DD1 has never been super confident but would always join in. She's now 6 and I'd say over the last year it's like she's suddenly become self-conscious so things she would normally have just done, now make her panic and freeze. I talked to the teacher yesterday and she said she thought she would benefit from joining the school's nurture group to boost her confidence which I thought would be a good idea. I've just googled it and a lot of them are set up for children who have had terrible upbringings and haven't developed correct social skills etc. We live in a "nice" area so there isn't a huge amount of social poverty going on and the teacher did stress her recommendation wasn't because she thought there was a problem, but more because she thought it would help her. But it's made me think about (a) how she's going to feel attending this class when no one else is, and (b) what could we be doing to help her.
I was very shy at school and also would freeze if suddenly asked to do something in a group setting (still have very painful memory of being asked to sing on my own during choir practice - eurgh). Other complication is 2 years ago DH was diagnosed with very serious illness, last year was a lot of recovery and building back up to normality. We like to think we shielded the DCs from it but realistically she will have sensed the stress.
Any advice on nurture groups, and just generally how to help my lovely sociable but very self-conscious girl would be most appreciated.