Stranger giving your child money

Make-it-3

The thread about the woman talking to a child in a shopping centre reminded me of an incident that happened to me last year that it would be good to get some opinions on.

I was in Poundland (of all places!) picking up some decorations for a Halloween party. My LO (21 months at the time) was beside me in her pushchair getting a bit bored I was saying to her "I won't be long, just getting some nice things for the party" when out of the corner of my eye I saw an arm reach into her pushchair. I turned round to see a man walking away and my child holding a £5 note. I instantly shouted to him "please don't do that" he turned back and gestured "ssh" to me. I tried to catch him up but he left the shop in a hurry with the crowds I couldn't get down the aisle to return the cash.

I made me feel both a little icky but also that it was a sweet gesture at the same time. He was an old man (maybe he doesn't have or see his grandkids much).

HappyMJ

hmmm...not sure about that. It's not as if he can walk a child sitting in a push chair away with you holding onto it without you noticing. I'd just ignore it myself but it should probably be reported to the centre management for them to keep an eye on.

Hermia

Make-it-3 wrote: »

I made me feel both a little icky but also that it was a sweet gesture at the same time. He was an old man (maybe he doesn't have or see his grandkids much).

I work in a library and we often get old men coming in and giving the younger members of staff sweets. At Christmas we are inundated with tins of chocolates and biscuits from old men. They are often widowers who don't see their adult children much and seem to really miss having younger people around.

If it was someone younger I might have assumed it was someone doing a Random Act of Kindness-type project.

Gigglepig

Sounds like a random act of kindness from someone who saw a mum with a young child in poundland that he thought would need or enjoy £5?

I would not report it, no way, but think of how i could brighten someone else's day by a small gesture for them.

Of course one should be cautious, but if the first reaction was to shout at a person who from the description tried to be kind, that sounds quite sad to me. such a negative view of the world/people.

Joons

I wouldn't report it, he was doing a kind thing, you could have given the fiver to charity therefore doing a second good deed of the day. But......hindsight and all that. I really don't think this was anything dodgy. It's ridiculous nowadays, you can't do a nice thing for being accused of something bad.

koalamummy

I would not have given it a second thought to be honest. However the practice of putting money in a baby's/small child's pram is a fairly common around these parts. I have no clue what the origins of this tradition are so cant explanation why people do it

However it is apparently meant to bring good luck to the giver. All of my children received a substantial amount of money brought this practice which I used to open their first bank accounts. I will actually enjoy telling them when they get to the age where they are withdrawing savings for something significant that they are in part paying as a result of the kindness of strangers.

jellyhead

My initial reaction when seeing the thread title was to worry that a toddler might swallow the money and choke on it, but it wasn't a coin. Hmmm, I don't know.

motherofstudents

I haven't heard of that custom that koalamummy talks about but years ago it was very common to give children money. When I was very young I would look forward to getting money from people I didn't know, but I have to say my parents knew. For example if we went for a walk and bumped into a distant aquaintance of my parents, they would give me and my brother money.

It seems to have died out now but maybe older people still remember it and like to do it. There doesn't sound anything sinister in it to me.

onetomany

i think its lovely x

victory

Never happened to me, maybe he was just trying to be kind and give you some peace with now having a happy child?

JimmyTheWig

I don't think it would have been anything dodgy, as the toddler wouldn't have known that what they were given was valuable. They probably would have prefered "a penny" at that age rather than a piece of paper.
An older child (e.g. 4+) would know that "paper money" is better than "pennies", at which point giving a fiver might be interpretted as "come with me if you want more".

Maybe the man thought you needed it more than he did.
Or maybe he thought you had dropped it!