At W's three year appointment our pediatrician mentioned that we should start talking to him about stranger safety. He recommended a book and video we could find at our local library that would be helpful. But, in my normal way, I decided to wing it the other day. We were sitting and coloring and I figured no better time than the present, right?
We were talking about going out for dinner that night and W wanted to go to a particular sushi place that makes me uncomfortable. The reason it makes me uncomfortable is a whole other post of its own, but let's just say the woman who owns the place does not have boundaries with babies and I had to wrestle B from her. I mentioned it to Matt on the phone, saying something along the lines of, "If that lady tries to take B outside again (Note: Oh, yes, she did.), I'm not going to be as nice. I want to go there, but I don't want her taking him." We agreed to still go to the restaurant, but be more stern if the baby grabbing started again. And I hung up and looked at W.
W: "I don't want that mean lady to take B ever, ever again!"
Me: "Well, she's not mean, but she just wanted to hold him and show him to some of her friends."
W: "I don't love her!"
Me: "You don't have to love her, but you do have to be nice. But, if she takes B you can tell her NO." (Yes, I was ABSOLUTELY planting this seed in hopes he would help me out.)
W: "But, she's a mean lady. Will she take me?"
Me: "No.... But, if someone does try to take you, what do you say?"
W: Blank stare.
Me: "You know, if someone says, 'Little boy, come with me, I have some candy...' What do you say?"
W: Blank stare.
Me: "You say, 'No, I don't know you!;"
W: "No way! Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!"
Me: "OK, so if someone says, 'Little boy, I have candy for you. Come with me.' What do you say?"
W: "No way!"
Me: "'Little boy, I have stickers for you....' What do you say?"
W: "No way!"
Me: "Little boy, I have toys for you. Come with me."
W: Long pause. "Well, I would go get the toys, because then I would have more and more and more toys and then I'd have all the toys in the world."
OK, so we may need a little work on the whole stranger danger thing. Apparently personal safety takes a back seat to toys.
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3 comments:
The other day my friend Alicia and I were in a little local restaurant with her baby, and the Grenadian waitress just loved him. She asked if she could hold him and then took him all over the restaurant. The little guy was loving it, and so was Alicia because he was getting exposed to different people and having a blast. I guess people don't realize that some folks just don't like that sort of thing? But not everyone has a problem with it.
This story needs a post of its own, which I will get to one day.
For the record: I am fine with strangers holding my baby. I am not fine with strangers who try to leave a building with my baby and when I ask them not to, insisting that it's fine.
Hopefully she wasn't in a head to toe burkha ;)
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