Curious as to what people consider essential to raising a confident child? My eldest DD is just four. She started preschool last September and four months in is still painfully shy with her classmates and reluctant at drop-offs.
I imagine some of it is her innate character, as her younger sister is quite the opposite and talks to everyone she meets/dives head first into new situations despite their upbringing being the same. But what environmental factors do you think can potentially influence confidence?
I fell somewhere in the middle as a child. I do remember feelings of inferiority though - our family were very much working class and my group of friends at school all came from comfortable middle class backgrounds, so I think that definitely had an impact on my confidence at the time. This was balanced by my lovely mum building us up any way she could/trying her hardest to give us as many opportunities as possible, which definitely helped. Though I'm certainly not overflowing with confidence today, I do try hard to be an assertive role model but she's an intuitive child and would be quick to pick up on my discomfort in certain social settings I'm sure.
Anyway I know being shy at this age is normal for many children, but am IBU to think there's anything I can do/should have done in the early years to help build up her confidence?