I have to tell you that when we visited with our children I saw people just
looking GAWKING is a correct term. My parents always taught us that there was
no such thing as a stupid question, so I decided to ask the girl who was at
the petting zoo with a group of Amish children if I could ask her about her
culture, she said "of course, I would rather you ask me and get the correct
answers to your questions." So I asked her about their schooling, and other
things." She explained to me about their ideas, they made perfect sense to
me. Then I asked her about taking pictures, was it true that they didn't take
pictures. she laughed and said the reason they didn't like people taking
pictures was because then the children get silly, they begin to think they
are celebrities. She said we could take pictures but try not to let the
children see you do it. She spent about an hour with my friend and I, the
group of boys took our "city kids" around the zoo told them about the animals
and got my daughter to pet a deer, she was afraid. We had a great time with
them, and when we left, she suggested that we go to a farm down the road that
also served ice cream and sold fresh baked items. As we were leaving we asked
her if we could give the kids a treat for their kindness, she said they
really weren't allowed to accept items for gifts, we told her we just wanted
her and the children to remember this day because we would. I told her it was
a bag of chocolate we had gotten from the Hershey factory. I told her she
could bring it home with her and give it them after dinner. She did accept
it, and the pictures I took that day were came out great. Itook black and
white photos that came out beautiful. I'll never for get that trip, and the
kindness the school teacher and the group of school children showed us.