Hi everyone,
DD is 3.5 and she's been quite shy in some circumstances, especially at her nursery. She's been always fine at 1:1 or in small groups but quite shy to speak in front of a larger group of kids.
The nursery raised it when she was around 2 years old and they've been working to build her confidence. They are now saying she speaks fine in front of everyone and is quite used to it there.
At playdates, when she meets a child she looks interested but usually doesn't communicate with them for the first half an hour. After this she normally becomes her usual chatterbox. She got good friends from her nursery and playdate.
To help her with building confidence, we enrolled her to a trial class at 2 different local drama schools. We now had these classes and need to decide on which one to choose. DH and I are of a different opinion.
The first class is at a local small school with 3-5 kids in a group. It's quite informal. The second option is at a larger school. It's quite different as it's more structured and formal and it's a larger group. After the second class the teacher told us she did not speak to them or tell her name, although joined all the games, danced and lifted her hand to ask for a sticker. However the teacher said they would be happy to help us to build her confidence to start speaking in the class.
DH thinks she would build the confidence quicker in the first class as it would be easier for her to speak in front of 5 kids rather than 10. He thinks that once she's done it she would apply it in other groups. I like the second class better as I like the challenge.
Could you please share your opinion, especially if you had/have a shy kid? Are smaller groups normally better for them and would they thrive in these more? My DH is afraid that she would be lost in the larger group full of already confident kids.
DD said she loved both classes and would want to come back.
If you have any other tips on how to help shy kids you are welcome!