My Rant of Annoyance

Today here in Louisville it was 70 degrees and absolutely beautiful. The day called for a picnic in the park and a big walk in the park. We got our stuff together and joined everyone else in the city at the park.

Before I start my rant let me preface it by saying maybe this is a normal thing that happens to other parents with their child(ren) but it isn't something I'm in the habit of doing. Today when we arrived at the park we did our walk and then headed to the play area. I took Chloe out of the hip hammock and put her in a baby swing, then Cleis from the stroller because she wanted to swing next to her sister. Immediately a lady from over at the slide area started telling me how cute my baby was and encouraging her son to look at the baby. She says, "he loves babies". So she comes on over with her son and is talking to Chloe and telling me she's smiling at me. Don't take this wrong, there is nothing wrong with this but it happens everywhere I go. And I mean everywhere. It's also not just women, it is both sexes and all ages. I once counted while I was out shopping at a local store how many times I had comments made to me about my child, the count was eight. I think that is a lot.

I can remember when Cleis was a baby I became paranoid to go out with her because of how often I was approached and told how pretty she was or what a beautiful baby she was. There was even a time when I was taking Cleis to have her pictures made and a lady approached asking me if she could hold her. I looked at her with this look and thought to myself are you fricken nuts or what? Of course I told her no and asked her please do not touch her.

The real getter for me today was when a young girl approached Chloe in the stroller and started "petting" her. The young girl went for Chloe's head, which was covered and kept rubbing her hands on her head. I asked her to stop. She then was rubbing on Chloe's face, which again I asked her to stop. Then the young girl ignoring every word I said begins to play with Chloe's hands. Well of course Chloe is going to hold her fingers and you know the next step for Chloe. I immediately stepped in here and removed the young girls dirty hands from my child's before reaching her mouth and told her no more touching her, that was enough. She continued to go on about how pretty she was, asking me how old was she, saying she is so cute, blah, blah, blah..... I of course, was very uneasy about this. Not only did I not like a stranger touching my child but she was not catching my drift on not touching her either. It took me removing her from my child to catch on. I understand she was a young girl but where in the heck was her guardian?

I don't know about others but first of all I don't like strangers touching my children, especially after I have asked them to stop. Secondly, sad to say but you just don't know who you can trust. Call me rude, unfriendly, stand offish what have you but I'm not comfortable with strangers touching my baby everywhere I go. While it's nice for the comments about my children, is this really a normal gesture?

Okay enough of my rant.