I love kids, but its a shame to have to be so careful.

I agree with you, but, unfortunately in todays world, it is difficult to tell who to trust, after all paedophiles do not carry a sign. A glance through the newspapers and there are so many stories of children who have been hurt in one way or another. I wonder how many stories have not been covered by the papers. Is it any wonder that a lot of parents believe in being safe rather than sorry. Don't worry soon you will have plenty of grandkids to spoil rotten

I can totally see where you're coming from, I don't have kids and my parents are driving me nuts regularly asking when they're going to be grandparents - I keep telling them that that boat has sailed and to badger my younger brother instead! I can get away with seeing a cute child in the street and smiling at them and saying to the child's mother "awh your son/daughter is so gorgeous" because I'm a woman. On the other hand my husband who was brought up in India finds it strange when I tell him not to stare at kids when we're out as it can creep out the kids' parents. Where he grew up he could just pick up the neighbourhood kids and swing them around and give them sweets and no one would bat an eyelid. Nothing sinister in it, he just adores kids and in the way people are supposed to adore kids. He is horrified to think that people could consider harming children in any way way let alone the way paedophiles do but because of a small minority everyone else has to tiptoe around children, it's such a shame because all children are beautiful and we just can't that so easily in today's society. All I can is be patient, you might still have some wait for your kids to give you grandchildren. In the meantime, you can dream! x

Well, I hope you get some grandchildren soon. :) I am a mother of seven children, of which, the ages go all the way down to 5 years old. My youngest is a huge sweetie and very friendly. Even though I do teach him to stay away from strangers and to not talk to them, he has learned that when he is with me or Dad that he is allowed to talk and smile when we are out and about. Maybe it has something to do with my upbringing. I was taught to be friendly and smile or strike up a conversation with strangers. And no offense when I say this...but more so to older people that are the grandparent type. Because they are the people that often enjoy the friendly smile and small conversation the most. :) So, if it were my daughter, I would have smiled back at you myself and hugged my daughter for delivering you such a smile also. :)

I have a 4 yrs old kid, and whenever we go out, she talk to anyone...scares me though but as long as i am around it is ok...she is just a very sweet kid and very friendly.

I understand how it can be frustrating to be in such a situation. Parents can be very protective especially with their young girls. My daughter is six months today. Even when we go out, she smiles to waiters and salesladies at the store. I don't mind coz it looks really cute. However, when she's bigger and knowing that the society can be implicative of corrupting minds, I see myself to be a protective parents as well. Of course, there are ways to teach my little girl to be wary of strangers but not be rude. My question though, are you married? Do you have kids? My dad loves my daughter so much and he even brags about her with his colleagues who still at 53 doesn't have a little bundle to play with. You are definitely right, grand kids are a great deal of kids to spoil. After a long time of me and my siblings being non-babies, my parents enjoy and feel relieved whenever they see my daughter smile and coo back to them. :)

I agree with you to a certain extent. It's one thing to teach our kids not to talk to strangers or get in a car with them or something, but when they get scolded for smiling at someone?? Thats a little much, especially considering that her mother was right there. On the other hand, in todays world, it's almost impossible to know who we can trust. Kids go missing every day, or are subjected to terrible abuse at the hands of paedophiles, and the parental instinct to protect our children naturally kicks in when a simple action may set the danger signal off. I'm sorry that you were subjected to such a blatant act of mistrust though. We do have to remember that not everyone is the same, and that there are still some friendly people left in the world.

he he he, this reminds me of my mom. She had a kid when she just turned 16, then came I and then my little brother. She has told us all to WAIT, to not get kids at that age.. To wait until we have explored life. My older brother is now 38, I am 26 and my younger brother is 23, none of us have kids. We have all been scared of by her :-) Now she is always nagging about her not having any grandchildren. I will have kids, but i am not ready yet. Myolder brother has decided NOT to have any and my young brother has no clue =) When it comes to children smiling and u smiling at them i di belive that parents are overreacting sometimes. The meaning is not to make them scared of all other adults, however I do uinderstand their fear. We do live in a scary world today!

I agree. If the mother was there, she should have smiled at you and let you know that she saw you. Too much fear in the atmosphere.

I love kids too.

Welcome to the 21st century. In Australia... it is now forbidden for parents to take pictures of their children in a public swimming pool... on the chance that they might be peadophiles taking pictures of young children in swimming suits. The government attitude has always been that it is too hard to catch the real bad guys. Solution... accuse everyone and let them prove that they are not guilty. Everytime a minority group is screaming for protection from something... that is what the government does. It punishes everyone.

the world has just gone bad i guess. i have people that smile at my son all the time and since he is only 5 months old he usally gives them a blank stare lol. but i always give that person a smile. there is no harm in smiling.

I've taught my children that they aren't to go anywhere with a stranger no matter what he tells them but I also tell them that strangers are only friends you haven't met yet. When we are out for a walk, I always say "hi" or "good morning" to people we pass by on the sidewalk and have often stopped to have conversations with people we don't know. I've tried hard to teach them how to be safe without having them be afraid of everyone. It's a fine line I'm sure but my children seem to be handling it okay. It helps that we live in such a small town though. I'm sure I'd be much more rigid about the strangers thing if we lived in a big city. People here aren't really strangers. Even if I don't know them personally, I've either heard about them or know someone who knows them.

ur correct but we cant able to find peoples that they are good or bad in our first sight.. so i wont trust strangers.... then i wont allow my child to talk with new strangers.....

I totally agree with this and it's the wonderful changing world we live in. I love to make goofy faces to random kids at times but I hold myself back for fear of being handcuffed fora funny gesture. It's another one of those cases where the bad ruined the good. There seems to be a huge lack of faith in anyone anymore and who you can trust. This leads people to trust no one. You never know when that guy that is tossing a ball with your kid may pick your kid up and kidnap him/her. It's a sad reality that we now live in. Whatever happened to love thy neighbor?

It never changes!!!! I once wrote a letter to the newspaper defending a senior platonic male friend of mine who said the exact same thing. All of his grandchildren are in Germany, and he lives in my hometown, in Canada. Anyway, my reply to his letter addressed parents. I can understand fear when the children are not with a close trusted family member, but when they are with their parents, it should be OK. If you smile at someone, and she smiles back, if she's with her parent, there should be no danger. I think the mother over-reacted!!

I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and she is just so friendly and smiles at anybody. But like what everybody is saying, nowadays, it is such a crazy world. Perverts, pedophiles, etc...these are the kind of people that would make the parents scared to have their children talk to strangers and just be carefree. Me, as long as I hold my daughters hand, a smile or a comment, I don't mind at all. But if a stranger would touch her like her cheeks or the curls on her hair, I can't help myself but bristle with that especially if the stranger is a man...no matter how innocent the gesture was. That is a big big no no for me and I don't care if the stranger would think am crazy but with this world we live in...we always need to be vigilant.

It is a shame, but with the stuff that goes on today, can you really blame parents for it? It seems like child abduction is at a high rate lately. It is sad that you have to be so careful walking down the street with your child. You turn on the news and there is another story about an abduction or child molestation. I'm sure your smile at the little girl was harmless and I really see nothing wrong with it. I am sure the mother was doing what she felt was right and didn't take into consideration your feelings or her daughters for that matter. I am really sorry it made you feel so bad. :(