Its only like saying to a naughty child, "if you dont behave, that policeman will come and take you away"!

Cant see where its really that much of a crime

Yes but it's ok for a kid to grow up scared of policeman but not of dogs, poor kid is going to miss out on a lot and probably never grow up to be a dog lover - something special as we all know.

That is one huge assumption , simply becuase a parent tells a child a dog might get them, does not mean they will grow up scared or dog haters.

I confess to telling my kids anything when they were young to get them to behave, and they have not grown up being frightened of dog, police men, father Xmas, or the boggy man

Yeah I can see how threatening a naughty child that he might be taken away from his parents is a really good strategy for rearing children.

Cannot think why I never used it myself

When I was a nanny and later when I had my daughter I preferred to identify that the police were the people to go to if they got lost etc.

I don't know WHAT I was thinking of, I must have been mad!

The kids were cr*pping themselves! - for no reason other than what their mum (obviously) regularly scares them about! Won't be doing anything like that with my kid thank you very much.

Well shoot me down for being a terrible parent......funny enough, my kids grew up to understand and respect both the police, and dogs,


What kids were cr*pping themselves

Now why didn't i think of that one LOL

Kinda makes you wonder where the kid got the word from in the first place though, mind you some people think its normal these days, not surprising the way some parents talk to or in front of their kids

Really dont understand making kids afraid of the Police. Maybe this is where the hatred of the police (and the other services) comes from.

Another I dont understand is "wait till your father gets home" or "you wont get away with that at school"

Why cant you discipline a child with out using empty threats

Well lets face it, many a naughty child (in today's society ) might benefit a bit from the odd threat here and there .

How many of those little darlings you see running riot round the supermarket taking not a blind bit of notice of a parent trying to reason with them, have ever had a consequence set down to their actions.

I watched a father telling his young son (abotu 4/5) to stop climbing through a very expensive coffee table (mostly glass) the other day, I stood in disbelief as said child ignored , and said parent gave up and looked the other way.....

I remember reading/hearing a story of an old lady in a store somewhere , were a very naughty child was misbehaving, taking no notice of a parent trying to reason with it...said old dear told the child to behave itself or else... said father told old dear ......dont you speak to my child like that, said old dear said to father........well someone has to, as you are incapable of doing so!