Half of all adults think of themselves as shy, and many more say that they were shy as children. Shyness keeps children from learning social skills, trying new things, visiting new places or may prevent them from being a part of a group. Shyness also causes children to have a hard time relaxing and connecting with others. The good news is that it is possible to help your child overcome shyness.
Learning soft skills help child to be successful as an adult. They just need a little extra support and encouragement to boost their courage.
Here are some tips that will help kids in dealing with shyness:
1. Help them to be sociable
Find ways to join group activities with other children and adults. Getting involved in group activities helps your child to be sociable with others.
2. Guide them to solve their own problems and make their own decisions
Taking responsibility for solving problem increase their self-esteem and confidence. This will help your child tremendously when they deal with their shyness.
3. Help them to find their strengths
Being able to find their own strengths will boost your child’s natural self-esteem and ego. They will better identify with themselves. This will give your child the confidence to break self-imposed barriers of fear.
4. Face your fear in communication
If you have a fear in communicating with others, the natural tendency is to run away from the situation. Teach your child to curb that tendency, take a break and deal with situations where communication is needed. For example, help them to plan a short conversation piece and practice it to use in situations where they need to communicate with others.
5. Adult support is of paramount importance when helping kids to overcome their shyness. Understand their needs and support them throughout the process in trying out these tips. It may take time, but your effort and patience is worth the wait.
This article first appeared in The Kidz Parade Edutainment Magazine.
Share this article with your friends and colleagues, so that they too are aware of this amidst their busy schedules.
Do you have any insights or tips that you use? Would you like to share that? Please use the comments section below and let us know!
© 2015 – 2019, Vinti Mittal. All rights reserved.
About Vinti Mittal
Vinti Mittal is a professional Counsellor with a Post Graduate Diploma and a Master's in Counselling from Monash University. For the past 6 years, Vinti has been providing counselling support to preschool children, pre-teens, teens and adults on various issues. She counsels on stress, anger, anxiety, confidence, self-esteem, body image, depression, social skills, grief and academics. She has also been helping parents deal with their own issues relating to martial conflicts, divorce, etc. She strongly believes in using the concept of Early Intervention when working with very young children. Early Intervention enhances the overall growth and development of the child, which in turn improves the functioning of the family. She has extensive experience in dealing with children coming from different environments as well as school systems. She has been living and working in Asia and the Middle East for the past 15 years. Singapore became her home for the last 10 years. She works with both Singaporeans and expatriates from all over the world. Vinti is well versed in English, Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia.
a good read
Thank you 🙂
Nice tips.