Temperament

     This week I have decided to do my reflection blog on temperament. It's always been something I've been curious about (what contributes to it, how it affects us as we grow up, etc...) and so, while reading this section, I was very interested and intrigued.

     As defined, temperament is a consistent style or pattern of behavior. Basically, any aspect of a persons personality, such as, extroversion and introversion.

     The three dimensions of temperament, devised by Mary K. Rothbart:

• Surgency/extroversion: The span of which a child is happy, active, and looking for stimulation.
• Negative affect: The span to which a child is upset, angry, shy, and fearful.
• Effortful control: The span to which a child can focus his/her attention, doesn't get distracted, and responds.

     I definitely found it interesting to read about stability of temperament from infancy to toddler years. A great example of that was the Fels Longitudinal Project, which studied physical and psychological development from infancy. This study showed that fearful Pre-K children tended to be discouraged as they grew to be older children and into their teen years.

     I can  relate to this section of the reading with my 5 year old son, Colton. He was very very active while I was pregnant with him (like he was doing some hardcore gymnastics). After I had him, and as the months progressed, he still was extremely active. He was never really tired, was difficult to soothe, cried A LOT (definitely more that the 2-3 hours a day they say is the norm in the book), and was just a little more defiant. On that same aspect though, he is no longer a difficult child. I think the idea of environment is really significant in the temperament concept. I know they say it isn't a sure thing- that if your child is difficult as a baby, he/she may not be difficult as they grow older- and my son kind of proves that. Even though he was very difficult as an infant, and up until he was about 3 years old, he is no longer like that. I think it was definitely impacted on how I have raised him, the environment he's been in.

     I think if I could learn more about something from this section of reading, it would definitely be more on how the environment impacts how a child's temperament is formed as they grow older. They stated how you could kind of "help" how the child will grow up, as in reading to them if they are quiet babies, or being more physical with active babies. I guess I would just like to know if you can stabilize a temperament by giving a good mix of both of those things.

     These two chapters were really fun for me to read. Examining and studying how children grow into adults, and what gives the boost to what part of the personality, is engaging and thought-provoking.

Thanks for reading!

-Keisha