I’ve had “strangers” on my mind a lot lately. Teaching preschoolers, it’s an important concept to help them understand as they begin to navigate the world. There was a scary incident in the town I work in a while back, and so we took some extra time to teach the kids about safety and how to know whether or not a stranger is safe to talk to.

This past week I watched one of my after care kiddos while her parents worked. I was reminded again about strangers and how kiddos learn about them from her. We were at Williams and Sonoma buying a biscuit mix to bake together, and the cashier asked her a question while I paid.  She looked up at me and waited for a head-nod before she answered the woman. She’s learned to look for the cues from the adults she trusts. This is what I hope to instill in all of my kids.

Sometimes, though, I’m the stranger. And I have to remember that kids have been taught not to talk to strangers, and I need to be careful and appropriate, even when I want to just go pinch their cheeks. Last night at the airport, I chose a rocking chair to sit in while waiting for my flight to board. I got out my yarn and rolled two skeins into balls then began a new project. There was a television above me, so it didn’t surprise me too much when two young girls came and sat down on the floor in front of me–I just thought they were watching the television (though it was CNN and probably not really kiddo-appropriate, which disturbed me).

But then I looked up and realized that they were not watching the television. They were watching *me*. I had noticed them before…they were there with their mom, dad, and baby brother. Mom had gone to the bathroom, and Dad was wrangling all three kiddos on his own. I looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back, so I said to the girls, “Hi, girls! My name is Miss Val. Do you want to see what I’m doing?”

Immediately, I had one girl (I’d guess they were about three and five years old) on each side of the rocking chair. It went something like this. “What are you doing, Miss Val?”

“I’m crocheting. This is called a crochet hook. See how it has a hook at the end. It catches the yarn so I can make a stitch.”

“That’s pretty yarn. Can I touch?”

“Of course! Isn’t it soft? This yarn is wool. Sometimes wool is pretty itchy, but this wool is a nice, soft wool. Do you girls know where wool comes from?”

“Sheep!” I heard in unison.

“Right! Good job!”

And so it went on for about five minutes, until they had to go board their plane. They were little sweeties, so curious. They made my day.

When Mom came back from the bathroom, she was holding a wig, and had a scarf over her head. Probably much more comfortable to travel that way. I wanted to give the girls big hugs when they went to go, but I know which lines not to cross. As they walked back over to their parents, the mom looked at me and mouthed, “Thank you.” I smiled back.

On the plane, though, I was thinking about and wondering what made me a safe stranger. Was it the crocheting? Was it the polka-dot shoes, purposefully mismatched socks, and silly holiday jewelry that pegs me as a preschool teacher? Was it my smile? Was it some sort of secret code that I seemed to know? I’m not sure…it may be a combination of all of those things, for all I know.

I know we live in a sometimes scary world, but I’m glad we’re somehow learning the way to navigate, and teaching our kiddos to also safely navigate. And now? I look forward to many more impromptu crochet lessons in the airport. That one made my day.