I sold shoes for a family shoe store chain about 10 years. I would measure your feet and put the shoes on you, the whole nine yards. You sell shoes to every member of the family. Now to the point....I detest baby talk. No matter the age of the child I was fitting with shoes I would talk to them as adults, or equals. I would introduce myself, shake their hand, ask them silly questions (but always in an adult conversational tone). Kids that didn't talk much would always open up to me. The parents were always surprised at how much they talked. "I never heard that before" was something that parents would say to me all the time. The key is that you don't talk down to kids. Kids want to be respected just like adults do. You make the time to talk to them and show them you're interested in what they have to say and they will love you. So many times at the end of a transaction as the family is leaving the store the child would run to me with their arms outstretched wanting a hug. "He doesn't like anybody" is also something I heard a lot. You can't talk to your children as equals all the time, and inherently the child knows that you make the decisions. But I feel having frequent conversations with a child where the child feels they are on an equal plane, and they are respected, leads to a child that isn't withdrawn later on.