A quiet child deserves invitations to speak that do not turn silence into a public problem.

Quiet is a temperament long before it is a difficulty. When a room notices it out loud, asking why someone is so shy or urging them to say hello to everyone, the silence becomes a thing the child now has to manage in front of an audience. That almost always makes them quieter. The invitation was real; the spotlight was the problem.

Offer openings that can be declined without anyone watching: a question while you are both washing up, a task that puts you side by side, a pause that lasts. Let them join at the edge of a conversation rather than its centre.