Precocious or just confident?

I agree with Witzend great to have confidence like that. Strange isn't it how we make all sorts of excuses for a shy child but one who is outgoing and confident is criticised. I have no doubt he will have a great future in drama.

Just confident and outgoing, which surely can only be a good thing.

My Gds (10) is similar. He will honestly just go up to anyone and start chatting - he is lucky to have a very engaging way with him. IMO it’s a great gift to be born with.

i think it is lovely. at parties, weddings etc i always sit and wonder who's child is who's. i should think at such a time it helps to 'lighten' things. my baby who was only a few months old certainly helped helped lighten things at my Uncles funeral, even if she was passed like a box of chocs!
two of my grandchildren the girls are like this and i think it is lovely. i am sure your grandson will go far

Precocious means showing maturity, literally translated as “ripening early”
I would say this child is precocious as very few 11 year olds do show such behaviour.
Your S was not kind as it is your GS’s nature but some adults don’t understand and see it as showing off.

What a fine young gentleman he is.

Your other son is way wrong; he's not being precarious at all, just being a thoroughly decent and thoughtful young man.

Good on him, is what I say, and why wasn't your other son so kind?!

He is going to go into adulthood with that invaluable skill of being able to network, politely and kindly.

I could have moved mountains had I that skill, but I don't.

How amazing. We are all different. I have definitely struggled with shyness all my life. Ironically, I have always found it easier to talk just one to one, like that, and strangers were really far less intimidating somehow. My father was the one who helped me to overcome my shyness, by getting me to talk to his clients. I would try to help the older son. Perhaps he is a little shy.

SueDonim

You clearly haven’t met the girls in my family, Magenta! It’s the boys who are slightly more reticent but they all have good social skills, likely because their parents jobs involve dealing with people. I wish I’d had their confidence at their age, I must say. I feel quite sad that I was so shy and probably missed out on things.

I am very pleased to hear that SueDonim. I would guess that the parents have done a great job bringing all their children up to have good social skills and as a result the girls are self assured and confident.

PamelaJ1

Sounds to me that he may not grow up to be a NEET.
The ability to communicate is a good skill which, unfortunately, due to various reasons seems to be missing in a lot of young people today.

You are spot on there. My eldest son works in hospitality and he said that in addition to training them in their role, they also have to explain how to deal face to face with work colleagues and customers. Social skills have suffered from social media.

Precocious only means advanced, anyway. It shouldn’t be an insult. He sounds fine to me.

The OP said he went round after the service and introduced himself to people.

By that, I assumed (maybe wrongly) that it was at the wake?

I didn’t think she meant he bustled round the church or crematorium talking to people!

Oh dear, I can imagine what all the GN's would have thought of me at that age. I think what he did was perfectly natural and very good to feel at ease with his extended family. As an eldest child I was put in the position by my parents of being responsible for my younger siblings, to the extent of being expected to explain to any adult, that "my sister needs the lavatory" or " He cannot eat a cheese sandwich, cheese makes him ill" . So this meant that I was quite used to speaking to adults, and didnt see this as anything unusual. I lived quite close to my granny and to my great grandparents, and saw them regularly. So I grew up expecting them to be able to answer my questions and help me with anything, and at the same time, naturally would ask if they needed anything fetching or remind them their glasses were still on the table.

It is a mixture of your own nature, and what you are used to. The covid situation certainly has made a difference for everyone, and no doubt due to those circumstances , children would be more isolated or mostly being with a limited group of adults and not have been having that rough and tumble getting to know larger groups of children, where they see what is considered "natural" behaviour for children.
So well done to the little boy and to his parents for a polite and thoughtful effort. Surely , while you might feel it is a bit over the top, you would rather remember him for his politeness than have a child kicking and screaming , having a tantrum and generally demanding attention for the wrong reasons! He is aware enough of other people to learn more about what is appropriate as he grows and sees other styles of behaviour. I am now looking back and wondering who thought I was a pain at the time!!

Sounds a good skill to me. Are his parents good communicators OP and he has learned from them? Or is this something self taught? Either way sounds as if he will go far and as long as he's not boasty and gets on well with other kids I cant see a problem.
Another skill to be taught for such events would be manual skills such as loading trays with crockery, getting cups of tea etc.
All skills which teenagers don't seem to be able to do and would impress me no end.

Sounds to me that he may not grow up to be a NEET.
The ability to communicate is a good skill which, unfortunately, due to various reasons seems to be missing in a lot of young people today.

One of my grandsons chatted to quite a lot of people at the funeral of his great-grandmother this year. They were mainly older relatives and her friends that he chatted to (in between charging about in the grounds with his cousins).

I saw the relatives sort-of "introduce" him to the people on the next table who would ask who he was in the family and he'd explain and then he'd carry on chatting to them for a while about all sorts of things.

I suppose most of then would see it as him introducing himself but basically I think he was really just being himself.

We did have very nice words said about all seven great-grandchildren but this one boy (and his two older siblings to some extent) was singled out for being really easy to talk to.

Some children are very good in social situations. Maybe your grandson (like mine) is regularly in situations where he gets to practice talking to adults and asks questions and is actually interested.
He is the youngest in the family too which might have a bearing on it.

I don't think it's precocious, or even particularly unusual - but maybe it depends on the way the introductions happen.
Did it seem natural or a bit weird?

I do think, however, as an only child, I would have been expected to chat to people.

Does your other son have a family?

I think it's unusual. For the most part I would expect to be introducing my children to people. As long as he wasn't interrupting people in conversation or anything, I can't see a problem. Some people might have been glad of the distraction to have someone to chat to.

It was probably the first funeral he had been to. He wouldn't know that one is expected to behave differently at a funeral to other social encounters. I think it is lovely he hsd the self confidence to talk to people he didnt know and show an interest in them.

I assume he is your younger son, maybe his brother would like to be more outgoing and confident! If I met a child with such confidence at 11 I would be surprised and then, I suspect, charmed. Some young relatives clearly just want be ignored at family parties, others like to meet people especially if (tactfully) asked about themselves.

Me neither.
It was a tongue in cheek comment, but I still feel it was was precocious, bearing in mind it was a funeral.

Children should be seen and not heard!! Awful sentiment! Can't believe anyone still thinks like that!

What a nice lad! He has obviously been taught politeness at an early age - I suspect most 11-year-olds wouldn't have a clue.

MissAdventure

I would have,said precocious, until I read everyone else's replies.
I'm still of the "children should be seen but not heard" school of thought.

We never got to go to any family funerals at his age.

You clearly haven’t met the girls in my family, Magenta! It’s the boys who are slightly more reticent but they all have good social skills, likely because their parents jobs involve dealing with people. I wish I’d had their confidence at their age, I must say. I feel quite sad that I was so shy and probably missed out on things.

I rather agree with GrandmaT and Miss Adventure. ‘Forward’ is the old fashioned word that comes to mind. But not something to make a meal of.

Personally, I think that’s quite wonderful