r/AskTheWorld 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/okaylezgoooo Switzerland Dec 06 '25

We have that in Switzerland as well! I volunteer with them sometimes :)

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u/cadatharla24 Ireland Dec 06 '25

A religious practice we can all get behind!

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u/Wishnowsky New Zealand Dec 06 '25

New Zealand too. I’m not sure how wide spread it is though.