Over spring break I had the chance to talk to my grandmother about acts of kindness.  I asked her to tell me a few stories about the many times she helped young children find their parents when they were lost.

As an interesting sort of side note, part of why I wanted to share my grandmother’s experiences helping children was because she has often reflected on how the way you approach kids has changed over the years.  For better or worse, kids are more educated about “stranger danger” nowadays, which has led my grandmother to keep more of a distance in watching out for lost children.  Even if a fear of strangers helps children in many ways, I can’t help but feel a little sad that we have conditioned our children to have such a negative and fearful outlook on the world.  Luckily, people like my grandmother are still looking out for youngsters to make sure they’re safe.

Just to set the scene a little bit, the first anecdote she tells dates back to her college years when she was sight-seeing at a large park in New Jersey called Hacklebarney State Park.  Clouds quickly rolled in and it was apparent that a storm was coming.  On her way out of the park,  my grandmother noticed a young girl by herself and helped her find her way back to her parents. She goes on to explain several other instances in which she helped children and how the way she handles the situation has changed over the years.