Health

Understanding the ‘shy’ child and how best to respond to them

When we think about ‘shyness’, we often worry this means our children are really anxious and lacking in confidence. This is because being an ‘extravert’ is often praised in our society and ‘shyness’ looked at through a negative lens. Before we examine what being shy really means, let us look at the complexities of introversion and extraversion to help us make sense of this.

Dr Aoife Durcan advises on helping your quieter children navigate what can often be a noisy and intense world Shyer children are processing their environment deeply When we think about ‘shyness’, we often worry this means our children are really anxious and lacking in confidence. This is because being an ‘extravert’ is often praised in our society and ‘shyness’ looked at through a negative lens. Before we examine what being shy really means, let us look at the complexities of introversion and extraversion to help us make sense of this.

Introversion and extraversion exist along a continuum — we are all unique, so usually none of us will fit neatly into any category! For the most part, though, the research shows us that roughly 70% of highly sensitive people identify with the trait of introversion..