What I see a lot with shyness is that we put so much pressure on our child to fit a certain social norm of going to say hi to people and doing x, y, and z that we put all that pressure that they can't just listen to their own intuition and say, OK, this is what I need.

This is what makes me feel comfortable because when we can allow them to do that, then they actually may do the social norm. They may start to go say hi, they may start to do all the things that I mentioned after the grounding exercises once they feel comfortable.

But if we, from the beginning, put the pressure on them, right, like to be a certain way, act a certain way, say certain things. We don't just allow them to cause and that freedom to just be themselves and learn and observe.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Pete's dot talk podcast. I am filled with so much joy seeing how you all return to this podcast week to week, leave your reviews and just show up to this community on Instagram and this podcast. So thank you so much for being here tuning in and being a part of this amazing community.

On this episode of Monday mornings with Dr Mona, I am talking with a parent about her two-year-old son and his shyness. I love talking about shyness because I think society still in 2022 does not think that shyness is a good trait. When in actuality, I think it is a superpower.

You're going to hear me talk to her all about shyness, how to approach your shy child and so much more.

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And now let's get back to our episode.

Thank you so much for joining me today on the podcast. So tell me, what is on your mind today as a mom?

So I have a two year old son and he tends toward shyness and feeling shy in new situations and also around new people or large pounds of people.

And so kind of what is on my mind with that is, first of all, how I can help support him and make him feel comfortable.

Also how I can help him feel confident because I grew up being labeled as a shy child and that can really drain on your confidence when you're, you know, when it's labeled more as an identity and not a feeling.

And so that's something that I've struggled with. And then another thing that is on my mind with that is other people, other adults reactions to him being shy and kind of the commentary that goes along with that that he might take in and how I as a parent can help not have him feel that negative sense of identity that I felt when people told me that I was shy as a child and everything that came along with that.

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