What’s the real point here?

While visiting Disney World, we waited in some “longer” lines, one of which was Smugglers Run in The Star Wars portion of the park, Galaxy’s Edge. We weaved through ropes and poles, guiding us to the ride. While doing so, we talked with our kids. “What does smuggler mean?” one of them asked, and I gave a simple response, “Someone who takes something secretly.” At that point, a 10-year-oldish boy in front of us who had obviously overheard our conversation, piped in, “A smuggler is a person who participates in the illegal importing of wood.” or something like that. All of us were quite impressed and about to say thank you, when the boy’s father, a parent who had been looking at his phone during this whole exchange, let alone a majority of the line waiting period, yelled, “Hey, don’t talk to strangers! Get over here!” My family was taken aback and Jess, hoping to smooth things over, responded, “I appreciate his knowledge and clear definition. Thanks for sharing.” To which we received no reply. 

I have thought on this interaction over and over again since it happened. What was the point of his parenting declaration? “Don’t talk to strangers?” Um, really? He could have said twenty different things better than that. Let’s see, how about...

- Did he just tell you what smuggle means? He loves Star Wars. 

- We are excited for this ride, can you tell?

- We did a lot of research about this ride. He is pumped. 

- You didn’t ask for a complete definition, but you got it!

Even these:

- Sorry, he loves the dictionary. 

- Wow, I didn’t know he knew that.

- Excuse my son, he loves to share info. 

Or even:

- Sorry about that. 

- Try to stay with me son.  

- Let them have their space. 

But instead he/we got “Don’t talk to strangers!?!” Sometimes I worry that parents aren’t thinking about what certain tips mean and then they use them all wrong to the detriment of the child. The kid who shared his knowledge with us was actually quite helpful and in no way putting himself in danger of any stranger. We were in a line, with our own family, having a conversation about Star Wars. Where is the threat in that? Some could argue that any situation with a stranger is potentially dangerous and with that I’d answer that any minute in a car, at a school, at a grocery store could be potentially dangerous. We are on this earth to connect with people, to talk with one another, to be social beings. There is no way a kid is going to feel that way if his dad is yelling at him not to talk to strangers when they are in a line at an amusement park. The phrase “Don’t talk to strangers” has its value and it is important. I very much understand that. Still, it’s all about context, amirite?

Well, here’s Elsie talking to a stranger. Something she probably shouldn’t be doing in this situation. See, I’m a good parent, I should be writing posts like this. 🤣