Understanding Your Child’s Temperament

  1. Nature AND Nurture: Understanding Your Child's Temperament.
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But, like every child, they still need love and affection. Jodie Benveniste is a psychologist, parenting author and the director of Parent Wellbeing.

Understanding how a child’s temperament affects behaviour

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Birth View all Forums. Baby birth-6 months Baby months View all Forums. He will need help getting used to routine and will need a high degree of consistency —this may be difficult if the parent themselves is irregular.

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Provide activities that stimulate and try to avoid too many of those that require sitting still for long periods. Allow opportunities to let off steam after being confined. Parents can help by forewarning of activities, practising in role play, descriptively praising the child for taking some risks, reminding them of similar times when they were successful and allowing time. Help the child recognise that their first reaction may not be their final one —they can change their minds.

Encourage them to see themselves as deep thinkers.

Understanding your child's temperament

Celebrate little successes with them by using descriptive praise and talking about the good in many things. Keep a golden book where you record their own good behaviours, successes and things to be grateful for.

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This child thrives in situations where there is a lot of interaction, activity, and stimulation. Extroverts are usually quite social and gregarious and are able to talk to new people. They are comfortable in groups, quick to approach others including strangers, and enjoy working in busy stimulating environments. Conversely, they can feel quite lonely, bored and drained if they have to spend a lot of time alone. They may act before thinking, not listen to others and flare up quickly.

Introverts, on the other hand, can become drained by too much interaction.

Nature AND Nurture: Understanding Your Child's Temperament | Urban Child Institute

They draw their energy from the inner world of thoughts, emotions, and ideas. They tend to be more contemplative and are likely to pursue solitary activities that allow them to work quietly and alone.

The better you know your child the better you will be able to draw out the best in him or her and be less frustrated. Email will not be published.

Be kept informed about events, offers and top tips for parents. And get a FREE parenting guide. Understanding your Child's Temperament Any parent and certainly anyone with more than one child will attest to the fact that children are born with inbuilt personality traits, characteristics that define how they interact with the world. Other writers have different ways of characterising temperamental traits.

Some young children like to explore new places and meet new people, while others appear shy and can take a long time to get used to new situations. These kinds of differences in temperament can mean that parenting strategies that worked well with one child may not work so well with another. Children who are more naturally calm, open to new experiences and easy to get along with are easier to parent. Children who are highly reactive and shy often have difficulty with managing fears and worries.

This may place more demands on parents and carers for support.

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Children who are highly reactive and have trouble managing frustration may show this through impulsive or challenging behaviour. These children are often more difficult for parents and carers to manage. Adults can learn to anticipate issues before they occur and avoid frustrating themselves and the child by using approaches that do not match his or her temperament.