(Untitled)

[deep_time]

How would you feel if a random old guy walked up to your 2 year old son in the mall and handed him a teddy bear? Part of me feels bad that, even though it was probably just a nice act by a guy who sees us mall walking every day, I can't suppress my "Okay, you're a creep" instinct. I don't want to be one of those paranoid, over-protective parents,

Comments

[man_of_snows]

I think I might tell my kid that they can never accept gifts from strangers unless I am around to okay it.

[deep_time]

I was standing right there, but the guy didn't even ask me if it was okay. I didn't know how to react.

[man_of_snows]

That is weird. I would be like, "Hi, I am the adult in this situation."

[deep_time]

I've been getting better about managing my social awkwardness over the last ten years, but I'm still too awkward to know how to properly take charge of a weird and unexpected situation.

[princessxtine]

Ummm I would be stripping that thing from head to toe to make sure it had no cameras hahaha

[deep_time]

I think that pedophile scares, while they get people to watch their local news, are a lot less prevalent than suburbanites fear they are. I'm 99% convinced that the guy was just giving a cute kid a teddy bear for the holidays. But in my mind, just like in our country, the 1% is louder and tends to provide the dominant narrative. :)

[deep_time]

Distrust feels ungrateful, but it's kind of essential, what with the way people can be.

[sevenhours]

Perhaps he was trying to be sweet, but I think you are completely justified in being creeped out....

[deep_time]

Maybe things were done differently back in his day.