I feel weird for pre-emptively clarifying this but I also kind of feel like I should: whenever I call random peoples' kids goblins or gremlins, it's
100% intended as affectionate. To be gremlin is to be human. Everyone goes into goblin mode sometimes and most kids are simply in it 24/7 and that's awesome.
By no means a racist thing. Kids of every single colour, creed and cultural background are equally goblin. I've called more white kids goblins than you've ever seen.
I used to call kids "little monkeys" till I said it and a POC couple were unhappy with me but understanding and informative.
So I'm going to adopt this because* loved calling kids little monkeys... especially because they just ARE, and that episode left a hole in my heart that I feel goblin child might fill.
I remember reading about an incident where a white woman who had a mixed baby with a black father had to stop affectionally calling their son "little monkey" because she, also, had never considered how that must look to an outsider, until her kid had climbed up a tree and refused to come down.
So now she was just standing in the street, a white woman yelling "get down from there you little monkey" to a black child sitting in a tree.
