Locals snapping pictures of my children?

Purpleflower- I would have absolutely NOT have allowed someone to hold/ carry my baby away, plane or not!

Last year when we were here for 2 months a lady tried to take my then 2 year old daughter out of my arms at the Lady's Market. I wouldn't let go of my daughters legs and the lady eventually got the point. All I could think of was this woman could disappear into one of these doorways and my sweet baby would be gone forever!
 
I agree. Taking photos is annoying, but probably not dangerous or harmful.
Physically touching, holding or walking away with someone else's child without the parent's consent is dangerous. I would have shouted at her -- no matter what language -- and called the flight crew.
 
Oh my I can't believe it the Chinese lady jus took ur baby without ur consent. If I were you I will definitely be very upset and tell her off straight away. I am a Chinese fr Singapore but would never do such things even though I do admire babies with big round blue eyes. They are jus so pretty :))

next time pls be careful!! As I have heard lots of stories about babies and kids being stolen away..these ppl believed to be mainlanders will come up to you as "good ppl " maybe to give you a hand but they will disappear with your babies once you are not looking.. So pls be more cautious of this.

As for snapping photos of babies, me too do not understand why does ppl like to take photos of other babies? ESP when they are strangers... Maybe they jus wanna snap beautiful Pictures and put into their portfolio?? But taking several pictures at one go, this I dun understand.

But I do have an surprising experience when I was taking a walk with my then 8months old gal in Hyde park in London, there was this English couple who came up to me and said my gal is beautiful ( I was flattered of coz hahaha as I never thought that a Chinese baby would attract anyone's attention). And they actually asked for my permissions to let them take pictures of my gal. I was impressed as they had asked and of coz I let them took a couple of pictures.
 
Leta said:
next time pls be careful!! As I have heard lots of stories about babies and kids being stolen away..these ppl believed to be mainlanders will come up to you as "good ppl " maybe to give you a hand but they will disappear with your babies once you are not looking.. So pls be more cautious of this.
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Such things would be reported quite widely. Could you please post some links to these stories?
I've not heard of *any* stories where a mainland person has snatched a Hong Kong baby while pretending to take a picture, but I would like to read up on this more.
 
I was going to say this earlier but changed my mind... now I'm changing it again (hehe) - but statistics show that the VAST majority of children who are taken advantage of are done so by people that their parents trust - NOT by complete strangers. I'm not saying don't be wary of strangers, but if we are wary of them, we need to be even more so with people that we know. Not to be paranoid, but to be aware. Yes, strangers shouldn't pick up our kids (I've had that happen as well, at Disney, my then one year old was just toddling around and a random lady picked her up for a photo) - BUT honestly, most of the time it is harmless - even though it is uncomfortable for us parents who are not used to that culture. Our kids have a MUCH higher risk of being hurt by people who we think we can trust. If we need to be more wary, it is with these kinds of people. Our helpers, our family, our friends... Not to be paranoid, but just to be safe.
 
Thank you nicolejoy, a healthy and a non-paranoid approach.

I'll go one further and say in all cases it is harmless. The person who wants to harm your child will not be the one that takes their picture in Disney/OceanPark/the Beach and it certainly wont be the person approaching your child in the confines of an airplane.

The Mainlanders are just curious, nothing more. People can save themselves a lot of stress by not worrying about things that will not bring any harm.
 
yes, thank you nicolejoy.... i thought i was the only one thinking that much of this is way over-reactive.

yes, please be careful. yes, watch your child. but, seriously.... some of the comments are just OTT.
 
There were many incidents of mainlanders snatching kids in HK. I'm still looking for links in English, but here's my translated version:

- at Ikea Shatin, a parent looked at a piece of furniture, turned around and found her child around 4 years old missing. Reported to staff, manager immediately shut & locked all doors. Searched throughout the store. Found the kid in one of the bathrooms about 10-15 minutes later, outfit changed & hair cut short. The manager reacted so quickly because apparently it had happened before.

- at Ocean Park, mother set her kid 3-5 years of age for a photo, walked away to take the photo, turned around to direction of kid to find a mainland woman holding her kid's hand walking away!

- on train to China, lady with a 1 year old sat across old woman with 6-8 year old kid. Old woman was very nice & asked all sorts of question about the baby: name, where she was born, how much formula she is eating etc. Old woman offered to watch baby while lady went to bathroom, lady refused. Lady used a baby carrier when getting off train. Old woman offered lady a ride & help with luggage to a more quiet area of train station. All of a sudden, old woman tried to pull baby out of baby carrier, thanking lady for helping her carry her grand daughter. Even the little boy chimed in saying "give me back my baby sister!" Old woman kept screaming out the "facts" about the little one to prove her relationship with the baby as a crowd has gathered around. Lady's relatives showed up & asked if old woman knows the kids name. Luckily, the lady gave out her son's name on the train instead of her daughters. Lady finally got away from the crazy crowd safely with her baby.
 
No need for English links, please post the Chinese links.

I'm assuming, at least with the first 2 stories, as they happened in Hong Kong these would have been reported by reputable Hong Kong media organisations.
 
I remember hearing those first two as urban legends (ie, they were proven to be false, not true). Never heard the 2nd one - but it does sound like one of those "scare stories" that some of my gullible friends like to send around from time to time. Can you provide the link, particularly if it is from a reputable source?
 
Regarding IKEA : please see the very bottom of this page:
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_HK/about_ikea/press/important_information.html
and also see this false story:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/kidnap.asp

Regarding Ocean Park : Please see this from SCMP:
http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/71/thread73261-8.html#post575585
and this from SCMP:
http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/71/thread73261-12.html#post576625

And lastly about the train story, please see this very similar but false story:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/mexican.asp

I'll wait till you post some real news accounts about these 3 stories, but I will bet any money that you wont be able to find any credible sources. These 3 stories are all hoaxes. Please stop spreading them.
 
nicolejoy, i think your case is an exception and i too, would be very protective of my extra-special child. in that, i am completely with you....

the "facts" provided are urban legends with no substantiation whatsoever.

that said, i did experience something myself (not hearsay)

hubby and i took our two kids to snoopy land in shatin. my local hubby overheard two women discussing how much they could "get" for my kids over the boarder.

what did we do? took our kids somewhere else to play.


in 16+ years here, i've only heard of a handful of cases of kidnapping of children in hk....when i think about it, it wasn't so much kidnapping as it was a "special" boy letting go of his mum's hand in the mtr and getting lost. last he was seen, was over the border... how he managed that without ID or passport is beyond me....but that was probably 10+ years ago.
 
If u think HK is bad try living in mainland China! Babies (Chinese and more for get lots and lots of attentions, welcomed or not. Chinese
 
If u think HK is bad try living in mainland China! Babies (Chinese and more for western) get lots and lots of attentions, welcomed or not. They genuinely enjoy seeing kids and playing with them. (having said that not when they have their driving cap on as most don't give way to pushchairs...). Sometimes I miss plane trips to/from china as all those aunties keep my son entertained! (having said that I don't miss the criticisms thrown my way about my son being too thin or not wearing enough clothes...)

We as parents have to be careful but I reckon can't be too worried about everything or else we wouldn't be able to eat or sleep or live a life!

I don't think there is a serious problem of kidnapping in HK. It is a big problem in china though esp in rural areas. There have been many reportings of cases and recent crackdowns. Beijing was not too bad but I was a bit more careful after a very excited fellow diner in a restaurant just picked up my baby from the pushchair and ran down a couple of tables to show her family! Scared the hell out of me but I could tell (afterwards) she was just too excited and lost sense. Unacceptable but not meant bad...

A bit off topic but I used to be quite shocked how many people would like to take a picture WITH my over 6 foot English husband everywhere in china. they've just never seen anything like that before! He told me when he was in I think Tibet years ago an old lady was giving him a 360 degree stare and he just smiled back. After both side gestured goodwill she actually pulled the hair on his arm!! She must thought 'what a hairy strange looking man!'. Ever since our son was born however all stares and attention were transferred. Most people would stare at him and then me (up and down and up) and then our son, and then smile and then keep staring... Just imagine the stares we have...
 
Thanks for clearing those urban legends / false e-mail circulations. I was skeptical when I read them myself, but as a parent, I do make mental notes on how things like these might happen.
There were times when strangers were waving & signaling my 20-month-old daughter to go to them or attempted to hold her hand, so I can't be too careful, right?
 
bonita said:
Thanks for clearing those urban legends / false e-mail circulations.
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You're welcome. I take pleasure in stomping out urban legends, especially ones that give parents needless worry.
I was skeptical when I read them myself, but as a parent, I do make mental notes on how things like these might happen.
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If you were skeptical, why did you report them as fact?
You brought them to peoples attention by saying "There were many incidents of mainlanders snatching kids in HK"; thats not being skeptical, thats being alarmist. Please stop it, it doesn't do anyone any good.
There were times when strangers were waving & signaling my 20-month-old daughter to go to them or attempted to hold her hand, so I can't be too careful, right?
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If strangers were doing that to my child, in public, while I was present, I would think to myself "What nice people. They like my child and want to play with her"
What is the first thought that comes to your mind in that situation?
 
Apart from understanding the cultural side of this behaviour, you also have to consider the acceptance level of the parent. Some days I would let go, some days not at all, because i'm in a hurry, because it's the 10th time in an hour etc...
Also, someone asking gently to take a picture is ok, someone grabbing my son and pulling him away from me without even looking at me is NO.
If we go to the beach and one lady comes to take a picture, it's ok, having 10 people around us is NO !
If we go to a quiet beach to go away from the crowd and have a guy taking 20 shots of my son who is playing naked in the sand, it's a NO NO and NO !
If we are in a plane and someone wants to hold my baby (after asking), it's ok, touching my son's head while he is sleeping and waking him up, it's NO !!

It's not only us who have to accept these differences and gently smile at whoever wants to take a picture or grab our kids, they also have to consider OUR acceptance level, many people take pictures without even giving a look at the parents, so there is nothing wrong with refusing.
 
No one can tell you to accept things you are not comfortable with. Your family, your rules. You decide on your boundaries.

However, one must accept that we are living in Hong Kong and it is part of China (we are not in Europe nor in North America). Over here, it is very normal for people to take pictures of kids, touch them, cuddle them etc etc.
This is not strange, they are not pedophiles, they are not trying to kidnap the kids. They are just normal people treating children the way children are treated in this part of the world.
If these things bother you and stresses you, then its best to stay at home as this will happen all over Hong Kong as well as China along with rest of the Orient.

Getting all bothered, yelling at people "NO NO NO" will just add more to your stress levels and will not solve the issue; after one person leaves, another whole family will show up and your stress levels will go up even more.

Personally, when I came to Hong Kong, I accepted this to be the norm, told my kids to enjoy it and it didnt bother any one of us at all. Its your family and its your choice.
You can just accept it or you can choose to fight it and take the stress that comes with it....
 
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