When someone asks if they can pet our dog, we always say it’s up to her. Sure she cannot speak, but always has little body language and many times she’s just not interested or looks uncomfortable or impatient to keep walking.
I always thank my dog for letting me pet him.
Smart kid and polite kid. My daughter’s 13 and it’s hard to get her to say thank you to a human!
I think I had a hard time as a kid/teen with saying thanks and then sometime in my late teens/early 20s, after I wasn’t getting reminded all the time, it was like some switch was flipped.
I don’t think she does it when she’s selfish, she just never thinks about it. Part of her social anxiety, probably. I don’t mind reminding her, but it does irritate me a bit even though I know it’s probably not something she’s able to help right now. Parenting is a minefield of emotions.
For me it wasn’t that I was selfish or anything. I just didn’t think about it and therefore didn’t remember. She will probably have a light switch moment sometime in the future. We all grow and evolve afterall. Even autistics.
Edit: was => wasn’t
If I had been in your shoes, it would have taken me a solid ten minutes to figure why the kid’s mom was laughing