In honor of the release of Quiet Kids: Help Your Introverted Child Succeed in an Extroverted World, I wanted to bring you a little Q&A about introversion. As part of the research for this book, I interviewed hundreds of parents and educators of introverts and took their questions and answered them through the book. This Q&A style, I hope, makes the information completely accessible to both parents and educators in ways that are different from previous books on the subject. Here is a little example of just some of the topics addressed in the book:
1) Why is important to address temperament, especially introversion, with kids?
Helping kids understand their temperament early does a couple of things – first, it helps them understand that they are not crazy. They don’t need to force themselves to meet some Western ideal (extroversion), there is strength in introversion. Secondly, it helps parents and educators recognize the unique strengths the introverted child may possess, also serving to remove any stigma introverted children feel.
2) How do you know if your child is introverted?
Like any personality trait, each individual introvert is somewhat unique. In general, introversion refers to how a person uses energy – extroverted people tend to thrive on social situations, needing the energy from these situations in order to renew. Introverts, on the other hand, find the energy generated in highly social situations to be draining. They require solitude in order to renew.
It is the same with children. Some typical early signs to look for:
- Hesitation in new situations
- Appears to be “lost” inside of him or herself
- gets grouchy when around people for too long
- overly “shy”
- Become agitated when there is a lot of sensory overload
- Most comfortable by him or herself or with 1 or 2 friends
- Needs “downtime” after school or highly social activities
3) What are the most challenging things facing parents of introverted children?
For the extroverted parent of an introvert, it is recognizing that their child does not NEED to be extroverted in order to be successful – there is strength, significant strength, in being introverted. For the introverted parent, it is making sure not to project any difficulties they had as children on to their own kids. Not all introverted children struggle related to their temperament.
Do you have an introvert in the house? What questions might you have???
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Reblogged this on Red, White & Grew™ | Pamela Price and commented:
Congratulations to author Christine Fonseca on the release of her new book about introverted kids. She’s got a Q&A up on her blog today that is worth a look if you’ve got an introverted kiddo–or if YOU were an introverted kid yourself!
Thanks Pamela!!!
I love that last part – if your child is introverted, don’t try to change it, embrace it. I’m the introvert in my family so I can empathize with these children and the parents who are trying to do the best for them. This book looks very interesting!
Thanks Emma – I, too, am an introverted and definitely misunderstood at times