Playing at the playground after daycare, there are always a few kids who are unusually good at making friends. They'll just be standing there, spot the same toy or the same kick scooter, and naturally strike up a conversation: "oh, I have that too!"
But even as adults, it feels a little off when a stranger talks to us first, right? My kid used to feel that way too, at first. But here's the funny part — if that other kid comes in too aggressively, my kid backs off a step; if they approach slowly, they warm up fast.
Watching this play out over a few years, I think I noticed a pattern among the kids who are especially good at this. A lot of them are raised mainly by grandparents. Grandparents get tired — they can't run around and get climbed on and play like that. So they end up sitting on a bench just watching their grandkid. Which means the kid has nobody to play with. So anyone at the playground is a welcome sight, and they go straight over and ask to play.
And here's the part that really gets me. After playing hard together for a while, ask "what's that friend's name?" and they'll say "dunno." Ask "how old are they?" — "dunno." They just play. No agenda at all, just having fun together in the same space for the same stretch of time.
Adults get so particular about everything. Someone talks to you on the street and you immediately think "are they selling something, trying to recruit me for something" — suspicion first, every time. It's the exact same act — someone talking to you — but as a kid it makes a friend, and as an adult it just makes a stranger.
Honestly, that's something I think we need to relearn from kids.