To the old man who seemed to feel perfectly entitled to come up to a mother shopping at the grocery store with her daughter this afternoon, and badger them into accepting a tiny toy from you, and try to insist that they take another tiny toy “for mom” as well…

STOP. IT.

Stop fucking doing this. You think it’s cute or something? Oh, I’m just a harmless old man, I’ve been around long enough, I’ve earned the right to get some attention from anybody I want in any random place I please?

What you are actually doing is undermining what we mothers fight tooth and nail to drill into our children for their own goddamn safety — do not talk to or take anything from strangers, EVER. Thank goodness my kid said to me after we finally managed to get away that she knows she’s not supposed to talk to or take anything from anyone she doesn’t know, and handed the toy right back to me, and when I threw it away, she was relieved.

Fuck that shit, and fuck you. I don’t care how old you are, what you’re doing is a violation of people’s personal space and completely counter to what children are trying to learn. You did not listen when I said no multiple times; you did not read my body language as I was continually turned away from you and trying to get away from you into a checkout line. You were completely disrespectful and it was all I could do to get away from you. I am only sorry I didn’t tell you all of this right then and there. So I’m writing about it here. Maybe some other old men who do this or who thought about doing this, or relatives of said old men, will read this post and it will give them pause.

Let’s face it, that’s probably not true, but I don’t know where else to put my feelings tonight. Ick!

Parents of young children, even extremely young ones — a word of caution, it is never too early to start talking about stranger danger with your kids. Maybe I have a bit of paranoia built into my system because I grew up in the 90s, with missing children ads on milk cartons and John Walsh on TV every night. Does it make me overprotective? Maybe. But if it keeps my kid safe and alive and in my arms every night, I don’t give a damn how many old men I offend at the grocery store.