Why I Encourage My Kid to Talk to Strangers  dads with kidsdads
with kidsOn the subway the other day, my son noticed his
neighbor studying a map of the transit system on her smartphone.
He leaned in close, attracted by the bright screen. "I have a
subway map in my room," he told her.  "You do?" she asked,
revealing herself to be an Australian tourist.  "Uh-huh. We ride
the train a lot. I like riding the train. This is the 2 train
and we're riding it downtown, to Bergen Street. Isn't that right
Da-da?"  I confirmed that this was indeed the case, unable to
hide a smile of both amusement and pride.  "You obviously know
more about these trains than I do!" the woman said.  And then he
changed the subject: "I got a new trike."  They went on like
that, chit-chatting about transit and toys, sometimes with an
interjection from me. I was more interested to hear about her
life in the Australian bush than Felix, who just wanted to tell
her about how he'd never been on a long airplane trip before,
but has traveled by New