A few months ago I shared my frustration with “sidewalk parents”–this phenomenon of strangers offering unsolicited advice as Sam and I pass them on the street. Like that time I had a woman stop to tell me that a little part of Sam’s leg–between where his pants ended and his sock began–was exposed to the chilly fall air. I thanked her through clenched teeth and continued on my way. “Do you know what else he needs?” she hollered as I walked away. “Another blanket, that’s what! It’s freezing out here!” (It wasn’t.)
I know it’s ridiculous, but encounters like this used to really bother me. (They still bother me, but they used to really bother me.) I was irritated by these people’s invasive and unsolicited advice. But I was also afraid that maybe they were onto something. What if every decision I was making for Sam, from what he wore to how I ordered his day, was, in fact, wrong?
Well now we’re past those intense first few months, Sam is in the prime of his babyhood, and I’m not quite so worried that everything I’m doing is ruining him. He fusses, sure, but more often than not he is such a joy to have around, the best little buddy a mama could ask for. What’s more, I’ve begun to realize what a gift he can be to the people we meet. And how they can make our lives better, too.
A few weeks ago we were in line at the post office. I had a cart full of packages to mail and a very bundled Sam strapped to my chest, and a woman behind me in line offered to hold him while I went to the window. In a split second, the million reasons why I should not hand my baby to a complete stranger shot through my brain. But when I looked in her eyes, I could see that she really, really wanted to hold the baby. So I let her.
It was nice to mail the packages without a hot baby squirming and squealing against me. And when I was done, the woman looked at Sam before handing him back and told him, “You have made my day!”
Recently I read this article about a couple who took their ten-month-old on a trip through Southeast Asia. They marveled as she was swept from them and passed from one stranger to another in restaurants and hotels, in marketplaces, on buses and boats, in major cities and in remote villages.
What is it about babies that entrances people, that makes their day? They are such magical little creatures, I think.
