When do children feel embarrassed

Embarrassment can be a powerful emotion for kids. Something that sounds small to you — like giving the wrong answer in class— may feel huge to your child.

Instead, let them know you take their feelings seriously. Then, focus on moving on and modeling healthy coping skills. That was amazing! Embarrassing situations happen to everyone from time to time. But if a child regularly comes home from school upset, or has a major change in behavior or mood, there may be something more serious going on.

Bullying could be a problem. Or if your child is so worried about being embarrassed that they avoid activities most kids enjoy, they could be struggling with social anxiety disorder, and may need help. For most adults minor embarrassments are just a part of life — annoying, but inevitable and hardly a big deal. But for many kids, embarrassing experiences can be very upsetting and, in some cases, may lead to serious issues like anxiety and avoidance.

Kids look to parents for cues on how to manage difficult emotions like embarrassment. Taking a look at how you deal with embarrassing experiences at home will help you set an example of healthy behavior for your child. Something that sounds small to you — giving the wrong answer in class for example — may feel huge to your child.

But if he is love-struck, resist getting all nosy about it. Then if he wants to talk about it, let him. If not, give him space. By Tamekia Reece December 11, Save Pin FB More. Credit: Alexandra Grablewski. Originally published in the January issue of Parents magazine. Parents Magazine. By Tamekia Reece. Be the first to comment! No comments yet. Close this dialog window Add a comment. Add your comment Cancel Submit. Close this dialog window Review for. Back to story Comment on this project.

Tell us what you think Thanks for adding your feedback. The embarrassment thing works both ways, after all. Sometimes we parents are the ones who are embarrassing our kids! We parents are human. And when this happens not if this happens — when this happens , we have an opportunity to apologize and make amends. I can see now how that would have embarrassed you. We can make a conscious decision to do things differently: to do our best to defy all those stereotypes about that totally embarrassing mom or dad; and to try to embarrass our kids a little less.

This blog post is based upon my most recent parenting column for CBC Radio. Ann Douglas is the author of numerous books about pregnancy and parenting including, most recently, Happy Parents, Happy Kids and Parenting Through the Storm. She is also the weekend parenting columnist for CBC Radio. Add A Child. Something went wrong.

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