My Little Social Ambassadors

My kids are not shy.

They will say hello to every adult they see, they will chat amiably with perfect strangers, they will almost always go up to a child they don't know and attempt to strike up a conversation.

They get this from their father.

I'm glad, of course, because I wouldn't want them to be as withdrawn and socially awkward as I am was. I was the child who stared at her feet whenever she was around anyone even remotely unfamiliar.

So I'm thrilled, albeit a little embarrassed, that Sean can stride up to any worker in any store to ask for something he is looking for. I say "embarrassed" because the question isn't necessarily directed at the most appropriate person. In Target the other day, for example, he approached the pharmacy counter and asked the woman working there, "Excuse me, where are the combs for boys?" (We had just picked out a brush for Allie, and Sean apparently wanted a hair instrument for himself as well.)

This amazes me -- I was about 20 before I could summon up the courage to ask a store employee where I could find something in a store. And don't get me started about my to-this-day telephone phobia.

Perhaps I should be modeling my behavior after my kids in this respect. Or at least send Sean to do the asking when I'm not quite up to it...