Even if the kid is not doing well, avoid giving a harsh dressing down. Sarcasm and belittling words are an absolute no-no, especially in public. Nothing shrivels up the flowering bud of confidence than that. Such drawbacks should be explained one-on-one quietly. If you just shout, there would be no improvement in your little one. Instead, she will lose whatever confidence was present and perform worse. “Ami is absolutely useless at eating by herself”-make a few such remarks to anybody and you ensure that Ami remains useless. Encourage her to interact with people. Kids usually lack the boldness to go up to a stranger. Friendship and fraternising should be encouraged. Let them visit cousins and relations and have their friends over now and then. Madhu, new to school, remained subdued and quiet. Her mother encouraged him to find out the name of just one kid in his class every day. This worked and slowly Madhu opened up.