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Kailey and Sammy were reluctant to become friends with Malissa, at first. They changed their minds once they realized that everyone needs a home and someone to love them.

Have you ever experienced a time when you met someone new and was reluctant at first to become friends? At what age was this? Did you ever become friends with this person? Why or why not?

As a child I was reluctant to become friends with anyone. Usually people had to approach me first before we became friends. As I got older, I became more confident with talking to people. Now I have no trouble walking up to someone in hopes of a friendship.

hsimone wrote:Kailey and Sammy were reluctant to become friends with Malissa, at first. They changed their minds once they realized that everyone needs a home and someone to love them.

Have you ever experienced a time when you met someone new and was reluctant at first to become friends? At what age was this? Did you ever become friends with this person? Why or why not?

It's funny you should ask this question. As a child I think making friends was not such a big deal...we were thrown into situations where everyone joined in to play a game, or work on a project, etc. As an adult I find it more difficult. The situations don't always present themselves, and making friends requires more initiative be taken. One particular situation involves the mom of my son's classmate. I was reluctant to approach her at first because of time constraints, lifestyle differences, etc. But through her initiative we have become friends, and now our children spend the night at each other's homes.

I had a close friend when I was little, we were actually best friends from kindergarten up until we were about eleven or twelve. We eventually started hanging out with a new neighbor of hers. She was actually reluctant to welcome someone new, but I thought it would be nice to get to know someone knew. Unfortunately that situation didn't turn out so well because the three of us became close but the new girl was a bully to everyone else. We didn't see how badly she was acting until a couple of years late, but when she started bullying us too, then that's when i stood up to her, and the girl that was supposed to be my best friend chose her over me. Unfortunately I haven't really had any close friends since then. I enjoy meeting new people, but I just figure that the right friends will come in their own time. I just have to be patient. I am happy that the friendships in this book work out much better than mine did.

When I was little I was reluctant to become friends with anyone, but it became easier as an adult.

These responses are very interesting because I feel like I'm a mix of them all. When I was a child, I was able to open when working on projects and school-related work, however, when it came to outside outings, I was definitely the shy one and would have a hard time approaching anyone. I always waited until I was approached.

As an adult, it's easier to make conversations with others at get-togethers, but I still find it challenging to make new friends and usually stick with my usual crowd.

I am very socially awkward, so almost every time I meet someone new, my immediate thought is that we won't be friends. However, I make myself get to know people better, and it doesn't take an extremely long time for me to warm up to them and start feeling comfortable.

I'm very people-shy so making friends is not easy for me. I tend to keep to the few I do have.

As a child, I welcomed pretty much everyone. Now, I am very shy and have a hard time making friends.

yes i have met someone new before and was reluctant to be friends with him because he was new to my class and i have never seen him before.but eventually i accepted him because other class members refused to move with him.that was at age 8years

Tomiwa wrote:yes i have met someone new before and was reluctant to be friends with him because he was new to my class and i have never seen him before.but eventually i accepted him because other class members refused to move with him.that was at age 8years

That was a very kind thing of you to do!

I'm even more open to meeting someone new if I notice that they are by themselves and I never seen them with anyone before. It reminds me of my childhood and it makes me want to befriend them.

There are a million opportunities to meet new people each day (at work, at the supermarket, on the bus.) I am a very sociable person so I usually chat people up. It is the being friends part that is more tricky.

Since I had a lot of job changes, I got to meet a lot of new people each time. Then, I had to establish new friendships to have lunch buddies, cope with office politics and make the office a happier place. I gained a lot of friends that way and they have made my life more wonderful. Not to say that we do not have misunderstandings now and then. Every relationship goes through that. Those who stick, those are the real friends.

Lest92 wrote:I'm very people-shy so making friends is not easy for me. I tend to keep to the few I do have.

Yes, I can be people shy, too. When in a gathering of some sort, I typically stick with the people I'm most comfortable with rather than approaching someone new.

Oddly enough, I think this has happened more to me as an adult than it ever did as a child. When I was a child, I was much more outgoing and not at all reluctant to make new friends. As an adult, I am a lot more cautious around people. My very best friend of 10 years is actually someone who I was reluctant to spend time with at first, she was my boss, came from a very different background, and had a much more outgoing personality! I'm glad I forced myself to spend time with her despite my reluctance!

MarisaRose wrote:Oddly enough, I think this has happened more to me as an adult than it ever did as a child. When I was a child, I was much more outgoing and not at all reluctant to make new friends. As an adult, I am a lot more cautious around people. My very best friend of 10 years is actually someone who I was reluctant to spend time with at first, she was my boss, came from a very different background, and had a much more outgoing personality! I'm glad I forced myself to spend time with her despite my reluctance!

That's awesome! I love when situations like this happen.

It's funny, because I have always been the one to wait until someone approached me, even as an adult. But, when they do approach, I latch on fairly quickly. I'm not sure what stops me from approaching someone new, but it's something that I still need to get used to. So, I'm lucky to have had several good people approach me, because I think making friends would have been very difficult growing up (and now) if they hadn't.