I went to see a pair of kittens in a local rescue centre today. They are absolutely gorgeous, but quite nervous. They are around 10 weeks old and were rescued from a hoarding situation along with their mother, and until they came to the cattery had almost no human interaction.
When I first went into their pen, they both hid at the back and avoided me. By the end of my visit both of them ate in my presence, were happy to play with a ribbon toy when I swung it for them, and the more confident one let me get close enough to sniff my fingers and let me touch her on the side of her head (the shyer one came quite close to where I was but didn't want to interact with me other than playing with the ribbon). (By contrast, their more confident littermate, who has already been adopted, was throwing herself at me desperate for cuddles and attention, so my perception may be skewed by her!)
We have two children, 9 and nearly 6. The rescue lady said she thinks they'd be okay with kids as long as they understand to give the cats space to begin with and to interact through play rather than stroking. But I also don't want to offer a home where the cats won't be happy, or to get the kids cats who won't enjoy spending time with them.
My question is, have other people adopted shy kittens, and do they tend to develop into shy cats? The reason I'm a bit nervous is that some websites seem to suggest that if they've missed the early socialisation window it will be hard for them to develop that confidence.
I've had cats in the past, but not for over a decade, and the last cat was very old when he died so it's been absolutely ages since any of them were kittens. (And I don't remember any of them being particularly shy when they arrived - our last cat was a rescue but a pretty confident character.)