When the baby doesn't fuss very often, sleep peacefully through the night, take long naps, eats her food without spitting out and can happily entertain herself, we will say "what a good baby"
Does this mean that all babies who don't fit this description are "bad" ?
Each child is born with a unique personalities and unique style of processing and responding the world around her.
While attitudes, behavior, decisions may change with time and experience, our temperament appears to be part of us for life.
Although some temperaments are "easier" than others, none are good or bad, right or wrong, they are just different. Understanding them will help you work with her to learn, to grow and to thrive.
The nine temperaments are
1. Activity level
The level of motor activity and the proportion of active and inactive periods.
For eg an infant with high activity may kick and splash so much in his bath, while a low activity infant can turn over but doesn't choose to do so.
If your kid has a HIGH activity level, you will want to provide lots of opportunities for safe exploration and play. He may need some activity play before settling down to focus on a task.
If your kid has a LOW activity level, you need to invite them to go exploring with bright toys, interesting noises.
2. Rhythmicity
Refers the predictability of biological function, such as hunger, sleeping, bowel movements.
One infant might have one bowel movement daily in the morning, while other infant's schedule seems different each day. One child might eat her biggest meal at lunch, while another prefers dinner or small meals but often.
Understanding this will help you build effective routine for everyday life together and will allow you to see these differences as part of her personality rather than as misbehavior or lack of cooperation
3. Approach of Withdrawal
Describes the way a child reacts to a new situation or stimulus such as new food, toy, person or place.
Approach responses often displayed by mood expression (smilling, facial expression) or motor activity (swallowing a new food, reaching a new toy).
Withdrawal responses look more negative and are expressed by mood (crying, fussing, facial expression) or motor activity (moving away, spitting food out or pushing a new toy or person)
Your child's ability to feel comfortable with the world around him is part of his inborn personality. If your little one take longer to adjust, you can look for small steps to help him adjust to change and new situations without taking his reaction personally.
4. Adaptability
Describes how a child reacts to a new situation over time - her ability to adjust and change.
Some kids initially spit out a new food but accept it after a few trial tastes. Others accept new things far more slowly.
It's tempting to try to force your child to adapt to your busy schedule. But wise parents learn to adjust their schedules to their child's adaptability. It's true that you may not get all your errands done on any given day, but isn't it more important to have a cheerful and calm child ?
5. Sensory Threshold
The level of sensitivity to sensory input varies from one child to other and affects how they behave and view the world.
Some may wake up from a nap every time a door opens no matter how softly, while others can sleep through a carnival.
Does your child like noise and music or does he become fussy ? Will he eat new foods od does he spit out unusual tastes or textures ?
IF your child is more sensitive to stimulation, you wil need to go slowly when introducing new toys, new experiences and new people.
6. Quality of mood
Have you ever noticed how some children and adults react to life with pleasure and acceptance, while others can find fault with everything and everybody ?
One baby might favor her family with smile and coos, while another feels compelled to cry a bit.
Be sensitive to their mood, as he grows, help him to see the world for the lovely place it is.
IF your baby beams a happy face to the world, enjoy the gift and take moment to savor the day
7. Intensity of Reactions
Children often respond to events around them in different ways.
Some smile or merely take a look, then go back to what they were doing ; others react with action and emotion.
Some wear their hearts, they giggle and shriek with laughter when happy and throw impressive tantrums when angry.
8. Distractibility
Refers to the way in which an outside stimulus interferes with a child's present behavior and his willingness to be diverted.
Some kid do their own activity without noticing anything else in the room, some baby will stop nursing when there's people walk pass, some kid can't concentrate on eating when the whole family is at the table and need to be feed ahead of the rest of the family.
Distraction and redirection are two most common and effective methods for managing the behavior of young children.
Rather than becoming frustrated about your child's distractibility, look for ways to make her environment safe and easy to explore and recognize and accept her inborn temperament.
9. Persistence and Attention Span
Persistence refers to a child's willingness to pursue an activity in the face of obstacles or difficulties
Attention span refers to the length of time he will pursue an activity without interruption.
Both are usually related.
A toddler who is content to play puzzle for half an hour at a time has a fairly long attention span, while another who plays with ten different toys in ten minutes or less has a short one.
No combination is necessarily better than another, they're simply different and present different challenges in parenting and teaching
Understanding a child's temperament helping a child develop acceptable behavior and skills through patience, encouragement, kind and firm teaching.
For eg, a child with short attention span will still need to learn to accept some structure.
Besides, an understanding of temperament can help you and your kid adjust and create a better fit.
Even with understanding and the best intentions, most parents struggle occasionally with the children's temperaments. You may lack patience or get hooked into reacting to behavior instead of acting thoughtfully.
Awareness and understanding do not mean we become perfect. However, once you have had time to cool off, you need to resolve it with your children.
It's important to help children work for IMPROVEMENT not PERFECTION
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