Creepy McCreepster

For all you moms out there... have you ever noticed that there is a fine line between strangers being really sweet to your children and strangers being really creepy?

For example... my mom and I were at the Mall of Georgia yesterday.  Many of you probably know that the pre-lunch hours on a weekday at a mall are often the exercise times for senior citizens.  So, we're at the mall, Sydney is being her funny, full-of-personality self, trotting all around the halls of the mall.  People are making comments left and right- "She's so cute!", "What a doll!"-...things like that are fine. 

But, this bothered me.  And this man was probably just trying to be nice.  He came up to Sydney, marveled about her for a minute, and then asked her if she liked chocolate.  Of course, she said, "Yes!".  He gave her a hershey's kiss.  So, as Sydney is tearing into it, I'm trying to take it from her without offending the man- "Sydney, let's wait until after lunch to eat this!"  But, of course, Sydney starts throwing a fit because she wants the piece of candy. 

Now, this man was probably upper-70s, and he was probably just trying to be sweet.  I'm sure he meant no harm.  And Sydney is a little too young to learn the "we don't accept things from strangers" talk (although maybe I should get on that!).  But, him offering her this single piece of chocolate (it's not like he pulled it out of a bag of other hershey's kisses) was a little creepy to me.  Of course, we diverted her attention and I threw the treat away.

Then, we're at O'Charley's for lunch.  This guy who is a cook/waiter/something came over to our table, oohs and aahs over Taylor, and grabs her hand to hold it for a few seconds.  He was really sweet about it, but as he's leaving, I'm reaching for her wipes to clean off her hand.  You just don't know where that hand has been!  (yuck). 

As we're getting ready to leave, another senior citizen came up to our table and asked if we would bring the two girls by their table so he and his wife could see them.  So, we obliged.  This wasn't really creepy- I think it probably brought this nice, elderly couple (they had to be in their 80s) some joy. 

I guess it was just a strange day with lots of comments and strange interactions.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful that people think my daughters are cute (I happen to think so, too!), but it's hard to know what intentions people have.  I blame our society these days... probably when these people were younger, it was no big deal to offer a child a piece of candy.  Now, we have to inspect everything before our children ingest anything!  Ahhh, to live in a carefree world... but we don't, so keep your chocolate away from my children, people! ;)

Here are pics of Sydney and Taylor before our big mall adventure!

Sydney dancing to... who else?  Dora!

Taylor's sooo excited about her first trip to the mall!