Some children are boisterous and energetic, while other kids are docile and calm. While the temperament of your child is something that may worry you, it’s important for most parents to understand this aspect of their child, so that they may help their child work on their personality and behaviour in public.
Parents are mostly able to assess their child’s temperament through the early developmental years, up until they start a play school. Until that point, parents have a huge amount of influence on their child’s behaviour and tone because they can watch them closely and correct them.
When a child starts their schooling, they interact with many children in their age group as well as teachers and other authority figures. This sudden change in environment is a highly influential contributing factor in how a child develops their behaviour.
Why is it important for children to be outspoken?
Around their peers, children tend to change drastically and develop a large part of their social personality and self-esteem. Most children tend to get noisier and rowdier around their friend circles (which is completely normal!) while some kids do not prefer such an environment.
Quieter children tend to retract further into their shells! They may avoid large groups or large group discussions. This may even cause them to feel underconfident when speaking up in class. While these children may be introverted and reserved by nature, their involvement and integration with the social world will contribute to a large part of their social development.
Introverted and shy behaviour in kids may even be a major cause of concern to many parents. Parents may often worry themselves with questions like, ‘Is my child comfortable at school?’ or ‘Does my child lack self-confidence to speak for themselves?’
This greatly worries parents when it comes to their child’s academic performance since class participation is an important part of classroom grading. If their child is reluctant to participate it could also be a sign they aren’t up to speed with the class and may fall behind! Lacking in communication skills may hinder your child’s leadership qualities.
How can parents help boost their child’s confidence?
As much as parents would want to help their child and ensure safety at school, there’s only so much they can do from afar. So how can parents help their shy children slowly come out of their shells? There are many confidence-building activities that parents can guide their children towards. This will ensure that the child is on the right track towards becoming a more confident and independent young individual!
- Regular conversations with your child – This helps your child get used to expressing their own opinions as well as how to talk to their peers. Regular conversations with your child help them understand the appropriate fashion in which they should speak to their friends and other adults.
- Arrange playdates -If your child is not too good at making friends, you can take them to the park and arrange play dates with other moms and their kids. This social environment (with the safety and security of having a parent around) can help them play and interact freely with other kids in the playground. This way parents can keep a watchful eye on their kid’s behaviour.
- Encourage your child to get more involved in reading – Reading is a great way to jumpstart your child’s active imagination. When they have more to think about they will have more to talk about. Helping your child read kids newspaper is a great way to help them safely interact with the real world and may even get them started on a news-reading habit.
- Let them plan a family fun time – Whenever you are planning a family picnic or outing next, let your child decide and voice their opinion on where the family should go. It could be a fun day at the zoo, the museum or even to a monument. This helps kids make more decisions and take the lead in planning activities, such as group activities in classrooms as well
- Ban harsh criticism on your child – Children need the room to make mistakes and learn from them. Being too critical of your child makes them afraid to make mistakes and they could feel humiliated if they are corrected. It’s best to let a child try and make their own mistakes so that they may learn from them in the future.
- Be a good role model for your child – When your child sees both their parents interacting with each other calmly and confidently, it builds a safe space for a child to speak to their parents and teacher about their queries and their personal and academic life.
- Openly discuss your feelings with your kids – Quiet children often have a hard time expressing their feelings and emotions. Let your child know that it is alright to feel low, anxious or angry. This creates a good outlet for them to deal with their emotions in a healthy manner
Conclusion
The bottom line is parents can play a huge part in their child’s development at school and in class. Children do develop at their own pace, but a push in the right direction from their parents and teachers can make a big difference.
Open and healthy communication is a life-long skill and it starts at home. The prescribed exercises can help your child come out of their shell and become an active participant in school, in their careers and in society.
