Hello.




This is obviously an Ask for Help blog. I'll ask my question shortly, but first, let me explain the background to this.

I was thinking about kids. Not squidkid age, but actual kids. Baby kids. Not full-grown kids.




Young children is what I mean.




See, I have encountered children before, but of course, they are usually accompanied by a parent. Parents are pretty easy to interact with since they are adults and can have a conversation with me. And I can smile at their children because I'm nice like that.


But as for direct one-on-one interaction with young children, I'm not as experienced. It's just not a situation that's frequent for me.




HOWEVER




You may be aware of my interest in dogs and how I favor them over cats. This is all going to make sense in a bit. I've had a few dogs in my lifetime and have had a lot of interaction with them. And I've interacted with other peoples' dogs a lot, too.



Basically, I'm more familiar with how to handle dogs than I am young children.



My experience with dogs and how I speak with them and such has become part of my regular dog relationship skillset.



So if I speak to a child and it seems like I'm speaking to a dog, is that normal? And where does the interaction go from just saying hi? I obviously can't pat a child on the head and scratch its ears. I can't pick it up and hold it like a dog.



For that matter, is it really that useful to interact with someone's baby? They aren't furry and soft to touch and they don't fetch when you tell them to.




I will probably have a child someday in the future. How do I not treat it like a dog? Is this something that everyone asks at some point in their life?





I guess if all of this were put into one question, it would go like this:

How do I treat children like children and not like dogs?





Thanks for your time.