As a parent, you may have contemplated the origin of the subtle differences between your child and their siblings or peers. These unique traits emerge from a child’s temperament and are likely to form the building blocks of their personality as they shape the child’s regulation and reactivity.
While disposition in children can be classified into types, not all children fall under these categories. In addition, each type has a different effect requiring different management methods and parental adaptation.
Temperament is an important feature of social and emotional health. The word “temperament” refers to the way we approach and react to the world. It is our own personal “style” and is present from birth. There are three general types of temperaments: easy-going, slow-towarm, and active or Difficult.
- Easy-going children are generally happy and active from birth and adjust easily to new situations and environments.
- Slow-to-warm children are generally observant and calm and may need extra time to adjust to new situations.
- Children with active or Difficult temperaments often have varied routines (eating, sleeping, etc.) and approach life with zest.
Nine common traits can help describe a child’s temperament and the way he or she reacts to and experiences the world. The Temperament Chart on the next page explains these traits in more detail. They are:
- Activity level
- Regularity
- Adaptability
- Distractibility
- Sensitivity
- Persistence
- Intensity
- Approachability
- Mood
What Are The Types Of Child Temperament?
Modern classifications typify child temperament into easy or flexible, difficult or challenging, and slow to warm up or shy.
1. Easy Temperament
The most commonly seen temperament is where children are relatively even-tempered and stable in their sleep, hunger, and emotionality.
They prefer to establish and function around a routine; however, when needed, they also flexibly adapt to changes with a relatively positive effect.
They are organized and cooperative when given tasks and tend to function well even in group settings and noisy surroundings.
2. Difficult Temperament
Children with difficult temperaments often display impulsivity and are the opposite of flexibility. They cannot function around a structured routine and prefer to be spontaneous in their activities.
They may be extremely fussy, irritable, withdrawn, and exhibit a negative outlook in social settings. They are likely to exhibit intense aversiveness or anxious reactivity when exposed to novel experiences and get easily distracted by noises and flashing lights.
However, they are also highly active, persistent, diligent, spirited, and decisive when dedicated to a task.
3. Slow To Warm Up Temperament
Children who are slow to warm are often known as having a shy temperament due to their high sensitivity. These children tend to show dislike towards people and crowds and may react negatively when forced to interact.
In addition, they are slow to express emotions or engage in activities that are of low intensity. They fear new experiences, yet when exposed at length, may gradually warm up to the unexplored surroundings. Initial inhibitions towards new experiences and social scenarios tend to fade away with repeated exposure.
Despite these subtypes, parents may find their children not particularly fitting into any category due to mixed temperaments. This is relatively common across children and does not indicate any abnormality in the child.
What Are The Effects Of Child Temperament?
Child temperament affects the child’s task orientation, personal-social flexibility, and reactivity both at home and school.
1. Effects Of Easy Temperament
An easy child may have a positive mindset, be regular in routines, and be slow to react to stressors at home and school environments, in peer groups, and life situations.
They may be socially well-adjusted, outspoken, and dedicated, which is well-appreciated and adored by everyone around them. An authoritative parenting style may help enrich their positive qualities and motivate them toward success in all spheres of life.
2. Effects Of Slow To Warm Up Temperament
A slow-to-warm-up child may take time and space to observe their surroundings and assess people around them before adjusting to them. They may not be quick to express themselves, are less sensitive, and may or may not stick to schedules.
Due to their judicious nature, shy children are susceptible to social and peer pressure, forcing them to either withdraw or have intense reactions to minor problems. However, positive parenting can help coach and guide them toward being more receptive to change.
3. Effects Of Difficult Temperament
A difficult child may be highly active with irregular biological rhythms and high reactivity. They may be highly sensitive to external interruptions and their surroundings which makes it challenging for them to adapt to new stimuli.
Spirited children also find it difficult to focus on tasks and are susceptible to distractions, making school environments challenging.
At home, parents and immediate caregivers may be critical, authoritarian, and hard on their children due to their inability to manage a difficult child.
How To Deal With A Difficult Temperament In A Child?
Dealing with a difficult child requires parents to use the goodness of fit where the parent positively adapts their methods of caregiving and disciplining to enrich the child’s personal reactivity and experiences towards the world.
1. Stick To Healthy Routines
Preparing a stable routine for the child and ensuring the regulation of tasks and biological rhythms will enable them to be more organized.
Having stable boundaries on when they are expected to eat, sleep, play, and study can enable them to adapt better to transitions. It is because they grow to learn what to expect and are not caught off guard.
2. Be A Role Model
A good parenting fit will enable the child to learn respect, social and communication skills, adaptability, emotional expression, persistence, and self-regulation. Power struggles with authoritarian parents or extremely permissive parenting may make the child more difficult to handle.
3. Use Positive Parenting
The way you talk to your child who is excessively active, moody, intensely reactive, or hypersensitive plays a major role in deciding how they react to any situation. An encouraging parent may be more successful in helping a child adjust to change and teaching them to verbalize their feelings.
In addition, a parent who is aware of how their own reactivity and temperament affect the child may be better able to control their child and guide them towards socially acceptable behavior.
4. Understand Your Child
Parental knowledge of their child’s temperament allows them to understand their triggers, comfort zones, and reactivity.
It enables the parent to modify their disciplining methods, parenting style, and personal temperament to suit the needs of their child while also playing to their own strengths. Avoid using coercion on them as a means to get them to stop when they overdo or cooperate when they refuse.
5. Accept Your Child
A parent who uses harsh methods to modify their child’s temperament entirely does more harm than good. Accepting your child’s idiosyncrasy, playing to their strengths, and adapting teaching methods to suit their temperament may help them learn more self-control over their psycho-motor reactivity and emotional expression.
6. Avoid Comparisons
Comparing them with another may be perceived as criticism and parental dislike by your child, making them less self-confident and more reactive or stubborn.
They may refuse to listen and behave in ways opposite to the cited example or misbehave as a way to express rebellion.