Kid with Blonde Curly Hair

Greetings,

We were just in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu with our daughter (2.5 years old) who has blonde curly hair and blue eyes. People were going absolutely nuts about her - touching her hair and cheeks, kissing her, having their photo taken with her etc tec. This wasn%26#39;t a once off but an regular event.

It was nice for the first few times but after a while it got wearing both on us and our daughter. Literally we would be crossing the street and people coming the other way would stop and make a HUGE fussover her.

Out of interest, why such a huge interest?? Is it a luck thing with the locals or something? I don%26#39;t think it is a specific Malaysian thing as Japanese, Chinese, Koreans etc were also very much interested.

Kid with Blonde Curly Hair

Hi, the experience you and ur daughter have has nothing related to luck thing with the locals or anything else. They just think your daughter is very cute and beautiful. I would say that some people will pay more attention (or even try to play and talk with) to cute/beautiful toddles or babies, no matter they are european, asians or from other countries.

If you feel not comfortable with this, you just let locals know, they will stop it. We won%26#39;t angry or may be feel sorry to make you trouble.

Kid with Blonde Curly Hair

They are complimenting you :-) Since ALL of Asian kids will have black straight hair with brown/black eyes, a blonde blue eyed cutie definitely stand out and I bet your daughter looks like a little doll.

The key words are Blonde Curly hair, the Asians find it hugely fascinating. To us, your daughter is almost doll like, they just have to cuddle and pinch the cheeks to see if she%26#39;s for real. :)

Not ALL Asian kids have long straight black hair with brown/black eyes !! However, since we have none with blonde curly hair with blue eyes here, looking at one is considered a novelty and not a good luck charm or that nonsense. Just consider it a compliment and take it in your stride. You should try going to Istanbul where everyone made a huge fuss over small children. We took our two young kids there and people of all ages, male and female wanted to touch/kiss/hug/took photographs of them and they don%26#39;t even have blonde curly hair.

Having a young kid is an icebreaker when you travel as people are more willing to befriend you or extend a helping hand. Just take it easy , give a smile and move on if it is not to your liking.

Hi Esky,

Besides touching and hugging the girls which is quite common in east Asia, taking a photo may be too much. You could let people know of your wish.

Asians like to play with kids and are usually the icebreakers for children. When I lived in Europe, I have the feeling that because of the alarming cases of pedophilia and missing children, most parents would not let strangers touch the kids and hence most strangers with good intention would not simply touch the kids.

Straight hair blonde baby may not to that uncommon among tourists but curly blonde hair? Can I hold her? Sorry, just kidding, :-P

I agree with what’s already been said. Asians in general seem much more outgoing with kids than we westerners are. We seem much more reserved where kids are involved. If I’m sitting in a train in London and a mother and baby are sitting next to me and I say “oh what a pretty little thing” it’s not likely the mother will give me the baby to hold – in fact is highly UNlikely, but I have had that umpteen times in Asia (well Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) – that I say hello to a kid or admire a baby and no time I have a toddler on my lap or a baby in my arms. I think it’s lovely. I find Asian people sometimes a lot more reserved than westerners, but where kids are involved they’re very spontaneous and open. We westerners would never dare to be so spontaneous with kids for the reasons Alex mentioned above. We’re practically paranoid in the west where kids are concerned. Personally I find the way Asians kids are spontaneous with me and the way Asian adults are spontaneous with our kids, very very refreshing, but I can imagine it could get tiring, if that’s the case, just politely make up an excuse about being in a rush or the little on being cranky. Like Travelandkids said, kids can be a massive icebreaker in that part of the world.

Thanks for the feeback.

I appreciate what you are all saying, and yes it is nice for the first dozen or so times, but in places like busy shopping complexes where you can%26#39;t take 5 steps without someone baleing you up or trting to cross a busy road it can become wearing.

One of the reasons for the initial post which I neglected to put in, was that our other slightly older daughter (5 y.o.) has long curly hair but the blonde has transformed into brunette. And whilst not snubbed, she certainly didn%26#39;t get the same attention.

Hi Esky, I know what you mean, after a while it%26#39;ll be like ';Yeah, she%26#39;s real cute , isn%26#39;t she, but leave her alone!';

You know we have strong sun in Malaysia, it will just reflect on that blonde hair and makes it so noticeable, I suggest she wears a cap / hat to conceal that blonde curly hair. so that it%26#39;s not so noticeable. Drastic situtations call for drastic measures, if that doesn%26#39;t work, you need to veil her...lol...

Just wanted to add to this post and say that when we visited Vietnam last year we had a similar experience with our youngest having his cheeks pinched or hugged all the time - and he was 9 at the time! There would be times when someone would just walk off with him to show him off to their friends/family etc.

Okay, this is a mother%26#39;s prejudiced opinion - he%26#39;s adorable - black hair, coffee latte skin (mother Sri Lankan, father white aussie) and huge dark eyes. While on the other hand the 11 year old (who is actually even more handsome! another prejudiced opinion!) was mostly ignored.

We just realised that it was an Asian response to young children (we%26#39;ve had it before but not to quite this extent) and enjoyed the conversations it generated (in sign language at times!) and asked our son to please grin and bear it for the rest of the 4 weeks - which he did thankfully.

I can%26#39;t answer your question - but if your child can put up with it she will be a great conduit into the community for you whereever you visit.....

And also wanted to say that I NEVER felt that my child was in any danger.