Saturday, January 24, 2009

Temperament can be exhibited in a child as young as three weeks and that it is firmly in place by six weeks.

Temperament can be exhibited in a child as young as three weeks and that it is firmly in place by six weeks. Temperament is defined as the combination of mental and emotional traits of a person. It is a natural predisposition toward a unique behavioral style. Remember that we have all kinds of predispositions; however, we still have choice. While many of our initial temperaments come with us from before birth, both environment and choice play an ever increasing part in who we are as we grow older. There are many stories of people who remade themselves. Gandhi is a great example. When I left home for college for the first time, I made some hard decisions to remake myself in many ways. These decisions and the changes I made have had a profound affect on my own life...The last type of temperament is called the Active/Aggressive child.
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14 comments:

Jennifer said...

So with all these different temperments that are among us I guess it takes a person with proper knowledge to know what to do in these situations, by the way Gandhi was a good example!

Anonymous said...

I believe it is very important to say YES to our children as much as possible, but it is also so important to help a child to understand NO too. As adults, we have to learn to respect the boundaries of others and by teaching a child to respect another's "no" we are helping them to understand boundaries at an early age!

Anonymous said...

I've heard it said many times that Patience is a great virtue. I believe working with your child, beginning at a very early age can positively enfluence your child's temperament. A lot of love and patients!

Katie Bowman said...

I also would like to add they reflect YOUR behavior. If you are calm cool and collect, they tend to be the same way with and for you.

Don M said...

It is very important to know the children you care for. Temperment observances is important. I find that children are different with different thoughts, viewpoints, behaviors. But let's not forget they are still children needing proper nurturing for guidance and developing. Knowing what to say yes to as well as no to should not be taken for granted but really consider what we say yes or no to.

Anonymous said...

I have had to change my own temperament on my Diabetes. When I developed it, I was the perfect patient according to my doctor. When I hit college I was sick of checking my blood, doing shots and watching what I ate. My grandfather, best friend and childhood friend all died during this time. I started to not do shots or check my blood during the day. I started to notice bad changes in my health and started to get back on track. Today I am doing better but I still have my moments like any other Diabetic. It shows how our temperament changes and how hard and patient we have to work at it.
MAA

Unknown said...

I have dealt with every single one of those temperaments and it is very true not to excuse a child because of their temperament. It may be tricky dealing with some of those, but staying calm and patient and not giving up helps tremendously.

Savanah St. Clair said...

Implementing positive reinforcers: for Idaho Stars.
Last week I was able to study my own tendencies to reinforce negative and positive behavior in my three year old twins. I was happy to catch myself being good by reinforcing the positive behavior of one sibling, and I did this without making a comparison between the siblings as well. I was successful in implementing the reinforcement of positive behavior to some degree, but I questioned whether or not I might still be reinforcing negative behavior of the other twin who was not being cooperative at that time. So, I wonder, is time out a successful means to provide consequences to a 3 year old? Or does that just reinforce negative behavior?

CR Petersen said...

There is no absolute, or even close rule for what will work for a certain age. Children are different, situations are different. Of course there are absolutes about abuse or neglect.
On one occasion I grounded my daughter from the phone. That would have had no impact on any of my other children. On another occasion I grounded my son from TV, that would have had no effect on any of my other children. Punishment decreases a behavior, reinforcement increases a behavior you want to increase. Both should be tied to the behavior, child, and will change over time.

Unknown said...

Do you feel that saying yes as often as possible and only saying no when absolutely necessary that makes it hard for the child to accept when they hear no?

Larissa said...

I am a little confused about the whole say "yes" as often as possible. I get that "no" is kind of a negative word and that you shouldn't over use it, but if you say yes to the kid all the time would it be harder for them to accept when you do say no?

CR Petersen said...

The idea is to get children used to the concept that there are conditional yesses. "Yes when" "yes after" etc. So often it is too easy to just say no when it's not really a complete no, but it should really be a conditional yes.

Unknown said...

I don't really have any questions about this training. I guess i would ask for examples of changes in environment and temperament that could be used in the classroom?

Also, what would some markers for seeking further or professional assistance with a child's behavior be?

CR Petersen said...

If you are unable to help the child make positive changes and/or if the child becomes a danger to self or others.