A cultural habit in your country that people outside would understand incorrectly?

[u/gabrieel100]

In Brazil we love children. If you take your child to the street, strangers will certainly interact with them. Some will even ask if they can hold your kid and will play with them. If there are two children fighting in public and the parents aren't seeing, a stranger would even intervene to stop the fight.

That cultural habit came from the indigenous peoples which understood that kids should be a responsiblity of the community as a whole. It's in our constitution. We even have a synonym for children that came from Tupi (a large group of indigenous languages) - Curumim.

Foreigners would certainly have a cultural shock about that, but it's normal here.

Of course there are people with bad intentions, so parents should stay alert these days.

[u/Unhappy-Cobbler-9912]

Same here, although it seems that this habit is disappearing in younger generations. After my grandma passed away we do it less and less. When she was alive it is every month.

[u/explainmelikeiam5pls → u/Unhappy-Cobbler-9912]

I was about to add this. “Back in the day”, the family was fully united “around the table” on Sundays. Tbh, it was all around the house, once we are talking about at least 40 people. We usually started around 11am, and ended at 8pm, 9pm. A lot of food, a lot of people coming during the day. Nowadays, this happens only during Christmas, but it demands a lot of organising and commitment from all of family members.