How to help a child with confidence and resilience

[waffleon]

Following on from various threads about traits you would most like to have etc.
I had a lovely childhood, two loving parents who were both very interested in me and very caring so I’m incredible lucky and I know it but even with great parents I was always a very shy child (wouldn’t speak up in class for fear of being laughed at despite my parents trying lots of different ways to help me).

I now have a child and he is very similar to me and seems incredibly shy.

Any tips on how to help encourage and instil confidence, positivity and resilience from a young age? Happy for book recommendations

I bet Sarah Ockwell Smith has written something that could help - how old is he? Other than that be interested, love him and try to show him every flipping way you've got his back and hopefully in time it will help. You might find reading into the growth mindset and how to put this into practice with kids really helpful too. The power of yet is also a good one to read into x

@MattieandmummyandIs Thankyou so much for the advice and I will have a look at your recommendations

It's early days as he's only 8 but I assume it's best to try to help him from a young age. My parents did what I assume were the right things with me but I guess sometimes it's just how we are. I want to try to help him though as I feel it has held me back from reaching my full potential but equally i don't want to "force" him to be someone he isn't.

Ok then definitely the power of yet and growth mindset stuff so that you can help him feel that he can fail safely and then try again. Some primary schools are more on the ball with this stuff than others, perhaps try asking his teacher what they are doing along these lines so that you can reinforce at home. I think SOS has a book called tweens or similar for his age group that might be worth having a look at.

I understand what you mean about not wanting to force but desperately wanting to give them confidence in themselves to not be held back by fear. One of mine is painfully shy and reserved in public but a noisy whirlwind at home.

Thanks again @MattieandmummyandIs I will google the power of yet and the growth mindset.
You child sounds very similar to mine. I will ask school how they support this sort of thing at our next catch up but I suspect they have more "distracting" personalities and issues to deal with