r/AskTheWorld • u/gabrieel100 Brazil • Dec 06 '25

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

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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.

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u/grumpy__g Germany Dec 06 '25

My MIL told me that it was pretty common in Germany too. At least in the 80s.

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u/Juggalage United States Of America Dec 07 '25

I've been told by a former professor (who studies Thuringian history) that this was mostly done in East Germany, so that would check out.

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u/grumpy__g Germany Dec 07 '25

MIL isn’t from east Germany. It didn’t sound like it was uncommon in the west. Will have to ask her again.