Who is giving pens to kids, and why?

I was just thinking how when you get to area that sees alot of tourist instead of the kids saying "hello, what's your country?, and thankyou." They all say "Hello-pen, Hello-candy, and Hello-money." I'm just wondering who gives these things to kids and why do they think its a good idea to condition kids into thinking foreigners are source of free stuff.

I think some people must just have the look on them that invites that. I have only encountered that once in India and the kids just laughed and wandered off..

This has been discussed in a few threads, one example is the link below.

Do you give a child in india 'one pen'?

guilty... we have few times given parathas, cookies, 1 mechanical-pencil to children... but never money

we use to travel in latin america with a whole bag of gums just to give to kids...

Its probably not a good idea for kids to think that foreigners are source of free stuff. At the same time, whats wrong with helping a poor kid ?

Giving a pen or something else which a kid can use for some good is not a "BAD" thing...

We often give a colourful balloon to kids we meet, even ones who don't ask. The smiles on their faces for such an everyday thing to us, Is priceless.

You are right.. giving a pen is not a bad thing.. but giving money is.. coz it encourages them to beg again.. and the rowdies who make them beg. While travelling in Delhi buses ... so many times it happens that these young children come to your seat and beg.. a lot of ppl have actually asked them to contact them the next day and they will arrange for their schooling and food.. but they never accept.. they only want money.. coz if they don't get enough money by the end of the day.. they will be getting severly beaten for it.
In Delhi in fact, they have schools for begging and pick-pocketing. With principal, teachers and different classes and certifications. One such school was busted last year and revealed this horrendous activity.

I don’t give anything to begging kids.

If you twist my arms, I’ll say I don’t give you also don’t gi.....aaarrrghhh

i took to carrying bananas, oranges and apples with me. if a child begged for something to eat, i gave fruit. i know i should not encourage begging, but i felt that at least i gave something worth while. i'm sure others give rupees that end up in an older persons pocket.

i gave a packet of dried cranberries to 2 little guys at the mumbai airport. i was waiting, (a 14 hour layover), and they made nice company. we taught each other how to count to 10, (they laughed at my hindi pronunciation), and after they ate i gave them wet paper towels to wash their faces. when an older woman came to beg from me the kids told her to leave and then spent a few minutes just enjoying the nice weather with me. after 15 minutes, or so, they went on their way with cleaner, smiling faces. it is a nice memory for my to add to all the other ones from my amazing trip.

That's nice .....When I was in Benaras, I used to go with my frens to the ASSI Ghat and sit there for hours.. and as usual there were those children carrying a big poly bag with food item inside and asking for more.. Sometimes we jes ignore them, or offer them chai..but the basic idea was to make them go away ... At that time there was this foreigner young lady who used to come there everyday and jes sit there alone...lost in something and those lil kids start running around her, playing with her fingers... jes sit with her, trying to get into her thoughts.. or jes pull her in opp. directions.. Some times WE used to feel irritated by watching all this. but she never flinched... never gave them anything.. but never scolded them.. and they used to like her for that. Sometimes love is the only thing they really want ... and that's the least we can do.

Leaving something behind and taking something with them seems to be the outcome of tourism for most people. There are no 'rights' or 'wrongs' where tourism exists as it alone is the cause of greater issues than the effects of giving pens to kids. (see Eco-tourism)
While many communities thrive on tourism due to being conditioned to receive in the same way we are, others would rather be left out of the loop, if they evven know a loop exists.
When tourists stop spending their money on locally produced items and start to wonder about the ethics of their actions, the final outcome can be to not be a tourist; most if not all of the people who are born into such communities do not have the choice to leave, is that my fault for being a tourist, for making them depend upon my money?
So the intention to put a smile onto a kids face by giving them a pen when clouded with the pseudo-ethical argument that it makes them depend upon such actions, is nothing more than saying that without tourists, these communities would not survive.
However, as has been proven by the disasterous tsunami, without tourists, many of the communities which do depend upon tourism now have to find another income, move on or try to rebuild themselves into a place which tourists want to visit. Is it the fault of the tourist who thinks they are somehow stepping off the map into uncharted territory or of the communities who do not expand at the same rate as Capitalism expects? Well both actually.
So if you're trying to get street kids to stop expecting goodies when they see a foreigner, you must also expect tourists to simply visit a place, observe it and leave without touching anything. This, while idealistically wholesome is fundamentally flawed so it is better to not be a tourist at all if you cannot resist going somewhere and buying a souvenir of your visit as what you are doing is continuing their dependency.
Economically, you would be aiding in their demise if you didn't spend money, as they would not be able to replace your missing money with another income source at the same rate of decline and so they would suffer.
Is giving sugary sweets to a kid any better than a pen? Giving anything is better than giving nothing, sometimes. This is the 21st Century by some people's reckoning and though that really is irrelevant to the nomadic tribes of Outer Mongolia, just watch and see the speed at which they too recognise that the grass might be greener on the other side. It's called trade which supports economic growth. If the population is increasing at a greater rate than the economy can sustain it, trade will help to increase the earning potential of those communities.

Gotta go, dentist's appointment.

Hope you catch my drift

Moga

Who? Tourists, that's who. If it didn't work for them (the kids, that is) they wouldn't keep at it. It was especially annoying and suprising and relentless in Mandu this year.

I had advise from ordinary, non wealthy local Indian people to not give the professional beggar kids,any money because it just encourages them to beg instead of going to school and learning how to do something else. The local citizens were not unkind but they were realistic about these kids survival chances. There was opportunities for free schooling in the area I was, the local people would rather they went to school. However that's a long term committment that neither these kids nor their parents had any faith in.They wanted the immediate rupees.

The problem is that watching them clean up, all the kids get the idea its cute and fun and charming, not just the professionals, so if you are not there for very long how do you know?