How You Can Help Your Shy Baby Or Toddler Avoid Teenage Stress

If your child’s proving to be a little nervy around new people and situations, take comfort in the fact that she’s not the only one.

Shyness is one of the most common conditions in children – and definitely isn’t a result of something that you’re doing wrong.

Just look at the stats: between 15 and 20 per cent of children have what researchers call a “behavioral inhibition.”

But new research shows that you can help your little one’s nerves from developing into teen anxiety in a really simple way – with some good old-fashioned TLC.

As well as showing her with lots of love, you can also help boost your tot's confidence by not pushing her - she'll get there in her own time. Similarly, try not to be too overprotective.

Another great idea is to set a good example. At your toddler's playdates, you can start chatting to her friends in a way that's easy for her to repeat.

"Securely Attached" Children Likely To Be More Confident
Experts have linked shyness in babies and toddlers to anxiety when they’re older, but found that this only applies to shy children without a “secure attachment” to their parents – a.k.a. a good relationship.

A study, published in the journal Child Development, followed 165 children from the age of four months old to their teen years.

They were observed at a number of different points throughout their childhood to see how they responded to short bursts of time apart from their parent, to help the researchers decide whether they had a secure or insecure attachment.

Children with so-called secure attachments wanted to be hugged and soothed by their parents when they returned while those with insecure attachments either ignored their parents after the brief separation or wanted to be held but struggled to calm down.

The parents also completed questionnaires about their child’s behavior around new people and in new situations. Both the children and their parents also answered questions about their levels of anxiety when they were teenagers, including whether they felt nervous going to parties or speaking in public.

Experts used all of this info to deduce how shy the children were over time and found that those who were insecurely attached to their parents as babies and toddlers had higher levels of anxiety as teenagers.

“Our study suggests that it is the combination of both early risk factors that predicts anxiety in adolescence, particularly social anxiety,” says Erin Lewis-Morrarty, research associate at the University of Maryland, who was involved with the study.

“The findings can inform the prevention and treatment of adolescent social anxiety by identifying specific factors that increase risk for this outcome among children who are persistently shy.”`

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Would you say your baby’s shy or confident? Let us know in the comments.