Tipping, Begging, and Child Labor

There you are minding your own business. After wandering aimlessly for longer than you should, you have success. You have found the grocery store!! Suppressing your surpassing pride in this feat you begin to look for a parking place. A 5 to 7 year old boy whistles at you and waving a red cloth directs you to your spot... Whew, nice spot. Do I tip him? Dumb question you tip everyone in Mexico, how much? Wait a minute, why isn't this kid in school, where are his parents? Is this really his job? How can that be legal? Is this how he survives? What kind of future can he have...

Driving home, as you stop at the red light (see prior post) you are met with a little girl, perhaps 3 or 4 being hoisted up on to her father's shoulders. The first and most striking thing is the little girl has two balloons stuffed into her sweatpants. This gives her grossly distorted "hips" about 3 times bigger than she is. The father then shakes back and forth. The balloons amplify the motion so the hips oscillate left and right like a Jello cube on a wooden roller coaster. Her little hands move up and down drawing your attention to her clown painted face. You emotions are bounced like the balloons, funny, creepy... sad. Should you laugh, cry... For me it was just deeply disturbing. After a 10 second gyration fest, they pop down and walk past the cars, hand out, looking for tips. Then you notice the rest of the "family". An older sister has another younger sibling doing the same act for the cars going in the opposite direction. Mom is selling roses. Another older sister is selling candy, no longer cute enough to pull off the balloon act.

The next intersection has a juggler, the next a man breathing fire. Nearly every intersection has someone selling flowers, candy, or mercy. Elderly women, a man with no legs, a skinny child with no act... It is sometimes nearly overpowering.

Yet I already find myself growing used to it. Callous to so much so often, just another feature set against beautiful parks, expensive restaurants, and fancy cars.

When you give are you encouraging the parents to keep them out of school? Are they really the parents or the handlers? And what of the ones with no one looking out for them at all.

But here is a big difference from the US. I have never been approached by an able bodied person for a handout, without some "service" being performed. It could be direction to an empty parking space, a concert from an obnoxious grind organ, or a circus act. But the only ones who truly beg are the very young, the very old, or the amputee. Who can tell if it is Latin pride or if in the face of so many truly needy, only those with the strongest first impression can scratch together enough of a handout to make the time pay. What I can see is the terrible cycle in place. Children are kept out of school to provide for themselves or their family. They cannot acquire the knowledge or skills to make them anything other than dependant. Leading them to a life of what exactly...

By giving, are you aiding or enabling. Difficult questions in a difficult land.