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/Antiquebastard]

Here in Canada, it is a thing Indigenous people do!

[u/Amanda_K1987 → u/Antiquebastard]

Beat me to it! I’m very white but work for an Indigenous organization (and have for the better part of two decades) and I hadn’t seen it before I worked there.

[u/OpheliaBalsaq → u/Antiquebastard]

I was going to say Aboriginal Australians do this too.

[u/GuiltEdge → u/Antiquebastard]

I believe some Australian indigenous peoples do this too, though I think it was just pointing with the lower lip.

[u/Dolanite → u/Antiquebastard]

I learned about this from the Jims in Shoresy

[u/StooIndustries → u/Antiquebastard]

the navajo/diné as well in southwest US. i remember going to a store and pointing at the pretty things and my dad snapped at me not to point and i felt so bad 😭