Things Strangers Give Our Kids

One of the things we love about our life here is that strangers often give things to our kids. Now in our home country, that would be cause for concern; but here it's pretty normal. One American friend of ours asked an older East Asian woman why she insisted on giving hard candy to her very young daughter. The East Asian woman explained, "I know you need to take it away from her, but she's so precious and it's all I have to give to her." I think that's so awesome, even if the protective Daddy in me wants to grab some of these things and throw them in a lake before my child gets hurt (as I once witnessed another American friend of mine do). So here is a list of some of the things that strangers have given our children:

Beaded Necklaces- 2 of them, both given to Trey. Cosi claimed them rather quickly
Bags of candy
Hair clips
Genuine rabbit fur hat- "Don't worry, rabbit fur is a less expensive fur"
Gloves - Security guards at the airport give her rubber gloves and she likes to chew on them (which isn't very safe).
Spicy Pork Jerky- I just hope they didn't see Cosi spit it out after one taste.
Oranges- Probably Cosi's favorite gift
Unidentifiable Food Items- Which Cosi sometimes eats anyway
Scarf- Cosi is actually building up a nice scarf collection
Umbrella- I try not to take that as a judgment on my preparedness as a parent
Expensive items from the store shelf- to keep them from crying in the store, but also to try to get us to buy them
Their children’s toys- Generous parents, angry kids.
Their phones and cameras- Cosi is bold in asking for these, and most people are surprisingly generous in letting her borrow them.
Money (from a beggar!)- Cosi thought he was offering to let he take from his hat, he said keep it, we didn't let her. I'm pretty sure he was a swindler, though.
Lotion- a few kind women in the airport let Cosi go through their purses and use whatever she pulled out, this made our airport experience much more enjoyable...
Seaweed- In line at the grocery store, Cosi was happy to take it, less than happy to eat it.
Doughnut- Someone on the metro let her pick one out of a dozen. Mommy steered her toward a chocolate one.
Dark Chocolate- A very generous man on the train gave Cosi a whole box of dark chocolate, most of which ended up with Mommy and Daddy :)
Safety Pins- One each for Cosi and Trey, given to them by the fitting room attendant while April was trying on clothes. I had to discretely swipe them back and hide them in my pockets. Trey really wanted to chew on them and Cosi had recently learned the words "stab!" and "poke!"

So I still don't know whether we're expected to politely refuse or return things, or whether they are really meant as gifts. We try to refuse, but once you offer a kid something, it's hard for the parent to say no. In the meantime, we'll enjoy sharing the candy and be on the lookout for safety pins.

The Park

One thing we like about our new home is that we live across the street from a public park. Now, for those of you who do not live in East Asia, I may need to explain that by "park" I mean something a little different from wide open green spaces with jogging paths, super-safe playground equipment, softball games, and public grills under quaint wooden shelters. Parks in East Asia are nice in a different way- think feng shui. Think curvy paths, arching bridges, patches of gravel, a large amphitheater, and random giant sculptures. This one is at the entrance to the park- a giant hand playing marbles (with a band-aid on the wrist?):


















We managed to get a "family of four self-portrait" that Trey slept through.























One inexplicable sculpture looks suspiciously like an East Asian version of a Coppertone ad.



















Cosi was very concerned about how dirty the boy's bottom ('peegu' in East Asian) seemed to be:



And lastly, this little gem is not in any way altered or Photoshopped. Nor was Cosi posed for it. This is a classic "accidentally hilarious" picture taken at just the right moment. Anyone want to add a caption? You might want to click on it to see the full size version!