby girl in her pram.

“He said his dd [dear daughter] wanted to look at the baby. A little bit of small talk followed in which I introduced my baby to the toddler. I asked how old his dd was (22 months) and said to her, “hello lovely, aren’t you gorgeous!”

But the seemingly innocuous comment didn’t go down well with the dad.

“The man looked me sternly in the eyes and said, ‘oh no, don’t tell her that, language like that ruins them!’”

The mum went on to ask if she was being unreasonable to find this quite sad.

“I work with children, I have lots of friends with children. I often use language like this,” she explained.

“This is the first time I’ve come across this kind of attitude and I must admit I thought he was joking and laughed in his face.”

After posting other parents were quick to wade into the debate.

Some agreed with the mum that it was an innocent, throwaway comment and the dad had gone over the top.

“I call people’s kids gorgeous on the train etc,” one user wrote. “How creepy would it be if U was chatting to a stranger and said to their child “oh you are so smart and intellectual and I guarantee you are corking at football too.”

“Yanbu [you are not being unreasonable], because ‘gorgeous’ just means ‘all round wonderful’ not ‘pretty’,” another agreed. “I know what he meant, but he was being ridiculous.”

Considering there has been a deliberate movement by some parents to steer away from using gender stereotypical language, others thought that the man might have a point, but agreed he had taken it too far.

“I do get the logic behind focusing on other qualities when complimenting girls especially. It does seem to be all focused on looks with girls, which I do think should change,” one user wrote.

“Saying that though I wouldn’t correct a stranger in the street like that when they’re just trying to be nice either.”

“Hmm…maybe it’s regional? And gorgeous is similar to sexy in some parts? I wouldn’t call a DC gorgeous either tbh, but I wouldn’t be bothered if others used it?” another user added.

This isn’t the only parenting debate to have been sparked online of late.

Earlier this month a mum took to a forum after being left upset with her children’s father for telling their kids they were ‘too old’ to call him ‘daddy.’

Just two weeks ago a mum turned to the Internet to ask if her husband had the right to comment on her body hair.

While earlier this month another mum kicked off a heated discussion after asking if four was too young to get her daughter’s ears pierced.

Meanwhile back in April a thread about party bags went viral after a mum sent back her daughter’s with a note complaining about the contents.

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