This should be a principle as it is catchy as it is easy to apply.

It happens more often to be forced to apply to stretched arms to refrain hastily the apparent endearing effusions of the participants to the pedestrian traffic. I have read “n” variants of the same story (mother with a child in her arms) and almost every “n” lady or gentleman passing besides, feels entitled to touch the child, just because they could say “what a beautiful child”.

Well, the fact that the equation is rather changed, in that we have a father with a child in his arms, doesn’t seem to influence the effusion rate possible to be expressed by touch. People really seem to believe that if they slip into the ecstasy of observation on how beautiful the child is, they have now an open the road to anything they want then.

The most common reaction, in my case, seems to be the desire to obtain an immediate tactile gratification….so they stretch their arms. Or, there are other alternatives in which they can decide better then the present parent, on how well the child is looked after or how well dressed the child is. So they proceed to advice giving…

Obviously, I have tried different eluding ways, from sudden pirouettes to stopping through the eye contact (you know when you frown in such a manner that you induce hesitation, at least). Well no, the persistence of the stretched arm is obsessive. This aims directly at the child and seems to be endowed with its own personality and has one clear objective: Touch the child!

As a  rocket, the arm follows its target through a magic radar, and does not leave it from sight. But since a few months, through a very dear friend of mine, I have discovered Aikido, and the sport has given me that extra fluidity of movement necessary to the evasion, and in this way I forbear to hasten the child through the avoidance maneuvers. And for the persistent arms, Aikido has given me the possibility to remind the foreign joints that some sudden movements can cause pain, not a big one, not on long term, but enough to draw attention on what is happening in fact.

Furthermore, I have noticed that suddenly grasping the cheeks of the adults and that making long faces towards them babbling: “you beautiful” does not cause too much of joy….it is however a much more effective strategy in achieving the objective:   What you do not like, dear pedestrian traffic colleague….