I often think that parents do not take enough trouble in this
respect to make children used to strangers. What often happens is
that parents are themselves shy and embarrassed in the presence of
strangers, and when they notice that their children suffer from the
same awkwardness, they criticise them afterwards, partly because
they are vexed at their own clumsy performance; and thus the
shyness is increased, because the child, in addition to his sense
of shyness before strangers, has in the background of his mind the
feeling that any mauvaise honte that he may display may he
commented upon afterwards. No exhibition of shyness on the part of
a boy or girl should ever be adverted upon by parents. They should
take for granted that no one is ever willingly shy, and that it is
a misery which all would avoid if they could. It is even better to
allow children considerable freedom of speech with strangers, than
to repress and silence them. Of course impertinence and unpleasant
comments, such as children will sometimes make on the appearance or
manners of strangers, must be checked, but it should be on the
grounds of the unpleasantness of such remarks, and not on the
ground of forwardness.
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