Notes
- Temperament is the way children respond to the world.
- Temperament influences how children deal with emotions, regulate their behavior, how they feel towards new people, and how they adapt to new situations.
- You can promote your child’s development with parenting strategies that match their temperament.
Temperament: what it is? Temperament is the way children respond to the world. Your child’s temperament can be determined by the extent to which the following traits are present:
- Reactivity – This is how strongly a child responds to provocative events or things not going their way. Reactive children tend to feel things strongly.
- Self-control – This is how strongly a child has control over their behavior, including how they express their emotions. It also relates to how well they can control their attention and how persistent they are.
- Sociality – This is how comfortably children feel when meeting new people. Adaptability – This refers to how quickly children adapt to new situations and changes in their environment.
Parenting to Your Child’s Temperament
You can’t change your child’s personality. Your child is who they are, and that’s a wonderful thing. But you can foster their development by parenting to their temperament. You can help your child develop the positive aspects of their temperament. You can also help your child understand situations that he or she may find difficult because of his or her temperament and help them learn how to deal with those situations.
If you have a highly reactive child, your child will probably be loud and energetic when something good happens. But your child may also be loud and dramatic when he or she is unhappy about something, such as when something doesn’t go his or her way. You may need to help your child respond more calmly, for example by helping them relax and use words to express angry feelings.
Reactive children are often very physically active and may need a lot of time outdoors. For example, encouraging your child to try new sports activities can help their development. However, your child may need support to relax, so it’s a good idea to do so before bedtime.
Low Reactivity
Low-reactivity children are usually easy to understand because they appear calm and collected, but they may not be assertive. You may need to help your child learn to stand up for themselves. For example, if you notice that your child is having a hard time saying that he wants to go on the slide, you can role-play and try to handle the situation in a different way. It’s also important to make sure your less reactive child isn’t excluded from family discussions. For example: “Harper, you’re not saying much. Are you happy with the movie choices?”
Children who are less reactive may also be less physically active. Your less active child is happiest when he has plenty of opportunities to use his fine motor skills, like crafting or drawing. However, you may need to encourage him to be more physically active. For example, go to the park to collect leaves for a collage, or, if possible, walk to the library together instead of driving.
