Originally Posted by
GUWonder
A child choosing to go up to inquire, in the absence of bait, to protect the child's own self-interest is different than a child being chosen by a strange adult as a target to exploit for information and who knows what else. The difference between your scenario and what the TSA is doing is substantial. Stranger danger has been a rather useful concept. Perhaps you or people about whom you care have never been approached by perverted strangers while traveling? I wish I could say the same thing was true for everyone.
In this case the child is actively approaching the TSA for screening. Which is exactly what you describe as being acceptable - they are going through screening their own self-interest (since they presumably want to go somewhere).
And yes, the vast majority of travellers are decent human beings. Simple speech isn't going to bring the world down (it's ironic that the USA, the country where usually it's expected for you to talk with strangers whenever possible, is so paranoid about this).