Because I'm a Pansy Princess

OK, no, really, am I being ridiculous, here? Yesterday at the UPS store, Teddy was sitting on his bum on the floor at my feet, quietly playing with his shoes (?) while I sent off all the Mother's Day gifts, plus a couple more packages (it was taking a while, and he was being VERY manageable, for which I am grateful, since it was naptime...) A woman came to stand in line behind the person behind me, and walked up to Teddy, telling me how cute he was, and started running her fingers through his hair. Luckily, blessedly, THANKFULLY, this did not set him off, as it could have, since he was so tired (last errand of the morning, I was really pushing to get it done), but it still really bugged me. I was polite to her and thanked her for the compliments, had Teddy thank her, too and finally was able to leave.

I was thinking about it off and on later, and I realized why I was bugged, and there are a couple reasons.

First, one never hears of someone just going up to people and starting to touch them unsolicited unless the touched person is a) pregnant, or b) a baby or a toddler. In the first case it is flat out rude, and not only because the area being touched is usually the stomach. (Why anyone would ever think that any woman wants to be touched on  her stomach by a complete stranger, whether she's pregnant or not, is totally beyond me, but anyway.) (Note: this never actually happened to me. A stranger did ask me if she could touch my stomach, and I couldn't help it: I looked at her like she had three heads before saying, "Uhhhhh, no?") In the second case, well, maybe it isn't "rude" (in my opinion, it is), but it is certainly a bad idea. The baby could have stranger wariness, and the last thing any mom needs is someone setting her baby off in public. Maybe the toddler is being taught to not allow people he doesn't know to touch him, and he could start shouting "Bad touch Mommy!" or something. (Or maybe, as in this case, Mommy is reminded to start teaching her toddler to not allow strangers to touch him. After yesterday, I'm considering training him to bite....no, not really...!)

Also, not to be all "our children our are speshul friends for us to nurture and protect their widdle feelings" about it, but, it really does seem to me that it's kind of disrespectful to run your fingers through a strange child's hair when you wouldn't (I assume she wouldn't, anyway) do the same to a strange adult..

What do you think? What would you have done or said?

Also, a portrait of a boy and his hair: