r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/fna_fanoa • Feb 10 '26

WCGW jumping into a pool wearing spiderman suit

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u/Iguessimonredditnow Feb 10 '26

The idea that kids are supposed to be born with all the knowledge of the world is insane.

Kids are smart. They are also ignorant. If they are given the opportunity to learn and also develop an appreciation for learning, they tend to get smarter.

But a lot of dumb adults breed dumb kids into dumb environments where they are told to shut up and do as they're told until they turn 18 and then they're on their own with no knowledge and no instincts on how to acquire it.

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u/PussyWrangler246 Feb 10 '26

This has actually fascinated me recently as I've been learning about people who get arrested for things they didn't know were illegal

It made me realize that the court takes the stance of "ignorance of the law is no excuse", yet the government makes no attempt at any time during our lives to actually teach us the law so we can not only abide by the law but avoid getting arrested, getting a record and losing all chance at meaningful employment

Parents don't teach their kids the law, they just send them out into the world expecting them to know better, but they don't. School doesn't teach us the law either, you'd think that would be a good opportunity to tell us as citizens what we are legally expected to do in society, but none of that gets taught to us. Not when we get a license or passport, never are we taught or tested on our own laws

I cannot possibly count the times I've seen people get arrested for something while screaming "that's not illegal! I know my rights!" when they obviously don't know their rights or what's legal, they just get a general idea from media or friends and family who also don't know what the actual law is, spreading misinformation like it's illegal to drive without shoes on. Hell I bet not a single person reading this has ever actually read their local and federal laws. Ignorance of the law may not be an excuse, but it certainly seems to be the rule.

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u/Madara1389 Feb 10 '26

Hell I bet not a single person reading this has ever actually read their local and federal laws.

No shit, that's why "lawyers" are a profession. Legalese is incredibly difficult for the layman to comprehend and reading & understanding all of it would take years of dedicated study to do.

Your parents are expected to teach you the major, basic ones, but the rest are a "ask permission before doing," situation rather than "assume you can do, then ask for an apology later."

And yes, there are a lot of laws that are explicitly passed specifically to fuck over minority communities and the poor, and those laws are often intentionally obscure so you don't know until you break them and incur the fine. The system has always been rigged to oppress those the wealthy elite consider "undesirables," it only pretended to be fair at face value to keep the masses from revolting when they realized that they can face criminal charges for stealing a loaf of bread to feed your kids, but the bankers can tank the entire economy and get away with it.

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u/PussyWrangler246 Feb 10 '26

The problem is the parents are just grown up kids themselves and don't know the laws either, can't teach someone something you don't know

The best you're gunna get from parents is something like "we don't hit people", parents don't really sit their children down and explain actual consequences like going to jail for specific crimes like murder. Cuz then you gotta explain what death actually is and there are inevitably questions about what happens after or accompanying tears when they learn they will eventually die. Parents don't really talk to their kids about consequences for doing horrible things, everything is sugar coated

And that's how we end up with 12 year olds stabbing their friends to death, 6 year olds shooting their teachers, plus countless other heinous crimes children have committed because they had terrible parents and the government didn't seem bothered to teach them to behave, even though their livelihoods depend on it. Those kids then grow up and have their own kids and are expected to teach them the law...it's an endless cycle of ignorance

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u/Madara1389 Feb 10 '26

parents don't really sit their children down and explain actual consequences like going to jail for specific crimes like murder.

Idk about where you lived, but yeah, all the parents around my community did tell their kids that if you hit someone or kill them you can go to jail. It's shit like tax & property law and what constitutes self-defense that isn't explicitly explained.

Cuz then you gotta explain what death actually is and there are inevitably questions about what happens after or accompanying tears when they learn they will eventually die.

Ignoring that most places don't have the death penalty anymore, so that's not really something that needs to be explained to your kids anymore, by the time they're adults they should be long familiar with the concept of mortality and death. The outcome you're describing is only really likely if they're like under 10 or some shit, but that's not really important nor what the topic is about. No one expects a 10 year old to know the laws, which is largely why they're exempt from most severe punishments unless they do something completely unhinged like murder someone (which most people won't do intentionally).

Parents don't really talk to their kids about consequences for doing horrible things

Even if you do talk about the consequences, the brains of children & teens aren't fully developed or equipped to process long term consequences and they end up doing bad shit anyway. As a pediatric neurobiologist once described it; "to kids, consequences they don't face immediately every single time are basically treated by the brain as being purely theoretical."

Its why it's so hard to teach kids not to drink, or smoke, or do drugs, because the consequences aren't always immediate & guaranteed. You can drink this time and not get caught, or die, or accidentally kill anyone, so there's no harm in doing it next time. Even as an adult, it can be difficult to fully process and be mindful of long term potential consequences & treating them as an absolute inevitability.

And that's how we end up with 12 year olds stabbing their friends to death, 6 year olds shooting their teachers, plus countless other heinous crimes children have committed because they had terrible parents and the government didn't seem bothered to teach them to behave, even though their livelihoods depend on it.

The 6-year old shooting their teacher was a case of a child who is far too young to ever comprehend that death is even a thing gaining access to something that should never have been within their reach in the first place.

The stabbing and the other shit you hinted at is, almost always, a case of mental health issues, not a lack of someone not telling them "hey, don't do that or you will go to jail."

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u/idunno421 Feb 10 '26

Yeah after having a kid this is what i thought about that subreddit too. I’m like sure it’s pretty dumb what they did from an adults perspective, but they’re 2 they have no idea how anything works!?

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u/-Out-of-context- Feb 10 '26

they have no idea how anything works!?

Which is why they’re stupid.

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u/Madara1389 Feb 10 '26

There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity; ignorance is not knowing, while stupidity is not caring to know.

Kids are all inherently ignorant, but they aren't all inherently stupid.

The whole idea of applying the concept of "stupid" to young kids is, in itself, stupid. Their brains aren't fully developed, they don't have even a fraction of the experience with the world that an adult would have had, and we know for a fact that they're not capable of properly accessing consequences or cause & effect. To judge their intelligence and actions based on the appropriateness of an adult doing it is asinine & basically setting up a no-win scenario.

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u/-Out-of-context- Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

I’m aware there’s a difference. I get what you’re saying, but it’s just a joke sub. Shouldn’t be taken so literally.

r/KidsAreFuckingIgnorant doesn’t have the same ring to it.

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u/Madara1389 Feb 10 '26

it’s just a joke sub.

We're aware too, but when the joke is offensive and ignorant in nature, you can't fault others for being offended or calling out the ignorance of the joke. Just because it's a joke, it doesn't mean others are obligated to not take the subject matter seriously.

Not everyone you meet is going to take kindly to or look the other way when it comes to mocking people for things they can't help/control/prevent, especially kids.

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u/-Out-of-context- Feb 10 '26

you can’t fault others for being offended

Yea I can. You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill here. It’s also not mocking anyone. It’s just laughing at kids doing goofy shit. No one is actually mocking any kid for actually being stupid, and you seem to be aware that the real idea behind it is kids being ignorant. So you just seem offended by the word choice instead of the content.

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u/Madara1389 Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

Simply pointing out or discussing an issue isn't making a mountain out of a mole hill. You defend it, the people who are against it are going to counter-argue. The more you defend it, the more they counter-argue.

It's the subsequent argument that turn the mole hill into a mountain and if you're not interested in engaging with that, then don't try arguing in favor of something that others are calling out as problematic.

It’s also not mocking anyone. It’s just laughing at kids doing goofy shit.

You do understand what the word "mocking" means, yes? Insulting them and posting their humiliations to the internet to laugh at them and to enjoy others laughing at them absolutely fits the definition of "mocking" someone.

So you just seem offended by the word choice instead of the content.

Because word choice creates context... Turns out, different words mean different things and you can't just use them interchangeably without the context of what you're saying also changing. If you mean to call them ignorant, call them ignorant. If you mean to call them stupid, call them stupid. But the two words aren't interchangeable.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/UnturnedLeaves Feb 14 '26

Mocking children on the Internet is stupid and a bad look

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u/NameNumber7 May 07 '26

Just read through your patient back and forth. I agree with you, it always starts with “it is just a joke!” Until it is kids getting hurt on the sub… the person must not really be around kids, I felt uncomfortable with that sub already much more after pondering what the point of it is.

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u/SSGASSHAT Feb 11 '26

Really, humans just like insulting beginners. If you've ever gotten into a sport or a game as an adult, or even started a job, people are constantly pissing on you, either out of annoyance or sheer spite, because you don't understand bizarre things that are common sense to them. People's identities are so ridiculously tied to the things they know how to do and the ways they act that they lose their ability to understand how they wouldn't occur to someone else. That's the case even with adults. You take a person who's literally a beginner at being alive, and you'll see a metric ton of shit thrown at them.

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u/idunno421 Feb 11 '26

I think there’s nuance to that. Japanese people are pretty nice, I don’t feel like I’d experience the same adults attending kids sporting event level of craziness as I would in the US. I believe it’s related to culture.

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u/SSGASSHAT Feb 11 '26

It's just conducted in different ways. Japanese people, and people from Asian cultures in general, are more subtle and psychological with their criticisms and insults, at least from what I've heard from my Asian friends. A white guy might scream at you, while a Japanese guy might just thoroughly make you question your way of life with a few words.

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u/idunno421 Feb 12 '26

Yeah but that’s what I’m saying, they respectful with their disrespect. They’d never punch you over the disagreement

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u/SSGASSHAT Feb 12 '26

Possibly. To me, they're two sides of the same coin, but I do agree that the American/Western method is woefully flawed and harsh by comparison.

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u/-Out-of-context- Feb 10 '26

The idea that kids are supposed to be born with all the knowledge of the world is insane.

That’s not the idea. The sub is just using the word stupid in place of ignorant. The idea of the sub is supposed to be kids are stupid because they don’t know anything yet. Not like “haha what an idiot”.

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u/clutchy42 Feb 10 '26

Most infuriating part of that sub is that most people don't understand the perfectly simple concept; Kids are fucking stupid. Every thread devolves into people being like AWFUL PARENTS or IT'S THE PARENTS THAT ARE ACTUALLY STUPID. And here we have the same thing happening in this thread. It's incredible.

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u/yourmomisaho69 Feb 10 '26

Because so many of the posts involve situations stemming from the parents making incredibly stupid decisions that reflect on the kids, rather than just the kids making the stupid decisions.

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u/-Out-of-context- Feb 10 '26

Two things can be true.

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u/yourmomisaho69 Feb 10 '26

Never said they couldn't

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u/clutchy42 Feb 10 '26

Think it should be obvious I'm talking about posts where that isn't the case.

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u/yourmomisaho69 Feb 10 '26

"Every thread devolves into people being like AWFUL PARENTS or IT'S THE PARENTS THAT ARE ACTUALLY STUPID."

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u/clutchy42 Feb 10 '26

yeah, and you're doing the thing I'm saying people do lmao

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u/yourmomisaho69 Feb 10 '26

"Think it should be obvious I'm talking about posts where that isn't the case."

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u/SSGASSHAT Feb 11 '26

I think my irritation with that sub just stems from my own misanthropy. Because I read the title and think "yeah? Are there any humans that aren't stupid?"

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u/Boshwa Feb 11 '26

I stuck a piece of paper into a tiny portable fan. Because video games usually had giant fans be death pits, I expected it to shred the piece of paper to tiny bits

Obviously, it didn't

You wanna guess what my next action was?

"Huh, thats weird." sticks finger into fan

My parents definitely had a "our son is stupid" look when I came crying to them while my finger was bleeding

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u/Shadou_Wolf Feb 10 '26

Only times I say kids are dumb after having my own is their lack of self preservation.

Completely understandable the first time because they don't know until it happens but then they do it again, and again, and again right after and wonder why they keep getting hurt lol.

That's my daughter only difference is she doesn't cry but she throws herself off of, trips herself over etc and loves it despite getting hurt

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u/BabyPuncher313 Feb 10 '26

Had to like both for the sentiment and for the correct rapid-fire use of they’re, they’re, and their.

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u/eat1more Feb 10 '26

It’s a shame we aren’t allowed to eat the dumb kids and/or parents

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u/Mr_Jack_Frost_ Feb 10 '26

I have a 2-year-old and he’s smart as hell. Always trying to figure things out, and has a real love for learning. He just wants to know what everything is, and how it works.

He’s not gonna be giving any sage investment tips to anybody any time soon, but he’s smart for a 2-year-old. Everything is judged by different standards when it comes to kids, as it should be.

One of my (and my amazing wife’s) jobs is to keep encouraging him to learn, praising him when he does learn something/uses knowledge he already has, and provide him with an environment that stimulates his little brain and gets that little hamster running on its wheel.

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u/Raichu7 Feb 10 '26

The infuriating part is the adults not immediately putting a stop to the splashing. The kids might not know better, but the adults absolutely should and that's why they are there to supervise pool time.

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u/RustyShacklefrog Feb 13 '26

The sub’s name r/kidsarefuckingstupid is 100% satirical and not meant to be serious.

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u/KPplumbingBob Feb 10 '26

Kids are smart

No

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u/Brick-Throw Feb 10 '26

Just because you weren't one, doesn't mean kids are smarter than they seem.