Why does my kid refuse to say hello or goodbye?
Young children often suddenly stop responding to social greetings, leaving parents stuck trying to constantly model and prompt good manners to no avail. This resistance can make social interactions awkward and leaves parents unsure how to handle the sudden change without constant nagging.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Letting it slide and hoping the child picks it up eventually
- 2Greeting the child and other people to model normal behavior without pressuring the child
- 3Not mentioning the lack of greetings for a couple of months to see if it resolves itself
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“when she was 4-5, that kind of all stopped. when people say hi or bye, it seems hard for her to do that.”source ↗
Fun_Tea8162 · r/Parenting · 4 upvotes
“Sounds like my kid. I keep asking her to say hi/bye and show example, to teach her some manners, but usually she won't do it.”source ↗
Old-Shoulder4940 · r/Parenting · 1 upvotes
Where this came up
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