Improve Your Parenting by Learning Your Child’s Temperament

*Remunerated Post*

Whether you are an experienced father of eight kids or a new mum, parenting can be difficult. Most parents want to do right by their children and themselves. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find that balance. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to raising your children the right way, consider learning your child’s temperament to better help you and them!

Defining Temperament

Generally, a temperament usually refers to a person’s core behavior or attitude. According to VeryWellFamily, the following six characteristics make up your temperament: sensitivity, activity level, intensity, regularity, adaptability, persistence, and distractibility. The way a person responds to different scenarios determines their temperament. To learn more about temperaments, you can check out these BetterHelp articles!

Learning Your Child’s Temperament

It may feel daunting at first to learn your child’s temperament, but it only takes some concentration and attention. You can determine your child’s personality by watching their reactions to various situations.

Activity Level

Firstly, consider their activity level. A person’s activity level refers to how much energy they have! For example, your child could show signs of laziness, or they may love relaxing activities.; this could indicate that they have a low activity level. On the other hand, your child could show an abundance of energy, often obnoxious. More than likely, they have a high activity level.

Intensity

Intensity is how your child will respond to some sort of stimulus. Look at how they communicate with you. Do they communicate with grand gestures and clear feelings, or do they respond quietly and reserved? If you have to regularly guess your child’s feelings or emotions, they probably have low intensity.

Regularity

Regularly focus on routines. Does your child love routines? A good way to know if your child loves routine is to watch them when their routine is broken. If they are upset or act out of character, they love stability. Dissimilarly, does your child love spontaneity? They may thrive when their routine is broken!

Sensitivity

Sensitivity refers to the reaction to stimuli. For example, children who have high sensitivity may become quickly overwhelmed by their environment. Things like bright lights and loud noises could bother them. Children who have low sensitivity will not be bothered by these things. In fact, they act as though nothing is happening.

Adaptability

According to Michigan State University, adaptability means how easily someone can adjust to change. When a child is highly adaptable they

can easily transition from one activity to the next. Children who are not highly adaptable may react negatively towards change.

Distractability

Distractibility is fairly straightforward. Does your child get distracted easily? Do they have any issues sitting still? If your child can focus despite their surroundings, they are not highly distractable. However, if your child’s mind races when surrounded by different things, they are highly distractable.

Persistence

Persistence is very similar to distractibility. Persistence refers to how long you can stay focused on a single activity. Some children seem to play with seventeen toys at one time, going from one to the next. Other children would rather play with one toy until they figure it out! A popular example is a puzzle. Children who are willing to stick with a puzzle from start to finish, no matter how difficult, are persistent. Children who struggle to stick with the puzzle are not as persistent.

How to Use Your Newfound Knowledge to Improve Your Parenting

As your child plays and talks, pay attention to how they react to various situations. By learning your child’s temperament, you can better equip yourself for the future. You can also teach your child how to handle frustrations and life’s circumstances. Temperaments make a great parenting asset. Don’t forget to consider your own temperament as you are parenting!