How To Help A Shy Child

Some children are naturally confident and extroverted, but others can have a tendency towards shyness and being an introvert. While that’s not a problem (everyone’s different, after all), if it continues into adulthood, it can cause potential issues with their careers and social lives. Therefore it’s good to try to help your child become more self-confident if you can. Here are some ways to help them.

Talk To Them

Sometimes shyness comes not from the child’s nature but from something that has happened to them. It can be the result of a deep-rooted problem. Sit your child down and talk with them about what it is that makes them so shy. Let them know that it’s not a fault, but that you want to make sure they’re okay. You can also check with the class teacher to see how your child interacts with others during the day.

Empathize With Them

Empathizing means letting your child know that you understand how they feel. To do this you need to not judge at all, and explain that you love them and that they are good people. Make sure that your child knows not to feel ashamed or embarrassed about being shy (these feelings can make it all worse). Always encourage them for their achievements too; it’s little things like this that can bring them out of their shell and show them what they can be and do.

Look At Their Strengths

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and if you can discover what your child’s strengths are you can play to them and boost them up. Whatever it is they are good at, make sure you encourage them to go as far as possible with it. It will help your child to realize how good they are, and will also help them to find out who they really are, and this can help to banish shyness too.

Encourage Socializing

One of the very best ways for a child to be less shy is to have fun and socialize with children his or her age. It can be the perfect introduction to being able to interact with others. You can invite some classmates over, or even let your child go to a camp. It’s a good idea to put them all in a situation where someone in authority (you or another adult) is in charge to ensure that the interaction happens, and happens well. Have some ice-breakers pre-prepared so that there are no awkward silences. There are plenty of ideas on funattic.com as to what you might include.

Don’t Label

Something that many people do is to label a kid as shy. Doing so sets them up for life believing that they are, indeed, shy, when perhaps it would take just a little encouragement to go out and be more confident. Telling people at a social gathering, for example, that your child is shy allows them to hide behind that label, and not try to interact. Don’t mention it, and they might be able to feel more confident and happier in themselves.