|
“For the sake of
the happy child—for the sake of warm and loving family
life—temperament really does matter.”
We offer a new approach to the interactions of children
and parents, by making it possible to measure
temperament and type in children, through the parent’s
responses to questions about the child’s everyday
behavior, and likes and dislikes. Combining this with a
measure of adult temperament, we link this knowledge to
a deeper understanding of parenting practices as they
occur in real-world parents and children..
We began by accepting that temperament preferences are
innate qualities. As such, they should be seen in some
form, quite early in life, as other research has long
indicated. Based on that, we rigorously tested scales
(Sorters) designed to measure preference behavior in
children, as young as four years of age. With this we
have designed a systematic program for understanding and
working with your own and your child’s preferences and
type. We have written a two volume guide entitled
Raising CuddleBugs and BraveHearts. The subtitle
for Volume I is Measuring and Understanding your
Child’s Temperament, and for Volume II: Adult
Temperament and Parenting Styles.
In Raising CuddleBugs and BraveHearts Vol. I, parents
identify their child's preferences, temperament and
type, and explore the impact of temperament on the
socialization process, learning, discipline, family
responsibilities, adolescence and much more. Our
children’s temperament measures are included in the
book.
In Vol. II parents begin by exploring their own
temperament and the influence of that on their own
behaviors, parenting practices, and core expectations
about the behavior or traits a child should have. We
present a theoretical model of ideal parenting
practices, based on the best of recent scientific
research, and discuss the ways in which different parts
of this model may be very easy or very difficult for a
particular parent temperament. We don’t suggest that
any parent make a pretzel of his or her natural
preferences to fit the “ideal” model, but we do suggest
ways to stretch the natural self a little where this
might be helpful. Raising CuddleBugs... helps
parents consider how the temperament of the child and
the temperament of the parent interact in ways that may
make all the difference for the ultimate happiness and
joy of family life. |