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😂 I’m sorry but this funny. Your husband is showing to be polite. And friendly. Not everyone out there wants to kidnap your child. Stranger danger is a different concept. Say hello be kind, but if someone was trying to get you into a van with a bag of sweets obviously not. This generation of parenting baffles me. Are we gonna be burning up a generation of self entitled rude little gremlins. No I won’t do it.
Gotta agree with the above comments. It's ok to be nice to people. I say hi to strangers passing me on a walk, and sometimes they say hi to my daughter in her stroller, she smiles back and sometimes waves. Teaching kids to be friendly is not a bad thing! There is a massive difference between waving and saying hi on a walk, vs accepting candy from some rando in the park. You can teach your child that one is acceptable and one is not. Being polite, even to people you don't know, is a basic human courtesy.
Where is this “rude” narrative coming from? I would never allow my child to be rude without cause, and he’s not even old enough to understand such behavior. I believe in letting toddlers act freely it's not mandatory for them to wave back or greet someone. If they choose to do so, that's wonderful, but insisting that a child greets every stranger seems odd to me!
I think there’s two parts to your post that are getting muddied together. I think people are saying that telling a kid not to wave or say hi back “in response” to a simple greeting can be construed as teaching or perpetuating rudeness. On the other hand I don’t believe it’s teaching rudeness if you let a kid know it’s okay to not be the one to START the waving/greeting. My daughter is a Libra and her very first word was HI! 😂 She says it to everyyyyonnne. I don’t stop her because I don’t feel that there is anything unsafe about it right now. I’ll be preparing for deeper conversations about friendliness and boundaries when she’s older.
@Arielle but I never tell my child not to wave back I just let him do what he wants. If he decides to wave back and say hello, that's great, and if he prefers to do his funny little stare, that's fine too. It's the act of instructing him that bothers me. And as the parent, when someone says hi to my child, I always smile at them, which sometimes even sparks a conversation.
I think encouraging babies to communicate with other people is good for their development but I can understand the stranger danger concern. They won’t really be able to be taught stranger danger until they’re much older though. I don’t think the baby should have to say hi just to protect the adults feelings tho, that’s a bit silly.
@Victoria “protect the adults feelings” …. yeah you lost me there!
I said I don’t think the baby should protect the adults feelings. I said “don’t” have to
@Victoria oooh sorry I read that wrong. But yes 100% agree with you.
When you say "instructed" to say hi, do you mean he tries to force it, or just simply encourages the behaviour? There is a difference between gentle encouragement and insisting that the kid wave. Encouraging them doesn't equate to making them feel as if they don't have a choice not to.
No he does not force him. He gently encourages him to say hi
I don't necessarily see anything wrong with that. I'll tell my baby to say hi or wave, and sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. If she doesn't I don't press the issue, so I'm still giving her the choice of whether or not she wants to. I'd say as long as he lets baby choose and doesn't force it, no harm done. Kids' personalities are influenced heavily by their parents and environment. Just my personal opinion, but little things like encouraging baby to say "hi" is teaching him that the world is not scary, and that people are friendly and open and approachable, because for the most part, they are. It's a better mindset to have than assuming everyone is a potential threat. Some people are, but there are ways to protect yourself and your kids and you can teach them that also, as they get older.
I let my son take the lead. He's a very cute and charismatic kid and gets lots of attention in public as well. He usually is the one initiating the interaction though. I'm more offended at the people who ignore or don't smile 😅
My 15 month old waves at everyone and I will say “hello” when he does it because as an adult when someone says hi to me I’m not gonna sit there and ignore them I say hello back. I don’t think it undermines the concept of stranger danger especially if you are right there next to him. My toddler is usually on my hip or literally sitting 2ft from me so if anything were to happen I can chime in.