Let 'em Sniff Each Other Out
This morning I took my son to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Neither of us had been there before. And it was free, so there wasn't much to lose. So obviously there were tons of other kids there...school groups and kids with their parents. I had one of those moments that made me feel like I was walking a dog, though.
We were standing at one of the aquariums when another kid came up to my son and started touching him. The stranger kid was pretty young, too, so they weren't too sure how to interact with each other. While the kids might have been interested in meeting, I didn't have much interest in getting to know the kid's mom, who was also standing right there and I think the feeling was mutual. So we just stood there for a couple minutes watching our sons stand together. It was a little awkward. Then we both coaxed our kids into opposite directions.
perhaps you could've begun touching the other mom? or yelled at yer boy to "GIT 'IM, SON! GIT 'IM!"
i (childless) had the eye-opening experience of watching my nephew go apeshit in a shoe store and begin maniacally riding/hugging/bouncing-around-with numerous quarter-scale zoo animals (giraffes, gorillas, leopards). he didn't respond to any verbal commands and seemed completely drugged-up and in his own world. i felt helpless and watched as my mom sat nearby, calmly observing the proceedings and telling me "welcome to the funhouse."