Sometimes being shy is far more devastating than just being a little bashful, or timid on occasion; it can often times ruin one's life. Growing up shy is a painful journey full of disappointments, and missed opportunities. School is, more often than not, a much dreaded place where the shy person is plowed under, and stomped on by more confident classmates. The shy person plays the victim, the doormat that the more aggressive and competitive students, and even many teachers, use, and abuse to their own ends, to bolster their own egos. The shy person is often accustomed to failure, and sooner or later-usually sooner- they cease to attempt anything new or challenging, because, "why try when I'm going to fail anyway." Being shy is a lonely, lonely place to be. Living in the shadows of society, not feeling quite human, not feeling a sense of belonging. Opinions and ideas are kept to one's self; seldom shared, because, shyness is often viewed as stupidity. Exp: Two children are asked a question. The first child- the shy one- even though they may know the answer, shrugs his/her shoulders and mumbles something like, "I don't know." Child number two, bolder, and more confident doesn't know the answer, but pipes up with one anyway, and even though the answer is wrong that child is viewed as more intelligent and knowledgeable.

Do you know how it feels to miss out on going to partys, never to have danced. Life becomes a unreal world of what ifs and if onlys. Life inside the lonely world of the shy person is dismal at best, "just killing time until death ends the pain."

That cute little tyke hiding behind his mother, or father's legs, "Oh look at him, he's shy, isn't he cute..." No it's not cute, It's crippling, just as sure as a spinal injury can cripple physically, labeling a child ‘shy' can cripple emotionally. Don't let your child be labeled shy.