Often this includes avoiding activities they would truly enjoy, just because they are not comfortable with the risks involved. They may need the approval of others in order to view themselves as successful. Sometimes children will come home from school or extracurricular activities feeling a sense of failure. Children often compare themselves to their peers. Your child may be afraid of your reactions, as well.
Some parents react by using sarcasm or ridiculing their child.
This type of teasing is never appropriate. Children have difficulty sorting out what is meant by teasing and what is a direct attack on them. Parents may also react by becoming angry. But this will only reinforce the child's sense of failure. They may even go so far as to blame someone else or deny the failure.