Oh these fathers..I tell you!

A question to all you women, whether you also have experienced this one thing, which is very common amongst all young fathers of cute toddlers.
I will explain what that thing is now.

I am very wary of it..

I love kids to an obsessive edge. These sweet looking things, engrossed in their own world, invite you into theirs..and I enter it without abandon
It does not matter whose kid it is, my sister's, or maid's, or complete stranger's I see on the streets

But sometimes it becomes a nuisance. Cos my liking is pretty vocal and I go out of my way at times, which can lead to unwanted repercussions.

For example, when you try to ogle at a cute one in a mall, without knowing that you are giving the young father(who might be carrying the child) this feeling that you might be ogling at him. And they would start petting their kid, like a show business, to maybe gain your attention

If you see a child alone in a park and try to sweet-chat him/her, the father will suddenly develop extreme fondness for his kid at the same time and in the disguise of love for his own child, would try to start some small talk with you(provided wife is not in sight, or even if she is, this is such a harmless act, isn't it?)

So many a times I check myself before I go overboard with my emotions.

The floor where I live in my apartment, has kids, between the age group of 2-10, in each house, except mine. I usually dont mix much with anyone there, as for most part of the day I am not home. Another thing why I dont mix is cos a single woman is seen as a threat by many married women, so I try avoiding any such animosity and keep to myself.

There is this extremely cuddly 2 year old, and one day when I came out of my flat to go for work, I saw him playing with a ball near my door. I also noticed that his house door, which was straight down the alley from my door, was open and his father was sitting there watching him.

So I just moved towards the lift, without pulling his cheeks, which I felt like.
But I hid behind the wall to see this kid's adorable antics.

He was kicking the ball with his legs, and then getting baffled at how the ball moved away and then running behind it. Each time he came close to the ball, his feet would somehow kick it, and ball would go rolling, and the kid would run behind it with a bewildered and frustrated face, as he was trying to catch the ball.

At one point, the kid looked so deliciously sweet that I forgot the father was watching him from his door and came out of my hiding place to play with the kid.

And lo and behold, this act of mine was like a trigger or stimuli for the father. Seeing me, he got up from his seat and started moving towards the kid.

I had couple of seconds to think of my next move, before the father reached me and the kid.
I stood transfixed for a moment.
There was a tug of war between my liking for the kid and my distaste for the unnecessary interaction with the father(which I anticipated based on my experience).

But my distaste won, I did an about turn, and without waiting for the lift to reach, ran down the stairs.