Most shy people have either extremely demanding or over-protective parents. Most couples in the competitive developed world have small families, and they focus more intensely on their offspring than did their ancestors. All parents want their children to do well, but if this becomes an obsession, the child is no longer judged as a person but as a means to an end. Negligent parents can also do a lot of damage. A child that is not listened to grows up feeling that nothing he or she says is of any value.