Families For Life | Temperament: What It Is and Why It Matters
Children are born with their own ways of responding to the world. This is called temperament. Understanding your child’s temperament can help you choose parenting strategies that nurture your child’s development.
Temperament: What is it?
Temperament is the way children respond to the world.
You can think about your child’s temperament in terms of how much or how little she shows of these qualities:
Reactivity: This is how strongly children react to things like exciting events or not getting their own way. Reactive children tend to feel things strongly.
Self-regulation: This is how much children can control their behaviour, including the way they show their feelings. It’s also about how much children can control their attention and how persistent they are.
Sociability: This is how comfortable children are when they meet new people or have new experiences.
Adaptability: This is how quickly children can adjust to new situations or changes in their environment.
Each child is born with her own temperament, and you’ve probably been able to describe your child’s temperament since she was a baby. For example, ‘She’s very easy-going’ or ‘She likes her routines’.
Differences in temperament explain why your children might be quite different from one another. For example, your children might be more or less reactive, more or less self-regulated, and more or less sociable.
Adapting your parenting for your child’s temperament
You can’t change your child’s temperament – she is who she is, and that’s great.
However, you can adapt your parenting to your child’s individual temperament so that you nurture her development. You can help your child develop the positive parts of her temperament You can also understand the situations that your child might find hard because of her temperament, and help her learn how to handle these situations.
Here are some ideas for adapting your parenting to your child’s temperament.
Parenting more and less reactive temperaments
More reactive
If you have a very reactive child, she’s probably a lot of fun when something good happens. However, she might also be loud and dramatic when she’s unhappy about something, like not getting her own way. You might need to help this child learn how to respond more calmly – for example, by relaxing and using words for angry feelings.
Reactive children are often also very physically active and might need lots of time outdoors. You can help your child develop by encouraging her to try new sporting activities, for example. However, she may also need help winding down, so bedtime relaxation can be a good idea.
Less reactive
A less reactive child is usually easy to get along with, but might be less assertive. You might need to teach this child how to stand up for herself. For example, if you notice situations where your child could be more assertive, you could get her to practise handling those situations differently.
It’s also important to make sure less reactive children aren’t left out of family discussions. For example, ‘Nurul, you haven’t said much. Are you happy with that choice of movie?’
Children who are less reactive might also be less physically active. Your less active child will be happiest with lots of opportunities to use her fine motor skills, like doing craft or drawing. However, you may need to encourage physical activity. Try a trip to the park to collect leaves for a collage, for example. Another option could be for you both to walk to the library, instead of driving.
Parenting more and less self-regulated temperaments
More self-regulated
Children who find it easier to self-regulate are good at managing their reactions to emotions like frustration or excitement. They can calm down faster after something exciting or upsetting, and they’re less impulsive.
A child who’s very self-regulated might be more able to regulate her attention. She might be likely to keep going with something until she has got it right. She might also be good at coping with setbacks and able to get through tasks like homework without much supervision. However, she might be a bit of a perfectionist, so make sure she knows that it’s alright to make mistakes.
Less self-regulated
If your child has difficulty regulating her attention, she’ll need lots of encouragement to keep going at difficult tasks. These children might switch quickly from one activity to another. They can also be very creative. To help your child focus, you can try rewarding your child or making things fun by using games and creative activities.
Parenting more and less sociable temperaments
More sociable
If your child is very social, she’ll like being around other people, having playdates and doing group activities. This does not mean you have to organise playdates and activities for her all the time, because it’s also important for your child to learn to occupy herself.
Children with more sociable temperaments are also usually very adaptable and can cope with changes to routines quite easily. It’s great if you can give your adaptable child lots of new experiences, but make sure she still gets one-on-one time with you.
Less sociable
If your child isn’t very social, she’s probably quite good at playing by herself and might not need much help finding something to do. However, you might need to help her with making friends. If she’s not comfortable in groups or at parties, for example, you could try asking just one or two friends for a playdate at your house or the park.
If your less sociable child isn’t very adaptable, she’ll like having a regular routine, and might not cope well with changes. This can make it easy for you to plan things around her routine, but your child might also need help coping with changes or transitions.
Your child’s temperament might be different from yours. Some parents find that it’s easier to understand and care for a child whose temperament is similar to theirs. For example, if you like predictability, you might find it easy to care for a baby who needs regular sleeps. However, if you like being able to do things whenever you want, it might take you a while to get used to your child’s liking for routine.
How temperament can change
You might see some changes in your child’s temperament as your child becomes more mature. This happens as your child’s experiences affect the way she behaves in different situations.
For example, a child who used to be very distracted at school might become an adult who can concentrate well in business meetings. This might be because she has developed more motivation as she has matured, or because she has learned strategies to manage her distraction.
© raisingchildren.net.au, translated and adapted with permission
Explore more