Look me in the eye

My 18 month old consistently maintains solid eye contact with anyone looking at him. His bright baby blues will meet your eyes unflinchingly while he smiles, investigates your expression or openly stares. If he’s feeling particularly shy, he’ll hide around my legs. Even then, he usually peeks out to sneak a glimpse from behind my knee.

I love this about him, but I thought this was a baby thing, seeing as how they don’t have shame or self confidence issues. I was thinking I wish more adults were like him. I do.

And then I read this article on BabyCenter, “How can I encourage my toddler to look people in the eye when speaking to them?,” and I realized not all babies do it. I was pretty surprised by the article.

When I see my boy stare head-on at someone, he looks fearless, confident. I know as he gets older, he’ll question these traits in himself, but I’m proud to know he’s starting with them. I don’t think there’s anything we’ve done to encourage this; it’s all him. I only hope we can encourage him to keep it up as he gets older and starts to question his own opinions and feelings. Eye contact is underrated.