i know there are enough gifted and outgoing people, but those are the ones who are successful in life, that is exactly what i want my child to be... rather than book worm and keep that to herself)
if you are bold and outgoing ... everything is at their feet, see all those at managerial positions..
But given choice............. (my title of topic)
Umm. Well, this is just my opinion, but I think it's important to let your child be the person she is and let define success for herself.
Many members of this forum have complained that some teachers and others say "You should just let your kid be a kid!" when they see our preschoolers reading. As though there's only one right way to be a kid --- and it doesn't involve liking math or science or reading before kindergarten. Our kids
are being kids: they're being the kids they are. And this is okay.
So maybe you need to let your daughter be the person
she is. By this, I don't mean that you should let her have anything she wants. I mean that you should accept her shyness as a part of who she is and don't try to force her into being a person she's not. Gently and positively helping her overcome shyness is good. Dumping on her and saying she'd be better off "dumb" is
not.
I'm bold and outgoing and gifted, and I would definitely not say that the world is at my feet.
WoW, that would be nice, but it's just not the way life is. I bet even Bill Gates gets frustrated with the system, just like everyone else.
Finally, as someone who works with children who have a hereditary developmental disorder and who could be described by uninformed people as "dumb," I can tell you that their families would give anything if their children were intelligent and healthy. They would not give a hoot about being shy or not. I know that we have our problems with schools, and they're real and they need to be fixed, but they're nothing compared to what families of developmentally disabled children go through.
Just my two cents.
Val
