When we discuss this with other parents we discover that they too share this dilemma. Is it a children’s conspiracy to drive us crazy, or as Bill Cosby comically refers to it, is it “brain damage”? Whatever it is, they have it and they are making us catch it in the process!

What we are witnessing is a natural unveiling of both the child’s individuality and inherited nature. Beginning to show itself between the ages of five to seven and then more clearly between the seventh and fourteenth year, it is the building block of your child’s behavior for all later years. It is not craziness, conspiracy, or brain damage. It is not a defiant act or pure rebellion. It is not happening only to you or your child. It is happening everywhere, to everyone. What we are dealing with here is your child’s temperament.

The study of temperaments is nothing new. It has been around since the time of the Ancient Greeks. Most parents are not familiar with it because in our fast moving times where everyone has a product to sell or a gimmick, it is easier to label your child as a “problem” and to prescribe a treatment or a pill. We are responsible for this as consumers because, as a society, we have gotten away from taking responsibility for ourselves and our children. With our busy schedules and lives, it is easier to entrust our children’s behavior to the “experts” as we busily go about our day.

If the child walks around with droopy shoulders and head hung low, we immediately jump to the conclusion that whatever problem we have has taken affect on him. If the child is loud, aggressive, and forceful, we assume that we must have been slack in the area of manners. If the child is constantly snacking and foraging for food, we instantly foresee a weight problem. and try to keep snacks away from the child. If the child has difficulty concentrating on any one thing, we assume some attention deficit and reach for medication.

These are not the answers to the problems we all face with our children.

The answer comes in recognizing and understanding our children and the four temperaments. We must realize first and foremost that there is no good or bad temperament; each has both positive and negative traits. All people have qualities and attributes that could fall into any of the four temperaments, but one temperament always dominates. The domineering factor is usually influenced by the physical build of the child. Rudolf Steiner wrote “As a rule, melancholic children are tall and slender, the sanguine have the most normal build. Phlegmatic children tend to be round with protruding shoulders, and those with a short, stout build so that the head almost sinks into the body are the cholerics.”

Once we learn a little about temperaments and how to relate to them, our lives will be much easier. It is even more important to note that

The rest of this article is available to premium members only.
Login or Become a member

[Guarded by Membership Site Software: WordPress Membership Site Plugin - MemberWing - membership site plugin]
[Supported by: VGA Capture Cards and VGA Capture Solutions]