Lest you think for a moment that your child can’t succeed in this world being introverted, being just way they are, here is a list of introverts who have made tremendous contributions and achieved great things by any standards, during many different time periods: Warren Buffett (the world’s richest man or greatest investor), Mother Theresa, Queen Elizabeth II, Jackie Kennedy, Michael Jordan, Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg, Katherine Hepburn, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton and Peter Great. If you would like to learn more, please visit my website. I have many inspirational articles about introverts who took world on their own terms and were successful.

I’m afraid none of activities I’ve mentioned for a typical school day are of any intrinsic value to introverts, although your child may very much enjoy learning subjects, playing a musical instrument or engaging in sports as an individual. Being required to give enormous amounts of energy to socialization process, trying to be something s/he isn’t, leaves them little time for things they do find valuable, such as quiet times, reading, walking, collecting things, becoming an expert at something, watching a video or DVD, browsing on internet (the internet is an introvert’s heaven) or playing with pets.

The second reason for closed door is because introverts focus and concentrate. That’s why we consider small talk, unnecessary socializing and group activities such a waste of time. We don’t benefit from social aspect and on other hand, it destroys our focus and concentration.

Some of us remember being forced by a teacher or by peer pressure to join a study group only to agonize through hour of wasted chitchat before going home and beginning to “really study”. It’s like double jeopardy. To an introvert, most “group activities” and “study groups” are a mystery, if not to say a form of Medieval torture and we are doubly penalized by time it wastes when we could be studying and time we have to spend afterwards to make sure we learn stuff our way.

I run polls on my website to gather information from real people about their introverted experience. Most of them comment on exhaustion and hopelessness they felt during school years. They found it almost impossible to keep up with social demands of school and accomplish other things that they valued. It seemed they were working twice as hard just to stay in place. When your introverted child or teen returns home after days like this, they are exhausted.

If there is one symbol I could pick for difference between extroverts and introverts, it is closed door. This is something near and dear to heart of every introvert that seems to strike terror in heart of every extrovert.

What are we doing behind closed door? We’re filling up with energy. You may find us lying on bed staring at ceiling, listening to kind of music we like, thumbing through picture albums or collections, writing in our journal, browsing internet or just rearranging and cleaning our room. We are enjoying some quiet time to ourselves. If we are interrupted, this adds more stress to stress we’re trying to recover from because even when we’re relaxing, we are intense and focused. To an introvert, interruptions are stressful. We learn to cope with them as a reality but when we are exhausted, we need to set some limits. Children can’t do this without your help and support.

When I wrote about this on an introverts' forum, Shelley responded quickly, “Funny that you should mention [personal space]. I recall moving into a big closet in room that my older sister and I shared so that I could have my own private place. I had a bed made on floor inside there with all extra blankets and pillows in house and then I'd go in there and shut door. Sometimes I'd draw, sometimes I'd just take a nap. By way, this was when I was grade school age.”

Another forum member replied, “I have closet envy We moved quite frequently when I was young, and not usually to places where I had a room of my own (really a room at all) until I was a teenager. The couch being my usual bed, you see. But I remember with delight dragging home a refrigerator box, cutting a little door and window, and hanging a night light on an extension cord through "ceiling." My Mother, an introvert herself, must have understood, letting me keep box for as long as we lived in that location.”

This Christmas, heck, this weekend, give your introverted kid gift that keeps on giving … personal space. Be it a room of their own with a door that closes, a closet or a box, it’s kindest thing you could do for little one you love.

What happened at that party? Leonardo threw these ideas together, and BAM! What emerged was idea for a perfectly designed parachute as well as a remarkable helicopter--hundreds of years before Wright brothers started building their flying machines! Talk about a soaring success! Don't you wish you'd been there?

#5 Offer best seat in house. You usually sit in that nice chair there by fireplace, but when a special guest comes over, you graciously offer it.

When you are entertaining a new thought, give it consideration it deserves. Every time you think a new thought, your brain is actually creating a new neural pathway. It's like a jungle in there, full of nerve endings and ganglia and all kinds of connections. Help it along. Make it comfortable.

Once you've considered an idea, that pathway is there. All you have to do to keep it "live" is to keep going down that path often enough to clear trail, but not so often that it becomes a rut.

#6 Listen, inquire, and show interest. Ask questions. Dig a little deeper. Find connections to other people, places, and activities. Learn as much as you can about your new idea.

#7 Relinquish control. Just like when you introduce guests to each other, you should not try to control outcome. Some guests might hate each other on sight, while others click instantly. People might argue, or a married guest might sneak off to a back room with someone other than their partner. Anything can happen!

That's not up to you. You're having this party to offer an opportunity for people to connect. Make introductions, insert a few comments, smile and acknowledge everyone, but for most part, just let things happen. Don't direct flow of ideas.

#8 Leave room for future possibilities. Even if you decide this guest of yours is insufferable, you don't want to burn any bridges. Be gracious, and be glad you were excellent enough to offer invitation.

You're not going to like every idea that comes your way. And you might not find any other interest or idea that connects with it initially. That's fine. You need to develop ability to recognize useful concepts and distinguish valuable and valid ideas from those lacking a strong foundation. That's what critical thinking is all about.

But you also need to file that idea away so that you can look it up if and when you DO meet a likely candidate for another gathering of thoughts.

There is a great deal of room for different styles of mental entertaining. Maybe you're best at dealing with only two ideas at a time, or maybe you want to throw a huge bash and welcome all comers.

Entertain in whatever style suits you. Tete-a-tete or bacchanal--it doesn't matter, as long as it's happening.

Learn how to entertain a thought. With a little effort, you'll become a perfect host or hostess to new ideas that come your way. And guess what? You'll have no hangover, no cleaning up, and no regrets.

Party on!