Personal Space & A Toddler

I have come to the conclusion that the smaller the child, the larger the bubble of personal space they need.

Seriously, people, yes the Little One is cute. Yes, she has beautiful eyes. Yes, she is usually dressed in very cute clothes with very cute shoes. Yes, she will talk to you if she is in the mood. However when she is not in the mood, please back the fudge off.

She will let you know very quickly if she wants to talk to you or not. If she responds to your first greeting, fine. If she says “NO!” or buries her face in my chest, she doesn’t want to be bothered by you.

So please, please, please, please for the sake of everyone in the Super Wal*Mart, please just leave her alone if she rejects your greeting.

Trust me, grabbing her toes, touching her cheeks, rubbing her arm or getting right in her face are not the ways to win her over.

If you really need to talk to her, try talking to the Big One first. The Big One will talk to just about anyone. She will ask you your name, tell you hers, ask you how old you are, ask what you are buying, etc. Engage the Big One and the Little One will most likely come around.

But again, if the Little One rejects your advances, BACK OFF! LEAVE HER ALONE!

This is for you, “Kathy” {AKA crazy in the Little One’s face lady). Leave her alone. Did I make myself clear? Back away from the child and leave her alone.

It was so bad today that when the Big One asked me why the Little One was crying, I responded like this:

“Well, {Little One} is a little leery of strangers. She gets a little bit afraid when people she doesn’t know talk to her. And she really doesn’t like it when people touch her.”

Do you think that Kathy got the hint? NOPE. Instead she got even closer to the Little One. It was so bad that I was no longer in between the two of them. I had moved to the side of the cart to put our stuff up on the belt and Kathy moved into my spot at the helm of the cart. I tried to get back between the two of them and the woman would not move. She just stood there continuing to try and talk to the Little One.

I pulled the cart as far forward as I could without running over the people in front of me and Kathy stuck right with us. So I admit that I allowed the Little One to scream and sob at the top of her lungs. Normally, I don’t let them scream, they either get threatened or comforted depending on the situation. This time I let her scream and finally Kathy realized that the line was not moving and moved to another line.

As soon as she walked away, guess what? The Little One was just fine.

So please people, have a little respect for little kids. They don’t always want to talk, smile or meet new people. If they reject you, leave them alone. Just back off and go find some other kid to torture, leave mine alone.

{Karen~ I totally thought of you and your Elmo experience when this was happening!}