{"id":1342,"date":"2012-09-14T11:32:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T15:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/?p=1342"},"modified":"2012-09-14T11:32:25","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T15:32:25","slug":"tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This was originally posted on Open Equal Free<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time again! Children are returning to the classroom. Going back to school can be exciting for many kids, but for some who are shy and timid, being in a classroom or new school can be daunting. Here are a few ways you can help your shy child handle the first days of school.<\/p>\n

1. Talk to your child.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This may seem like common sense, but by asking for details of your child\u2019s day at school, you can encourage him or her to open up to others. Engaging your child in conversation will improve their social skills and self-esteem. When you are at social events, introduce your child to new people and encourage him or her to ask questions.<\/p>\n

2. Avoid the using the label \u201cshy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to one\u00a0family educator, Janice McCoy<\/a>, using the term \u201cshy\u201d around your boy or girl can inadvertently give the impression that being shy is a negative thing. Janice says, \u201cYour child may be shy and slow to warm up to people, but none of that is necessarily within your child\u2019s control. It\u2019s just who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Encourage extracurricular activities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s dance class, basketball, or math club, encourage your child to do things outside the classroom. He or she will\u00a0spend more time with peers in an environment<\/a>\u00a0outside of the classroom. These opportunities will give your son or daughter the chance to meet kids from different schools, offering him or her more chances for social interaction.<\/p>\n

4. Avoid being strict.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If your boy or girl chooses to be quiet around others to deal with stress, setting strict rules to overcome this timid behavior probably won\u2019t help. On the contrary, it could silence your little one even more. Instead, try to break the silence by creating more opportunities for social exchange. For example, try setting up play dates or activities so your child can interact with peers.<\/p>\n

With these few easy steps, you can make a big dent in your child\u2019s shyness, encouraging him or her to enjoy school as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Creative Commons Love:<\/a>\u00a0Edge of Space on Flickr.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was originally posted on Open Equal Free It\u2019s that time again! Children are returning to the classroom. Going back to school can be exciting for many kids, but for some who are shy and timid, being in a classroom or new school can be daunting. Here are a few ways you can help your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,58],"tags":[114,199,180,296,295],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-parenting","tag-attitude","tag-children","tag-helping-others","tag-parenting-kids","tag-personality"],"yoast_head":"\nTips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School - Discoveries of a Wanderer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School - Discoveries of a Wanderer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was originally posted on Open Equal Free It\u2019s that time again! Children are returning to the classroom. Going back to school can be exciting for many kids, but for some who are shy and timid, being in a classroom or new school can be daunting. Here are a few ways you can help your…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discoveries of a Wanderer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-14T15:32:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/files\/2012\/09\/kids.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jana Melpolder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School - Discoveries of a Wanderer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School - Discoveries of a Wanderer","og_description":"This was originally posted on Open Equal Free It\u2019s that time again! Children are returning to the classroom. Going back to school can be exciting for many kids, but for some who are shy and timid, being in a classroom or new school can be daunting. Here are a few ways you can help your…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html","og_site_name":"Discoveries of a Wanderer","article_published_time":"2012-09-14T15:32:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/files\/2012\/09\/kids.jpg"}],"author":"Jana Melpolder","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html","name":"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School - Discoveries of a Wanderer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/files\/2012\/09\/kids.jpg","datePublished":"2012-09-14T15:32:25+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-14T15:32:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/#\/schema\/person\/ed4df2f4c08a1cb26b9e488226ab83af"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/files\/2012\/09\/kids.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/discoveriesofawanderer\/files\/2012\/09\/kids.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/2012\/09\/tips-to-help-a-shy-child-enjoy-school.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tips to Help a Shy Child Enjoy School"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/","name":"Discoveries of a Wanderer","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jana Melpolder","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/#\/schema\/person\/ed4df2f4c08a1cb26b9e488226ab83af","name":"Jana Melpolder","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/author\/jmelpolder"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1347,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions\/1347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/discoveriesofawanderer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}