Parenting Help to Overcome Shyness

There are several children who are shy and take their own time to mingle with new people. Being a parent, you must never force your child into social situations which can have a bad impact on your child emotionally. Follow this parenting help guide to help your child overcome their shyness.

Parenting Help to Overcome Shyness

Many children are shy, and it takes time for them to warm up to people. There’s nothing wrong with that. This shouldn’t be a major issue. However, there are some kids who have deep seeded problems when it comes to meeting and speaking to new people. Making friends can be very difficult for them. By following these easy parenting tips, you can help your child overcome his or her shyness.

Acknowledge That Your Child Is Shy

Avoiding the fact that your child is shy is in no way a good thing to do. It can be hard for some parents to accept that the bubbly and fun loving kid they have at home turns into a sullen child when out in public. Accepting that your child needs to become a bit more outgoing is the first step in gaining the parenting help that you need for your child’s well-being.

Don’t Force the Issue

Many people believe that children outgrow being shy. This simply is not the truth.  Others try to push the child into social situations which can actually do more harm than good. Forcing the child into stressful situations can damage your child emotionally. It can also put a strain on the trust in child-parent relationships.

Children who are shy and have been forced into stressful social situations have the potential to experience physical symptoms as well. They can hyperventilate, shake uncontrollably, have a rapid heart rate and even pass out completely. The best parenting help tip is that you should never force the child into situations that make him uncomfortable.

Encourage, Don’t Discourage

For those needing parenting help for shy kids, it is essential that you remember to never make the child feel bad about his shyness. Most shy children are very sensitive, and their feelings can be hurt quite easily. This can create long term self-esteem problems and irrevocably damage child-parent relationships.

Encourage your child to play outdoors on the front lawn or at the park. It’s best if you are out there with him or her. Playing ball, Frisbee or even jumping rope will expose your child to new people. He or she doesn’t need to speak to anyone, but the child will become more and more comfortable with new people being around them.

Go To the Park

Oftentimes, children will play in the park even if they are shy. Although they rarely speak to the other kids, they are still interacting by waiting in line for the slide or sitting next to someone on the swings. This small bit of interaction should eventually turn into speaking to other kids.

You should bring your child to the park regularly. Many parents do so, and your child will begin to recognize the other kids. This constant interaction, though minimal, can help your child overcome his shyness.

When All Else Fails

Being a parent means that sometimes you need to talk to a professional. Professional family therapists can provide you with the precise parenting help that you need for your child’s shyness issue.

Family therapists can also suggest ways for you to strengthen your child-parent relationships while improving your child’s social skills. Although your child’s social skills are important, there is nothing more important than maintaining happy and healthy child-parent relationships. By following the parenting help tips in this article, you can help your child to overcome his shyness by being a parent who wants their child to succeed in life.

Raising Children to Be Safe

Times have changed since the Leave It to Beaver days when children were safe in their own neighborhoods. Years ago, it was a very rare occurrence that a child would be abducted, but now it seems that young children are abducted on a daily basis. It’s a shame that it is necessary to raise children who are wary of everyone they meet.  Unfortunately, to keep your little ones safe, they need to know that everyone isn’t good and kind. It’s a terrible reality to share with kids, but it is a necessary one.

Playing Outdoors

It is doubtful that there is a child in the world that doesn’t like to play outside with his or her friends. This is a good thing since exercise will help them to lead healthier lives. There are boundaries and rules that must be set when raising children in this crazy world that we live in today. This can be started at an early age so that the rules will stick with the child throughout their childhood.

Hopefully, you have developed your responsible parenting skills enough to set rules and boundaries without frightening your little ones. Never say things like “Watch out, that man may steal you”. If you do, you will be raising kids to be paranoid. Kids don’t need to be fearful, but instead they need to be empowered.

When playing outside, teach your kids to stay on your lawn and never go near the road.  This is an obvious safety tip, but you should also teach them to get close to the front door if a car pulls up and slows or stops, and to go inside if a person gets out of the car.  Raising children to be aware of what’s going on around them can help them to stay safe.

The School Bus Stop

Many kids wind up missing either on their way to school or going home from the bus stop. Predators often troll these areas looking for unsuspecting children who are alone or are only with one or two other little ones. It is essential that parents start raising children to be completely alert while at the bus stop. Young children should never be left alone at the bus stop. Adults can take turns staying with the children at the bus stop.

Your established parenting skills can help you to make your child more observant of what goes on around him. Raising children to be safe isn’t easy, but with constant reinforcement of your safety rules, your child will have a better chance of making it to and from school safely.

Don’t Laugh At the Password

Raising children to be safe includes having a family password. It sounds silly to some, but many kids disappear because they were told that something happened to their Mom or Dad. The predator tells the child that they were sent to pick them up.

This can be avoided and your child will be safe if he learns to go only with someone who knows the family password. Use your parenting skills to delicately explain to your child why a password is so important for his safety. Raising children to be informed of why certain precautions are necessary will also empower them. Being a parent often means being honest with your child in order to keep them safe.

Use a password that nobody else would be able to guess. It should never be a pet’s name or anything someone could remotely think of being as a password. You should select something that sounds silly, such as Tiddlywinks or Snickerdoodle. Both parents should be involved with practicing the password with their children. Use your reassuring parenting skills to let your child know that this is a special word that is a secret, and it mustn’t be shared with anyone outside of the family.

Being a parent and raising children can be trying. Your number one priority should be the safety of your children. 

Child Behavior and Bullying

There are more and more episodes of bullying being reported on the news today. This is becoming a severe problem in our country. Sure, bullies have always been around but with the technology that kids are exposed to now, the bullying can be nonstop. Follow these parenting advice so you can recognize the child behavior signs associated with bullying.

Watch for Withdrawal

One of the earliest child behavior signs that bullied children exhibit is withdrawal. Even young children start to close themselves away in their bedrooms and avoid contact with everyone, including family members. Bullying makes a child feel isolated and alone and the emotional trauma causes them to retreat and isolate themselves further. Most tips for parents suggest that if this child behavior is allowed to go on for a period of time, irreparable damage could be done to the child’s psyche.

Beware of Bruising

Many children who are bullied by others are physically assaulted by them as well. One of the best tips for parents is to be aware of any suspicious bruising on your child. A child who has been assaulted by others might flinch when approached or touched. This is a classic and common child behavior exhibited when someone has been or is being bullied.

Forgetting about Friends

Children who are being bullied often begin to disassociate themselves from their friends. They will no longer run home and want to go out to play. Usually, bullied kids do their best to hide themselves away from the world. When this child behavior surfaces, the child is beginning to believe everything that the bullies are saying about them. It is essential for parents to recognize these child behavior signs and find out what is going on immediately.

Speaking of Suicide

Although young children rarely use the word “suicide”, but at times, kids might say that they want to die or want to kill themselves. Hopefully, you will have acted before the bullying got to this extreme level. If a child behaves like this, you need to talk to your child gently and be loving towards your child.

Stand Up for Your Child

Being a parent, you must act as soon as you find out that your child is a victim of bullying. Rarely will a child admit that he is being bullied. You’ll need to recognize the signs on your own and do a little bit of investigation.

You should contact your child’s teacher for an appointment. Inform her that you don’t want your child to know about your meeting. Explain to her that your child is exhibiting typical child behavior signs associated with being bullied. Tell her that you expect that she watch your child carefully to see if anyone is victimizing your child and that she report back to you in a few days.

A lot of bullying occurs on the school bus. Many school districts have security cameras on the buses. You can schedule an appointment with the principal and tell him that you would like to review all bus tapes for the past month. Legally, you are allowed to do so.

Talk to a Therapist

Your child might be too embarrassed to talk to you about his problem with bullies. It would be best if you set up an appointment with a child behavior psychologist. Many kids balk at the thought of a therapist, but you will need to use your delicate positive parenting techniques to help your child recognize that he can’t handle this problem on his own.