Way, way back in 2004 (sniff, sniff), I became very close with one of the most amazing people ever, my friend Laura. Together, we had brand new babies, our very first, and were trying to figure out what the heck we were doing. And I am SO glad we had each other. During this time, we would take the babies to music class, to the park and on long walks in the strollers that inevitably involved getting coffee. Though Laura had a boy and I had a girl, something else was VERY different between these two cuties. Her son could happily sit in that stroller, nap if he needed and we would rarely hear a peep from him. On the other hand, was my precious cargo who, if the stroller stopped for even a mili-second, would enter into a screaming fit OR would be jarred awake… also leading to a screaming fit. In fact, many times when heading to the coffee shop, I would have to circle the block to keep my daughter happy while Laura would enter with her content son and order for us (I promise I gave her money… ahem…). Sure, perhaps you could attribute this to me having a different parenting style, but truly it was obvious our kids had different temperaments. In fact, once we had our second children, we especially realized this was true! With that in mind and knowing different personality types require different parenting strategies, Breezy Mama turned to Cindy H. Liu, Ph.D, Instructor in Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School, to discuss the different temperaments of children and how to parent according to their personalities.
Why is it important to tailor your parenting to your child’s personality?
I think it’s important to know your parenting philosophy, your own personality and to make adjustments to your expectations as you start to recognize your child’s personality. In my clinical work, I’ve met parents who are very [Read more…] about How to Parent According to Your Child’s Personality