Doreen,
I understand your predicament - approaching people to model can be a big challenge. You don't want to appear like a freak or some scam artist (heh, no pun intended).
This is further complicated when you are male approaching women and mothers of children.
I use models for concept paintings and stock portraits to take to shows. I have found that the best thing is to just be upfront and professional, be brief, and then walk away and let them contact you if they are interested.
I approached a young woman recently, gave her my card, told her who I was, and asked her to model. Her first reply was that she was 16. Without skipping a beat I replied that I would still like her to model, and would like to speak to her parents about it. I have a model agreement that they would have to sign and I would like one of them to be present at the shoot. And, I would pay her $20 per hour and she should talk to her parents about it, check out my website, and call me if they were interested. When the parents saw that I was for real, that I had a business card, and wanted their child to pose for tastful, fully clothed poses, they called me back, we had a brief conversation, and we scheduled the shoot.
My recommendation is simply be professional and be upfront. As for selling the works to the parents, well...as Karin said, that's what we do!
Hope that helps!
