Parents share horror stories about how kids have embarrassed them in public

Parents unleashed the blank stares, blunt observations and nosy questions from their kids. Replies include:

• “I made the mistake of telling my kid that if he didn’t eat, he wouldn’t grow. He told a person with dwarfism in the checkout line at the grocery store that they needed to eat so they would grow.”
• “My son at 5 years old dropped a deuce in the toilet display at Lowe’s.”
• “Just paid for an item at Walmart and walked out without it in a bag. My kid said loudly, ‘Are you stealing that?? We have to pay!’”
• “My daughter would ask every man she saw if they were her dad. Me and her dad were, and still are, together. She saw him daily, she just insisted on asking every man …. she even asked people when her dad was with us.”
• “When my daughter was 4, we were having breakfast in a restaurant and she asked the elderly lady next to us why she wasn’t in heaven yet.”
• “I told my son he couldn’t eat chips until we got home. My son responded loudly, ‘But Mom, we don’t have a home.’ We very much did, and everybody at the store started offering housing resources.”
• “Walked into Wendy’s and my 2 and 1/2 year-old looks at a lady and said in her loud, squeaky voice, ‘That lady is OLD. She’s going to die soon.’ Every head turned to look at said woman. We did not eat at Wendy’s that night.”
• “My 5-year-old son asked if the gas station guy with the turban was a genie.”
• “My son loved to fake drown at water parks.”
• “After Hurricane Helene hit, my daughter’s class wrote cards for the people affected. She told me she wrote, ‘I hope you’re OK, but I don’t think your house is.’”
• “My son told the pediatrician when he was 7 or 8, ‘My mom doesn’t make us wear seatbelt and we duck if we see a cop.’ NEVER HAPPENED and I was so speechless, I couldn’t even react.”
• “My daughter asked the …. cashier (who was missing some teeth) if she ever brushed her teeth before.”
• “This guy had a huge birthmark on his forehead at the mall and my son asked if a dog pooped on him.”
• “My son, 4, told a family member, ‘You’re as big as a house!’”

Colbert tells TODAY.com that his now 13-year-old daughter “loves to embarrass me and her mom.”

When the teen leaned about sex, says Colbert, she eagerly shared her knowledge — frequently and in public.

“When she was younger, maybe 8 or 9, she would constantly walk up to pregnant people and ask, ‘Do you know what causes that?’” says Colbert. “It was just to hear their answer, because she knew the answer.”

Colbert adds, “Most of the time, people would turn bright red and get really embarrassed.”

Why do kids say the darndest things?

“Kids do not have enough lived experience to know what is acceptable to say out loud, so they can be really blunt,” pediatrician Dr. Heather Felton tells TODAY.com.

When kids aren’t learning social cues from their parents, they find out the hard way, by stumbling into awkward conversations with adult strangers or peers.

Felton says kids develop a natural candor by experiencing the world through their eyes and learning from their physical surroundings.

What to do when your kid embarrasses you in public

If your child points out a detail in a stranger’s physical appearance, parents can respond right away, says Felton.

“Say, ‘That’s not something we say out loud’ or ‘There’s a better way to say that,’” suggests Felton.

It’s appropriate to say, “We’ll talk about that later” and rehash later with your child. You can explain, “We don’t comment on other people’s bodies and this is why,” says Felton.

If your child loudly asks, “Why is that person in a wheelchair?” Felton says to address it: “Yes, they are in a wheelchair — they use that to get around, just like you use your legs.”

Parents can watch what they say around kids, too.

“They repeat everything,” says Felton.

Social awareness will come with time — although, as Felton points out, adults can struggle. “We all have these moments,” she says.

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: