Extracurricular activities for a shy 6 year old....

mauraf

Hi
My 6 year old daughter (Junior Infants), is a happy content child – most of the time J Everyone is her friend (in her eyes), again, a good trait I think – but she can be painfully shy at times too – to the point that some people (adults and children), may pick it up as her being rude….takes her a while to get to know people and open up to them.
While everyone is her friend, she seems to ‘attach’ to one child in whatever environment she is in – be it cousins, school etc – to the extent that, everything she does goes back to ‘ well, x doesn’t do that / doesn’t have to wear that’….she has been ‘hurt’ (as only a 6 year old can), when this other child may play with someone else…..
She is my eldest, so I am not sure this is the norm….but I would like her to not be so attached to one individual and become more confident in her own ability to make decisions and friends. School reports (albeit only Junior Infants), is that she is well behaved and mixes well – no cause for any concern.

Can someone recommend some extra curricular activities / learnings that may assist in bringing her out of herself a bit more? She does Speech and Drama in school, and swimming (with her best pal)…

Am I overly concerned or making too much of this at this age?

RubyGirl

What about joining the Brownies.

Big Bag of Chips

I'd second the Brownies or Beavers. My kids are in the Beavers (Cubs Scouts for 6-8 year olds) and love it. Always activities being organised, and none of their friends are in the group so it forced them to make new friends.

The leaders are great and if your daughter is prone to latching onto one child she won't get the chance! They change "lodges" regularly to mix up the groups.

happywithlife

I enrolled my daughter in drama and her confidence has come on leaps and bounds.
She also does GAA and last year was hiding behind by legs at training. This year not a bother on her! She now mixes with people she doesn't know from school and there's no bother on her mixing as they mix up the teams at training regularly.

mauraf

Thanks for the tips everyone! I had looked into the Beavers, unfortunately there is a waiting list as long as your arm, and it was more or less said that, unless I could volunteer myself, I had no hope. I work FT and have a younger child, and a husband who works shifts - so I wouldnt be able to commit to helping out at the moment - much as I would love to...
I may try GAA - there is a club locally, and I know a few who have their kids there....but there is a 'risk' she could latch on there as a result!

May look around a bit more and see if I can be inspired!

Thanks again

M

Big Bag of Chips

Have a look around for other Beaver groups close to you. I had the same trouble with my kids. But eventually got a place for them in a group slightly further away from our area. They really love it.

Moonbeam

Is there a local performing arts class for kids? my 5 year old loves it and it does great things for her confidence.