Songbird76
Well-Known Member
Agreed, 100%. I think for us it's who is doing the complimenting and how. It's one thing to say "Oh I love your hair!", but I would be really creeped out by some single guy saying "Can I just tell you how beautiful your daughter is?" I don't know...it just feels different. And I talk to people as we're standing in line, but I don't usually talk to kids about how they look...I'm usually more focused on things like..."Is this your favorite ride?" or "Who is your favorite character?"...something to talk about to make the time go faster. And I think it's also different when it's a family vs. a single 30 something man. I guess it just depends on the way they are interacting with you and the child.For us, we have always gotten comments on my daughter's hair from all types of people because she's always had big Diana Ross hair. She was born with a lot of hair and would never sleep with braids--still won't. (A normal scrunchie will only go around her hair once.) When someone would say something I taught her to politely say thank you and I would say thank you and move on. Words are words. If a situation set my momma senses off or I knew either of us were uncomfortable I would immediately take ourselves out of that situation.
I've paid compliments to kids and talked to them and their parents while waiting in line. I always try to commend parents on how well behaved their kids are when the situation warrants it. Sometimes parents just need to hear that. I think, IMO, that in today's society people are so easily offended by anything when 99% of the time it is harmless conversation but then there's that 1% of weirdos out there as a parent we need to be on guard for.