Cutie!!!

You take one look at this adorable face and you can’t help but want to hold this little girl and kiss those cheeks.  I was so excited last week when I got to to travel with one of my good friends and her precious daughter.  Two days hanging out with them gave me quite a window into the reality of life for expat families with small children. 

I couldn’t count the number of people that came up to my friend just to comment on the baby.  They would tug on my friends arm to get her to stop so they could pull out their cell phones and try to snap a picture.  Other people would outright grab the child out of her arms so they could not only hold her, but carry her back to where their family was sitting to show off the little ‘doll’.  My friend lives in another part of the country and she says this happens all the time.  Everyone wants to stroke her kids blond hair, they want pictures of the bright blue eyes.  People are always tugging on her kids arms, pointing, giggling,  giving them food and candy and even making suggestions on how my friend should raise her children differently.   

All this stopping, touching, grabbing, nagging and picture taking wears on my friend’s nerves.  After only two days of watching all this 24/7 attention I wanted to yell, “STOP IT, all of you… she is not an animal at the zoo or a circus freak… she is a little girl. Leave her alone”.