Today I parked at an M and S garage and my dd aged 11 popped in to buy some fruit we needed. My car was parked right outside the main entrance and it is a fairly small shop.
Dd came out beaming and bursting to tell me how she'd helped a lady . Turns out that the lady had asked her if some foods she was holding were kosher or not and then asked dd to help her choose something that was kosher. Dd noticed she was holding a pork sandwich and told her that , no , that was not kosher. The lady asked her to suggest something that was and dd made some suggestions and the lady ended up going round the shop with her and they ended up chatting about suggestions. Dd eventually ended up suggesting the nearest thing she could which was cadburys chocolates. Apparently the lady wanted a present.
Dd thinks she was with the lady for a good 6 or 7 minutes.
I felt uneasy about this and just reinforced the lessons dd already knows about stranger danger. I think its quite ok to offer a 1 minute opinion/help but 6 or 7 minutes going round a shop is a bit intrusive and close for comfort when it comes to an 11 year old ( lady was about 35 dd thinks so not an old lady).
Also somehting in the story didn't quite ring true as if she was looking for a present ( as she told dd she was ) for a jewish person who keeps kosher why on earth would she think of buying a sandwich? That's hardly a present. And I would imagine most people know that pork is not kosher ( even if they don't know any jewish people most people know that jewish people cannot eat pig) so it is odd that she had a pork sandwich in her hand too.
I suppose what I am finding possibly plausbile is that this woman may possibly - and I really only mean possibly - have had other intentions to talk to dd .
It is a shame and I would have loved to have praised dd for helping someone so wholeheartedly and fully but just felt a bit uneasy at the story. What would you have done?