We walked to the park about 3/4 mile away from our house, and now that M is big enough to understand that eating gravel is not okay, I was excited to let her play in it. What made our little adventure interesting to me is we were about a hundred yards away from a couple and their child that appeared to be close in age to M.
As I drew nearer, I could see them stop and debate continuing straight (toward me and M) or turning left to go up the street. The chose to go left, and it appeared fairly obvious that the intention was to avoid crossing paths. It made me sad.
Here was the potential to make a new friend, someone who lives where I do that has a baby near in age to my own, and it didn't happen because of... shyness? Fear of dogs? (Roxy is a big pug...) I'm not sure what drove their decision but I thought it was a missed opportunity. Perhaps I'm a little bored (or lonely, call it what you want) but I definitely would be excited for M to have more interaction with babies her age. Alas, it seems our society is moving farther away from the "social" part of it.
Farther along our walk, we passed two kids with a "chiweiner"—part chihuahua, part weiner dog who were friendly and well-mannered. And when I say well-mannered, they moved out of the way for us to pass, and then when we passed them on the walk home, said "Have a good night!"
That surprised me, because it seems a majority of children lack basic social skills. I wanted to find their mother and say, "Good job!" Too many times I find myself focusing on the things children do wrong or that simply annoy me, and it's refreshing to come across kids like that. Even if it was just a polite moment, I think I'd enjoy hearing that my child is behaving well from a stranger.
Maybe that should be the topic of a 30-day challenge: See the best in the children you interact with. Ready, set, GO POSITIVE!
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