As a parent, and someone's daughter, I believe its only good manners to return a greeting, and that good manners are an important lesson while growing up.


My daughter has never been keen on new people, so I've never forced her to interact, but she has been well aware from an early age (about 3 or 4) that she's at least expected to partake in pleasantries, such as greeting and answering the "how are you?" questions...


After that she is excused from conversing.


Idk, that's just my take on it, maybe its partly cultural, my upbringing etc, but that's how I view it, and everyone I know shares the same view.

So it is kind of expected where we live.