It is normal child behavior to be shy and afraid of being themselves in front of strangers or to hesitate and look at you anxiously while trying new things. On the contrary, it is not normal for a child to feel safe and confident when standing on the school stage in front of a huge audience! This skill of initiation and confidence is an acquired skill that needs to be developed constantly as well as his self-confidence and the courage to deal with society. This is the role of parents in helping their children to overcome shyness through effective means that develop the child’s social skills and increase his self-confidence so that he can show his talents and abilities to the world without fear!
To know how to deal with the shyness in your child, you must first know what are the up normal characteristics of a shy child:
- When this feeling hinders them from leading a normal life
- If it prevents them from communicating with their colleagues and makes them tend to isolate themselves more.
- Avoiding participation in any social or sports activities
- Anxious attachment to parents, relying on them to express himself and express his needs.
- Not being able to defend themselves against bullying at school
- Being anxious, angry, tearful, and feeling uncomfortable when interacting with others
- It may develop into difficulty communicating, stuttering, or completely refraining from speaking.
- Falling behind in school and grades.
How can I help my child become more outgoing? And overcome shyness?
To make your child more sociable and help him overcome his shyness, you must first address the reasons why he was shy in the first place, and develop new skills that make him more sociable and confident.
- Positive Parenting
If you tend to criticize all your child’s actions and behaviors negatively and control all his natural self to change him to a perfect version he can never be! This parenting style feeds a feeling of weakness and anxiety when interacting with others and the tendency to isolate and silence to avoid reprimand from parents. To change this effect, try to give your child the ability to express himself freely and fluently without too many adjustments and controls.
- Improve the general family behavior
The many arguments and conflicts between family members inside the house can make your child insecure and isolated owing to the negative feelings he feels due to the tense atmosphere and the shouting during the fights, emotions or nervousness, so you have to deal calmly around your child and avoid showing these altercations in front of him.
- Show more interest
You are the first and most important source of all the feelings that your child feels, so be the reason for him to feel loved, cared about, important, appreciated, and safe, so that a child grows without traumas, and confident in himself and qualified to deal with the world without shame or anxiety, as this interest increase his confidence in himself, which enables him to overcome shyness.
- Make him feel involved and influential in the community
Allow him to participate in making simple decisions such as what meals to eat or where he wants to go on the weekend, assign him some household tasks under your supervision and reward him after completing them, and praise him for doing them in front of his whole family and friends.
- Apply for courses or sports activities that develop his skills and talents
One of the most important ways to overcome shyness is to participate in summer activities, summer camps, or even to play a team sport in which he can develop and open up to a new community of friends. If he has an artistic talent such as singing, playing music, drawing, photography, and other talents, register him in art workshops to help develop his talent, allowing him to gain confidence in himself and create opportunities to communicate with others.
- Setting the stage for making new friends
Friends are the most important element for improving your child’s psychological state, his feeling of happiness and departure without shyness or anxiety, and what is better for the child than being surrounded by a group of friends who connect and develop together for the better. To help him meet new friends, make your friends’ children a part of your group gatherings to create the opportunity to make new friends.
- Make a daily conversation with him
Be his best friend, talk to him about his interests, likes, and dislikes, and create a safe space for him to talk about his feelings, worries, fears, and what is happening in his day, which in turn will increase his awareness and develop his speaking skills and overcome any cause of shyness and isolation.
- Support him to study and excel at school
Encourage him to study and understand the material perfectly, so that he can answer when asked in the classroom with confidence and with a present mind. The more he improves in his academic level, the more confidence he will gain to show in school and the classroom positively.
In conclusion, you should know that shyness in children is a natural trait, which may exceed the limit sometimes, but you always have the opportunity to improve and develop your child and help him to be the best version of himself, and in between all of that always remember that your child is unique, and has his character that distinguishes him from others.