Stranger giving your child money

pimento

In east London where I hail from, it's common to put a silver coin in a newborn's hand so that they are never without money through their life.
I don't know about giving older children money.

Metranil_Vavin

Unrelated I guess, but I was at a cash point once late at night having been out for a night with friends, and wanted to draw some money out for a cab home.

There was a youngish, well dressed guy in front of me, who drew out his money and then handed me £20 and walked quickly off!

I wasn't even aware what was happening, and by the time I did he had disappeared!

God knows what that was about, very strange.

And before anyone says anything..no I did not look like a lady of the night! :rotfl:

Sally_A

jellyhead wrote: »

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.

Daughter ate a 1p at the age of 12 - 18 months. Wasn't unduly worried, and did not want to use up A&E resources. Rang the surgery, general advice was a babies/toddlers stomach will normally pass an object up to the size of a 2p coin within 48 hours. Get medical advice at 72 hours - and you are expected to sift through No 2's for 3 days.

Retold this story to colleagues, not even a generation younger than me, let's say half a generation, eg 15 years. They all stated they would be galloping down to the surgery or A&E? WHY???? do they expect their kids stomach to be pumped/sliced open?. they'd get the same advice I got over the phone and save the NHS 3 hours or work/paperwork etc.

PS. the penny was really shiny when it emerged, guess all those stomach acids etc.

sabretoothtigger

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

There was a youngish, well dressed guy in front of me, who drew out his money and then handed me £20 and walked quickly off!

Probably wasnt his money, share the wealth :beer:

ThinkingOfLinking

koalamummy wrote: »

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.

I'd never heard of this tradition. I've learnt something new today.

jellyhead

Sally_A wrote: »

Daughter ate a 1p at the age of 12 - 18 months. Wasn't unduly worried, and did not want to use up A&E resources. Rang the surgery, general advice was a babies/toddlers stomach will normally pass an object up to the size of a 2p coin within 48 hours. Get medical advice at 72 hours - and you are expected to sift through No 2's for 3 days.

Retold this story to colleagues, not even a generation younger than me, let's say half a generation, eg 15 years. They all stated they would be galloping down to the surgery or A&E? WHY???? do they expect their kids stomach to be pumped/sliced open?. they'd get the same advice I got over the phone and save the NHS 3 hours or work/paperwork etc.

PS. the penny was really shiny when it emerged, guess all those stomach acids etc.

My eldest swallowed a 5p coin, and like you I rang the surgery and they said to sift through his poo for a couple of days. My sister swallowed an old 50p though, so that was quite large!

anderson8

I'm in central Scotland and its common for people to put money in the pram. I collected all the coins and put them in ds piggy bank for when he needs a big boy bed!
He's 18 months now and it stopped around a year old with one guy albeit drunk putting £10 in his pram in our local high street!

valk_scot

Here in my part of Scotland it's a very normal thing to put a £1 or £2 coin in a new baby's pram, for luck, when you first see the baby. It carries on for quite a long time too, I think I was still getting the odd coin even when my babies were well into toddlerhood. It doesn't have to be from people you know either, you're just as likely to get it from someone behind you in the supermarket queue that you've been passing the time of day with. And I do it myself...no, I wouldn't just walk up to a child at random but if I'd been chatting to the parent or the toddler had started smiling at me and I'd said hello to it and the parent was beside them...well, it's accepted here and I wouldn't be thought weird if I then dug out "a wee penny for your money box". .

So maybe the old man in question just came from a different part of the country and was doing what he thought was a normal thing? I'd give him the benefit of the doubt tbh. A £5 note is generous though, my kids didn't get many of these!

cheekyweegit

Another Scottish person who received "silver pennies / coins" in their children's pram when they were little and will still do the same to others today.

It's usually the largest coin in my purse with no less than 50p but usually £1 or £2 coin the first time you see the little one, again for luck.

kandfs_mam

Yep, I think it's a Scottish thing. My kids did very very well out of the tradition when they were wee and we went out with the pram - it was amazing what we'd come home with after being out for a walk - it wasn't unusual to empty £20 or £30 in coins out of the bottom of the pram. Now the kids are older they are often given a "penny for a sweetie" from people that know their granny - one of the joys and nice traditions of a wee town!