A North Carolina dad wasn’t prepared for the word his kids picked up, let alone how they’d use it.
In a post on Threads, Scott Reintgen (@reintgen) shared a game his young children have invented called “Babes,” where they take turns mimicking how he and his wife talk to each other around the house.
“My son will go around saying, ‘Hey babe. You need anything babe? You good babe?!’ While my daughter goes, ‘I’m good babe. Maybe some chocolate babe?!’ I wasn’t prepared to be impersonated this aggressively,” he wrote.
Reintgen, who shares a 3-year-old and 5-year-old with wife Katie, told Newsweek the game surfaced recently during the summer, when the family found themselves spending more time together at home.
“Our ears would always perk up to try and hear what they were saying about us,” he said.
The pet name “babe” quickly became the focal point—not just of the children’s impressions, but of a subtle realization for the couple.
“This is one of those situations where you don’t realize how much you say something until someone else points it out,” Reintgen said. “Ever since discovering the game, we’ve caught ourselves calling each other babe with an embarrassing regularity.”
While some kids develop elaborate storylines or pretend to be superheroes, the “Babes” game seems to be less about fantasy and more about daily domestic life.
The father of two told Newsweek that his kids aren’t trying to poke fun at him or his wife in any cruel way.
“At that age, the most devastating roasts performed by your children are when they don’t even realize they’re roasting you,” he said.
A bestselling children’s book author with Simon & Schuster, Reintgen is no stranger to the power of words—or the impression they leave on younger audiences.
He speaks at schools around the country to students from third to twelfth grade and says this playful moment with his children gave him a new perspective.
As a result, Reintgen and Katie do their best to be thoughtful about their words when speaking to their children.
“I’ve spent years crafting what I want to say in those spaces, because what we say and how we say it matters,” Reintgen said. “Which is why it’s funny to me that my kids are using ‘babes’ to mimic the exchanges that my wife and I don’t think much about. The everyday nothings and the quick check-ins. I’m just glad they were echoing the positive vibes!”
Reintgen’s post received over 7,000 likes and dozens of comments from other Threads users who could relate to the toddler humiliation.
“My 2-year-old has started saying, ‘You okay, babe?’ Because my husband and I say it so much to each other,” one user wrote.
“They see and hear everything…. and all of the information is ammunition!” another commented.
Reintgen told Newsweek the reaction has been surprisingly positive, following a harsh reaction from a previous post in 2023.
“In all the comments I’ve read on this post, there wasn’t anything negative, which feels genuinely rare,” he said. “It was refreshing for us.”
The post Parents Hear Kids Impersonate Them—Unprepared for What They Call Each Other appeared first on Newsweek.
