The development of a child's social awareness is reflected in, and in part accomplished through, requests. Requests for action and information--such as the assistance of another, typically older person--require an important set of linguistic and social skills. Re-requests become necessary when the initial request is ignored or not adequately fulfilled. This re-request situation is of special interest because of the increased vulnerability of "face," and the need to take the other person's response into consideration. A study investigated how children gain the social awareness skills necessary to make flexible re-requests. Twenty-one children--ranging in age from 20 to 50 months, from white, predominantly middle-class families--were interviewed individually in familiar surroundings by a junior or senior student enrolled in a language and speech development course. The interviews were audiotaped and transcripts made of the first 50 utterances occurring after the initial introductions and accompanying adult utterances. These transcripts were then examined for utterances of requests and re-requests. Results suggest that the children were in the process of developing re-request strategies. (A transcript illustrating how a repertoire of indirect request strategies may be developed is included.) (Author/DF)