Inflation Woos

No, this is not a post about the "suffering economy". This is the Peanut blog and all the random ramblings that go here are all about our boy - or boy related dealings.

Today (or at least the day that i started typing this post) was a hot day, a very hot day, very very very very hot day! And seeing as our air-con had already been running for nearly two days straight i thought it was time to switch it off and seek cooler quarters.

So i bundles Peanut into the car and drove the local shopping centre, hoping to get some relief from the heat. When we got there however we found that the air-conditioning had broken down in 2/3 of the building, but there was plenty of shops to browse around that did still have a temperature that was remarkably better than it was outside.

At our local shopping centre, and I'm sure at others, there seems to be a growing trend for business to try and give a certain item to any small child who wanders (or is pushed - in a pram or stroller i mean) by. And it was this trend that i said "NO, no thank you" to seven times on this particular day.

The items that are being handed out care freely are balloons...

Now comes the question, why would i not want my child to be handed a balloon? Kids love balloons! Kids find holding a balloon fun! But, call me strange (most people do) i don't like balloons. They have a tendency to pop and when they pop - not only do they make a loud noise and scare the bejeebers out one - but they have the potential to take some one's eye out! Ans statistically 56% (Please note that this statistic has been completely made up) of all eye injuries in this country are caused by flying balloon debris.

And is not just my personal dislike for balloons that makes me not want to except them when they are offered, it is also the way that Peanut treats them. As soon as he receives a balloon will try and hit thing (and people) with it, he constantly drops it and wants it picked up, runs his fingers over it to make a squeaky noise and (the worst one) he tries to bite it - which if he is successful will result in a loud pop and an injured eye.

But back to the practise of how balloons are being distributed in shopping centre. I must admit that i do find it a bit rude that the people who are handing out the balloon just ask a child that happens to be walking (or being pushed) by directly if they want a balloon, they do not ask the parent (of care giver) if it is alright to offer the child a balloon - they just give it.

Do we not live in an age where we are supposed to teaching our children about "stranger danger"? Now i have my own opinion on "stranger danger", and the bollocks that it is, but that is not for this post. And what if the parent does not want the child to have a balloon, for any reason, not just the strange near-phobic reasons that i have.

So why don't these balloon handing people just ask a parent - "would your child like a balloon?" and leave it to the parent to confer with the child, and the answer will no doubt be yes, but the child still thinks they have a choice.

(: Reggie

p.s. - I don't like balloons