Look at the above picture and tell me whether it’s looks frightening or not…No, no…look closely again. Not frightening?
Now look from a 1++ year old point of view.
Last week, me and my wife decided to hop in to McDonalds for a short dinner treat. Firstly we had some McDonald’s coupons Secondly it has been awhile we had McNuggets (used to eat them for lunch and dinner when I was still working in a bank). Considering that the McDonalds restaurant had a small playground, we thought that it will be fun for my son too.
When we were there, we saw a small birthday party at the corner of the restaurant for a small girl. There were plenty of children running here and there. But we managed to get a quiet place far away from the “crowd”.
My son had his hands literally full with French Fries and we were digging our mouth into the McChicken and McNuggets. Suddenly, I saw one of the McDonald staff wearing the “Hamburglar” costume, was walking towards the kids (at the birthday party). I was praying silently that Hamburglar will not do a pit stop at our place because I know for sure; my son will scream and cry if he sees one.
My prayers went unanswered because I saw the Hamburglar was walking towards my son. I tried to get my son to see the Hamburglar from far (so that he will not be too shocked) but he was too busy with his food until it was too late….
A short tap on my son’s shoulder and the next thing we knew was a loud scream and cry. The staff who was wearing the Hamburglar costume had a big shock too. I felt pity for him…it was not his fault and other kids liked him.
It took a good 10 minutes to get my son to calm down, after trying almost every trick in the book to calm him down. Finally, I passed my cup of soft drink to him. Only then, he stopped his crying. He was not alone though, there were some “grown up” kids (2 – 3 years old) also “panicked” by Hamburglar.
My son keeps looking over his shoulder for the Hamburglar which he did saw from far. He keep pulling my hands and then showing me the direction where he saw the Hamburglar. Luckily the Hamburglar did not try again to cross path with my son. By the time we were finished with our meal, my son had completely forgotten about Hamburglar. We were worried although that my son may had nightmare about it (luckily he did not have).
I don’t think my son wants to have another experience with Hamburglar, at least not for now. Some innocent’ things like the Hamburglar can be “Freddy Kruger” stuff to small kids at some times.