Baavgai the puppy?

[baavgai]

I describe myself as basically looking like a giant Tolkien dwarf. Over six foot, over weight, over abundance of facial hair and hair in general. You get the idea, I blend in at many cons. I told you that to tell you this...

I have a strange problem, small children stare at me as if I were wearing a purple dinosaur suit. Tonight I was sitting in a book store, pouring over my stack of readables. Suddenly there's a small child in front of me, speaking. I realize he's been happily chirping "hi" several times before I was fully aware of him. His face is fully lit up as if he just caught a Disney character all alone on a smoke break.

I smile at him and warily saying "hello" just as an embarrassed, worried looking father shows up. "He's very social," mutters dad, picking up his son to presumably get him as far away from the big, scary white guy as possible. I say white guy, because dad and junior were Hindi. Was I mistaken for Santa? Maybe. Ganesh?

That's the really odd thing, the effect I have on very small kids seems to have nothing to do with culture. I had large, curious kid eyes of first generation Korean, Japanese, Indian, South American, Malaysian and others following me at the mall the other day.

To be clear, I don't generally pay that much attention to children except to not step on them. But when a small human is openly staring at you in slack jawed rapture, you notice. I have no idea why little kids seem to find me fascinating. I can be childlike in some ways; I often fancy some of them are thinking something like, "Damn, that's the biggest little kid I've ever seen."

I wonder if anyone else expiriences this kind of phenomena? I'll admit I'm kind of flattered that short people think I'm as entralling as a puppy. Still, I'd really like to know why.

Comments

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's your iconic Hagrid effect. :) Have you noticed it more over the last few years?

[baavgai.livejournal.com]

It's been pretty consistent, though I don't really know when I first noticed it. Little kids will stare at anyone if they're bored, of course. I realized that, for most people, kids don't normally lean out of the stroller to keep staring after they pass.

Once around xmas time, I was in Kosher restaurant when I noticed a kid staring, much to mom's dismay. All the males were wearing yamaca's, so I was reasonably sure there was no Santa effect going on. I was close enough to them that when mom nudged the kid yet again to stop gawking at me, I heard him earnestly say, "but... it's Hagrid."

That was an older one, though. Pre verbal kids drool and gaze at me like I'm a teletubbie. There's a happy side effect to this. If a very small child is having a fit and I can catch their eye, I can often bring them up short. If I can then distract them, usually by crossing my eyes, they'll smile a little and fall back into just pre-fit cranky.

[dame-margarete.livejournal.com]

I suspect that you are rather like a Disney character to a lot of little kids. Larger than life, an aura that radiates "big kid" as well as resemblence in a vague way to several movie characters - clearly Hagrid is the most striking. They could also be thinking of you as any one of several "extras" off a Disney set. You radiate all of that good stuff and come across as sort of an oversized stuffed animal. Kids love BIG things, especially when they are non-threatening to them.

Use your powers for good :-)

[baavgai.livejournal.com]

LOL. Thanks :)

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

I often fancy some of them are thinking something like, "Damn, that's the biggest little kid I've ever seen."

Having recently just met you in person (recently for me that is) I think this is the answer. You have a wonderfully expressive baby face albeit a HAIRY babyface. It's immediately inviting to children and adults.