Photo: Penguin Random House
?Why are you being so quiet"?
People have been asking author Susan Cain that question her whole life, and she is never quite sure how to answer it because it implies that being quiet is a bad thing?and Cain believes that being an introvert can hold great power. As a follow-up to her bestselling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can?t Stop Talking, Cain has dedicated her newly released book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, as a guide for kids and teens. We spoke to Cain to find out why introverted kids are awesome and what parents can do to support them.
Why are you so focused on the strengths of introverts"
We live in a culture that both explicitly and implicitly tells all of its citizens that they should be extroverted. Children pick up this idea from a very early age and start to question their own preferences on how they spend their time. They have all kinds of strengths as introverts that they?re not even aware of because they?re expending a lot of energy trying to be more extroverted and not a lot of energy drawing on the strengths that have come to them naturally. This seems like a big problem to me. Many people who have contributed to our culture?from Albert Einstein and Dr. Seuss to Rosa Parks and J.K. Rowling?were quite introverted, solitary and careful. They contributed because of their quiet temperament, not in spite of it. Is there a difference between kids who are shy...