Ask your child for information in a gentle, nonjudgmental way, with specific, clear questions. Instead of โHow was your day?โ try โWhat did you do in math class today?โ Instead of โDo you like your teacher?โ ask โWhat do you like about your teacher?โ Or โWhat do you not like so much?โ Let her take her time to answer. Try to avoid asking, in the overly bright voice of parents everywhere, โDid you have fun in school today?!โ Sheโll sense how important it is that the answer be yes.
Susan CainIt's not that there is no small talk...It's that it comes not at the beginning of conversations but at the end...Sensitive people...'enjoy small talk only after they've gone deep' says Strickland. 'When sensitive people are in environments that nurture their authenticity, they laugh and chitchat just as much as anyone else.
Susan CainAs a young boy, Charles Darwin made friends easily but preferred to spend his time taking long, solitary nature walks. (As an adult he was no different. โMy dear Mr. Babbage,โ he wrote to the famous mathematician who had invited him to a dinner party, โI am very much obliged to you for sending me cards for your parties, but I am afraid of accepting them, for I should meet some people there, to whom I have sworn by all the saints in Heaven, I never go out.โ)
Susan Cain