Under normal circumstances, children love making friends and hanging out with them whenever possible. Every new toy or thing they get, they just cannot wait to catch up with their friends and flaunt their new belongings. Children make friends at school, in the neighborhood, and in the extra-curricular classes that many children join.
However, some children are not comfortable with this friend concept at all. In fact, the mere presence of other children around haunts them. They love playing and being in their enclosed environment wherein they do not want anyone else to enter. It is not that they do not want to make friends but they are too shy to start a conversation with others, so they find it better to be alone only.
Sometimes the shy and introvert children feel miserable to be alone and get angry over their parents by throwing tantrums. Parents can help their shy children come out of this situation. Following are some tips, which are absolutely helpful for making a shy child learn to make friends at school and outside as well.
Understand and talk
The foremost step towards finding a solution to any problem is the understanding. You need to understand every feeling of your child. Talk to them and make them express their feelings regarding friendships. Notice your child’s behavior in social situations and find out the thing that makes them uncomfortable in such situations.
Once you are done doing this, talk to your child regarding the problem that you have found out. Tell your child that they cannot do without social interactions, and friends are an integral part of their life so they have to make friends.
Teach social skills
Social skills is not something that children inherit, rather it is something that parents need to teach them. Parents can make their children less introvert by teaching them social skills that help them to behave well in social situations. You can teach them basic things like to greet both adults and children, teach them to make eye contact with people while talking, smile, shake hands, and to answer whenever anybody talks to them.
Role Play
Role-play is one of the best and most effective techniques child psychologists recommend many parents. Through role playing parents can make it much easier for their shy children to learn the process of a group interaction that will enable him to make friends easily and comfortably in school, or for that matter at any place and time. Parents can play the role of a teacher or some friend and talk to their shy child. This way the child will get the confidence to talk to others and social situations would no longer haunt him.
Be a friend to them
A friendly relation with an introvert or a shy kid is of a paramount importance. A shy kid will only open up to the parents if they share a close friendly relation with the kid, otherwise the kid can never come out of its shell. Parents should talk to such kids on all topics with utmost friendly nature.
Parents should encourage such children to bring friends home for small parties or parents should invite their friends home who have children, so that the shy kids get some time to spend in the company of other kids. They will come out of their shell and will understand the importance and the goodness of having social relationships.
Make them confident
Confidence can take away all the shyness if the child learns it well. Teach them to behave confidently and win over all their fears and troubles they face in social situations.
