Saying being shy is a bad thing is the same as saying having red hair is a bad thing! How silly, being introverted or extroverted is a fundamental part of our personality and is present at birth. Mothers of outgoing or shy children will be able to tell whether they have a shy/outgoing child almost from when their bub was born.

People are so ignorant. It is true that you can 'train' a child to act less shy, but it will be just that, an act, and the stress they feel whilst acting outgoing is probably doing them some psychological damage.