My 6yo has had afew times (mainly at school) where the other children or adults have said or done things which have upset her, and yet she has kept her emotions inside and has not had the confidence to set them straight about it, or tell anyone that she is upset by what has happened.
We will always fight her corner and do raise any concerns with the school if need to be, whilst trying to encourage her to problem solve herself with minor peer disagreements.
She is generally a confident and outgoing child on the surface, and at home will be very vocal if she is annoyed about something or thinks we are treating her unfairly....sometimes with big emotional outbursts.
I get it's normal for her to be more like this at home with us, but it worries me that she is unable to express her feelings at school or stand up for herself.
Last year she seemed to behave similarly at school to home (and also did at nursery) so I'm worrying she is gradually being brainwashed into compliance by domineering adults.
I grew up a shy wallflower who never dared question an adult, was scared to stand up for myself and was very easily downtrodden by adults too.
I want DD to grow up knowing that adults are not 'above her' that they can still do things wrong, and if they do it is okay to challenge that.
I know she is still young, but how do I help ensure that going forwards she feels more able to challenge other people's wrongdoing even when I'm not there to support her, and to express her feelings and preferences openly?