By Product of Homeschooling

I think one of them, for our family, is the ability of my kids to talk with adults. They talk with all kinds of different adults, everyday. The next door neighbors, the customers and employees at the grocery store and doctor's office, guests in our home, our Meals on Wheels clients, moms of other homeschooling friends, etc. Except for each other, the majority of their daily contact is with adults. And, it is just something they are pretty comfortable with. For the most part.

We had a get together a couple weeks ago and we were the only ones with older kids. Another family had an infant. Anyway, the kids spent most of the night talking with one of the guests. I went over, repeatedly, to rescue her from them. But, every time I went to her, she told me she was fine. And was enjoying them.

Later on that weekend, she complimented me, and them, over and over again on how great it was to talk with them. She found them very engaging and able to carry on a conversation. I found out they discussed such things as the BP oil spill and the death of The Crocodile Hunter.

My kids, constantly, ask me to visit the neighbor because they love talking with her. Finally, yesterday I told her to feel free and let me know if she wasn't up for a visit (she is a cancer survivor and will forever be on chemo.) She assured me she enjoyed talking with them and they were funny. (That scares me, whole other post.)

I am always doing my best to let them know that children are to be seen and not heard, out of respect to adults. Unless, of course, the adult engages them in conversation. I am constantly working on manners and polite conversation. Yes, I am bragging on my kids. Something I don't always do enough of. So, it is nice to hear that some of my efforts are paying off . . .