What do you do when...

I think you did the right thing. The child may not understand, and it is not your responsibility to make them.Pointing out that they aree rude in that way is perfectly fine. Children need to be taught too. And if she wasnt staring at you, she was spaced out and no harm was caused by making her aware of her surroundings. As long as you keep your tone appropriate I saw absolutely nothing wrong.

Wink at them and smile... a smile is something that you have and a lovely thing to give away.

I don't know what to say either. I don't mind kids, they are just kids, but adults are just as mean. My son has a heart defect and was having open heart surgery when I walked into the PICU waiting room and a guy made a cow mooing sound as I sat down. Stared right at me and did that. Already stressed enough, I just sat there, said nothing, and cried. Ugh! People are so mean sometimes. He was in a wheelchair until he learned to walk at 6 yrs old and the adults would stare at him as much as the kids too. Keep working hard and don't let anyone bring you down.

Maybe they aren't doing it to be rude? Maybe she liked something about you, your clothes, your hair, your make up etc.
I often have little girls staring at me and I have even been in the situation a few times where kids parents are paying such little attention that little girls will fallow me around (usually in clothing stores and they will look at every peice of clothing I look at) and I have to bring them back to their parents. I have even caught girls in their mid-late teens staring at me, in my opinion, as though I was some strange unknown creature. I have always battled with self esteem issues and at first this kind of behavior garnered the same reaction from me- my fiancee said that they are admiring me. I dont know how true it is but when I started paying attention to how the little girls look at alll the items of clothing I look at, then I started to think that maybe he is right. I know that, be their stares good or bad- they aren't my kids and I will be seen as some kind of monster if I say anything (I always want to say, can I help you? and have been known to say it to the mid-late teens) and I know it isn't going to change them from doing it anyway so why waste my energy and possibly get into an argument with the mother? Especially since I don't have kids so its not like I can say "well if they were my kids, I'd teach them some d*mn manners" because people always think that people with out kids would change those views if they had kids. I was raised not to stare at anyone I will raise my children not to stare at anyone. A lot of parents just don't want to take responsibility, like our upstairs neighbor. Their kid runs and jumps around so much that he knocks pictures off the wall and has broken vases that I've had on shelves. We took all our decoritive stuff down because of this kid. We have polietly gone and asked the parents to keep him a little calmer and they say, "He's just a kid, jeeze. What is wrong with you?" I have lived below several kids---- never have any of them BROKEN my vases/candles and picture frames. Ever. Its a matter of the parent having the consideration to tell the child to calm down/stop being rude/inconsiderate. The less parents in the world who teach consideration to their children, the less considerate those children will be as adults...

I would just let it go they are just kids it happens keep you head up and go about your way

They may not even be looking right at you but something on you jewlery , peice of clothing , how your hair is , if your happy or sad kids pick up on so much that the most adults overlook. Just saying as a mom of a 4year old and 6year old I would just let it go as my girls are taught not to talk to strangers so if you smiled and even in the nicest way possible said something to them they would not reply back as they know not to talk to people they don`t know

It might have been a little less rude if you had smiled and said hi to her and engaged in a friendly conversation rather than asking, "May I help you?" I am big on teaching my kids not to stare because it is rude. IF a child stares at me for some reason I typically try to be positive and friendly about it.

Weird. I don't think the OP was rude at all, she was very polite.

Honestly, to the parents of the staring kids out there, you all want starees to "ignore it" and say it's "up to the parents," but some people just don't like children, or don't want them, or whatever. It's very difficult to live in a society where one is required to accept otherwise-rude behavior in children, and one is supposed to accept it or ignore it or whatever. Even children can hurt a person's feelings. Why is there an unspoken right of children to get away with certain behavior?

Im sorry that u feel this way. I see this a lot due to having most of my family being very over weight. as a mom and a childcare provider children are just curious.. Kids stare at many things they are not use to in everyday life.. i cant count how many times a child has asked a question about someone while out and about that I have felt was rude. They are not trying to be rude just curious and no matter how many times we teach them we r all different and such things can hurt someones feeling they still do it.. Many times I have spaced out or thought oh lover shoes, earing, ect and they felt like I was staring.. I think sometimes it is vindictive but sometimes its so innocent.

I agree just say hi.. Talk to them but be prepared to answer a question if they ask because our actions always have a domino effect. children are very impressionbable. Hopefully ur positive response will help the child learn.

Stick out your tongue. J/K

Seriously, how would you know someone is staring at you if you weren't staring at them, maybe they're thinking "Why is she staring at me?"

In our family, we have dealt with a LOT of staring (and I wish it was mostly children, but that is completely not the case). Our youngest son has a very severe developmental disability and he wears a lot of protective gear because he bites himself and randomly(at least from our perspective) hits his head into hard objects, so he wears bands on his arms, shoulder pads and a big padded helmet. This past spring, we had him in the airport in Seattle and I swear it felt like we were in a display case. As we dealt with a 3 hour plane delay, my husband and I took turns walking with him up and down the concourse. During my times, when someone would stare, I'd catch their eye, smile and then go back to talking to Stevie, but when my husband was with him, he'd give them evil looks, and sometimes comment to my son how rude the people walking by were being, LOL. By the time we boarded our plane, my husband was in a BAD mood, but I was feeling surprisingly upbeat, despite being exhausted. The moral of this story is, making eye contact and smiling is good for your mental health when you're subjected to rude staring. I think most people aren't even aware they are staring, and that eye contact really helps to remind them subtly.