My 5 year old daughter gets shy in new environments at times. When she gets comfortable me though, watch out. She has a booming personality to deal with and is the sweetest kid - she needs to get used to things for that to fully come out.

Recently, my wife and daughter went to a parent/teacher session at school to chat. It was a mini-assessment on what my daughter knows and to build a plan around her learning for the year. When my daughter had to answer questions, she did it in a very soft voice. She got the answers correct, but she was feeling shy or nervous for some reason. My wife had a talk with her afterwards about making sure that she used her strong voice to answer the questions and speak up in class. My daughter isn’t meek at home and shouldn’t act any differently when she is at school or elsewhere.

The teacher did talk to my wife separately about our daughter and said she was such a leader in class. She was always volunteering for table captain (not sure what job that was), door holder, or a variety of jobs in the classroom. It was great to hear and it shows that comfort ability is starting to take hold because her personality is coming out.

My daughter has missed a lot of time in the beginning of the school year, but now is starting to settle into class. I’m glad she is showing what a leader she is in class and I hope she continues to do that as the year goes on. She’s a smart cookie and one with a good compass, so hopefully she displays those qualities all the time, even if she feels a little shy.