Cruising with a Baby - Please do not touch!

[esther e]

Same here. Once we found HAL, we tried cruises on two other lines. Nothing else could compare. We have cruised HAL ever since.

 

We highly recommend Oceania.:)

[Sailkeywest]

We don't like babies while we are on vaca or dining out and we are far from our 'golden years.' Don't worry, not only will we not touch your baby, we will probably turn and walk the other way :P

[Sailkeywest]

After reading the OP's original post, I think that you gave careful consideration to presenting your viewpoint and that it was a well thought out response to an uncomfortable situation.

 

Sorry about the 'we don't like babies on vaca' response, but they do cry a lot! :)

[sail7seas]

I have absolutely told a 'bratty kid' to cut it out when there didn't seem to be a Mom or Dad overseeing them in Lido or at Taco Bar. Funny how they quieted down and behaved when spoken to. :rolleyes: Shame Mom or Dad was not around to have handled it so a 'stranger' didn't have to.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I have absolutely told a 'bratty kid' to cut it out when there didn't seem to be a Mom or Dad overseeing them in Lido or at Taco Bar. Funny how they quieted down and behaved when spoken to. :rolleyes: Shame Mom or Dad was not around to have handled it so a 'stranger' didn't have to.

 

 

Maybe it was just as well Mom or Dad wasn't there. Some parents have an amazing ability to ignore their own kids' behavior. And then they get very nasty with a 'stranger' who tries to shush the kids.

[duchess7]

Since children are not forbidden on cruises, I feel a person can take whatever type of vacation they choose. If that child becomes a bother to other cruisers (ie: crying ) then they should take them somewhere else. (perhaps their cabin;). Strangers shouldn't touch other people without permission whether on land or at sea. That goes for adults as well as children and babies. Similar to the example another poster gave of a stranger touching a pregnant womens' stomach. It's impolite. and it has nothing to do with village raising a child or how many post a person has made.

[DizzyDallasDi]

Strangers shouldn't touch other people without permission whether on land or at sea. That goes for adults as well as children and babies. Similar to the example another poster gave of a stranger touching a pregnant womens' stomach. It's impolite. and it has nothing to do with village raising a child or how many post a person has made.

 

:confused: Huh ??? Why in the world would someone think they would have the right to touch someone because of their number of posts? :confused:

[gemcrusier]

If this bothered you so much why didn't you just say NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to who ever was going to touch your adorable little child.

My theory is they were paying attention to your adorable child and you were smiling while your child was being entertained so it didn't look like you were upset so they just continued to google over your child one thing lead to another and they got closer and touched. If you didn't want strangers to touch tell them NO, hang a sign on the stroller, get a bib that says don't touch my child, grab the strangers hand as they are reaching for your child and say please don't. Don't blame anyone else but yourself you had the power to stop it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

If this bothered you so much why didn't you just say NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to who ever was going to touch your adorable little child.

My theory is they were paying attention to your adorable child and you were smiling while your child was being entertained so it didn't look like you were upset so they just continued to google over your child one thing lead to another and they got closer and touched. If you didn't want strangers to touch tell them NO, hang a sign on the stroller, get a bib that says don't touch my child, grab the strangers hand as they are reaching for your child and say please don't. Don't blame anyone else but yourself you had the power to stop it.

 

That's pretty harsh. Were you there to see what happened? The OP probably had some cases of people touching the baby immediately. "Baby touchers" tend to zoom right in. They say "what a cute baby" and start touching toes and tickling tummies right away. I think that's what bothers me about it. It seems odd to have touching as the first interaction between strangers.

[fatcat04]

With the sheer volume of grandmothers and even great grandmothers present on any given HAL ship, no adorable baby will be safe from chubby toe pinching, belly tickling, and maybe even the occassional dose of "sugar," as my people call it. I can understand the concern but in the end, assuming the ship was healthy, I would just plan out my way of dealing with this next time. People communicate differently and what is polite in one group of society is considered impolite in another. We are not yet completely homogenized, thank goodness.

[dritan]

We grew up with asbestos, lead paint, Sevin (which I still sob over not having for the weeds), DDT, etc.

 

Funny story, but very true: we had a mailman who had a hobby of taking photos of the children on his route. He came to each house and snapped a photo for his album. Never gave a thought of him being a pervert. This back in the 60's.

 

Also, my neighbor didn't drive and her kindergartener missed the school bus one morning. Not to fear -- the mailman (yes, we had a milkman) put her in the milk truck and drove her to school. He also would put the milk in the refrigerator if we weren't home.

 

Ah, those were the days!!!!

 

Oh yeah, we never had to wrestle open a bottle of aspirin. Just flip off the cap.

 

Sigh.....

 

 

You are definitely correct about some of your examples not being acceptable these days. But I think a lot of it comes down to the type of community the child is raised in. In the village I grew up in I could imagine the milkman ( yes we still have those) doing that - if you knew the milkman well. But I live in South London now and at my son's nursery I can't take piccies of him enjoying his little birthday party with his pals as I would need permission from the parents first. Strictly only piccies of my son and that's it.

 

Was a little curious about your comments about asbestos, lead paint etc - There is a good reason those things were banned - my own father was diagnosed with Asbestosis about 5 years ago - he was exposed to it for about 2 months of his working life when he was about 26!!!! Sometimes the good old days weren't quite so good for everyone.

[esther e]

You are definitely correct about some of your examples not being acceptable these days. But I think a lot of it comes down to the type of community the child is raised in. In the village I grew up in I could imagine the milkman ( yes we still have those) doing that - if you knew the milkman well. But I live in South London now and at my son's nursery I can't take piccies of him enjoying his little birthday party with his pals as I would need permission from the parents first. Strictly only piccies of my son and that's it.

 

Was a little curious about your comments about asbestos, lead paint etc - There is a good reason those things were banned - my own father was diagnosed with Asbestosis about 5 years ago - he was exposed to it for about 2 months of his working life when he was about 26!!!! Sometimes the good old days weren't quite so good for everyone.

 

Of course I agree about lead paint and asbestos. I'm very sorry about your father. And I remember all too well that when my kids were trick-or-treating that the rule was nothing unwrapped was allowed. There was a kindly lady on the other street who made homemade treats but sadly they were tossed out. And I'm talking about 30 years ago. Before that, there was no problem with anything given at Halloween. Those are the days I miss. And your story about taking pictures of your little boy tears at my heart. I cherished the photos of the kids parties.

[sue117]

Wow, I thought some of the comments to the OP were pretty harsh in this forum.

 

While it's not the same thing AT ALL, I get the same thing with my dogs. People just come up and start petting my dog without first asking.....Surprisingly enough kids are the BEST at ASKING if they can pet the dog before they do it.

I ALWAYS ask because way too many times I've gotten the response along the lines of "no, unfortunately she doesn't like strangers" or "I wouldn't, he is pretty protective of me".

 

So while I will never have one of our dogs on a cruise, I still think it's the polite thing to do to ASK if you can touch someone's baby. Or just smile and coo from a distance if you must interact. It has nothing to do with anyone touching the baby at home or at the mall...if it repeatedly happened while on the cruise the OP has a right to mention it!

[duchess7]

that portion of my post was directed to another post (#5) on the thread.

there was the opinion that since the OP has been a CC member for a certain amount of time and has made "x" amount of posts they should be aware of how people on the forum feel regarding the subject. I totally agree that that they don't have a right.

 

:confused: Huh ??? Why in the world would someone think they would have the right to touch someone because of their number of posts? :confused:

[DeirdreTours]

Actually, I think it is clearly tied to the "it takes a village" culture. Human beings are genetically programmed to respond positively to babies faces, smiles and constant attempts to interact (the op states her baby is constantly trying to engage with people, what bothers her is that people are responding positively!). For the first 99.99 percent of human history, everyone around the baby would be directly involved with that baby's life.

 

What we now have is much larger groups--So mom sees potentially dangerous outsider, but baby still sees someone to interact with (and does). I think the difference between bigcity and small town illustrates this as well-- In small communities, babies are still being smiled at, tickled and enjoyed. In large urban areas, babies are being ignored because that is the new "rule". At least, that is the rule if you don't have a small child in tow of your own (we were in Central Park with our kids in NYC just a few weeks ago and had no problems interacting with other kids/toddlers and admiring the occasional baby--having a child with you makes you acceptable, I think).