I just went and interrupted my kids sleepover…

So I’m still not sure if I handled it right. But I kind of acted in the moment. Downstairs my two kids are having a sleepover with their three older cousins. The ages range from 5 to 11. I was upstairs and not really listening in, these kids were LOUD. Anyways. I heard the 8 year old boy pipe up with a “yo mama” joke. And then kept going. Yo mama so fat this, yo mama so poor that. I was trying to not be too sensitive, knowing they probably hear this stuff at school all the time. Then I heard my 5 year old daughter try to join in with her cousins to fit in and make the raunchiest joke she knew “your mama so fat she turned into the H word!”

And adorable as that burn is, hearing my beautiful sweet daughter hypothetically talk about anyone being fat and hearing this about mamas… I just kind of made my way downstairs.

So I tried to talk to them super briefly and kid appropriately about how I just didn’t like those jokes. I explained that I just didn’t feel good having people tell them because they didn’t make me feel good to hear them. That they made me think about people who might hear a joke like that and have it make them feel bad. Because sometimes people actually DO call people fat and mean it in an unkind way. I said, I DO love jokes though! I love jokes the most when they make EVERYONE laugh, and don’t make other people feel bad.

The one who had been telling the most immediately changed tune “aunty, aunty, I didn’t mean it ABOUT anyone!” And I know he didn’t. He’s an absolute sweet heart. I know he’s parroting what he’s heard that’s gotten a laugh because he LOVES to make others laugh. So I made sure to reassure them, tell them I knew they didn’t mean it that seriously, and that they were some of the kindest kids I know (which they are!) and that I’d love to hear more of their jokes! So they all switched to telling me funny jokes, made each other laugh and I went back upstairs and haven’t heard a single other unkind joke for the night.

I hope I didn’t make too big a deal of it. I used to tell Yo mama jokes all the time and I think if they were a bit older that I was confident they weren’t internalizing a bunch of shit I’d let it slide but It was just making my stomach turn hearing it all come out of their little mouths.

Anyways. I wanted to post here to share and see what others might have done in a similar situation?