In Chapter Two - and that's only as far as I've gotten so we haven't cured meltdowns yet - Karp talks about how children fall into three temperaments. Most are "easy," a few are "shy," and then a small portion are what he calls "spirited."
Parents usually know they have a spirited child because they're the 'more' kids. More active. More impatient. More impulsive. More defiant. More intense. More sensitive. More rigid. The No. 1 recommendation to parents with this toddler personality type: Keep them active. Get them outside to play -- a lot. These kids need to burn off their energy and work through their moods, experts say. They also need firm structure to keep them safe and stable -- and lots of patience.
Jackson sure sounds like a spirited sort, but since he's our first I can't be sure. Maybe all kids are like this, I thought. Dr. Karp suggests a test to determine your child's temperament:
Go to an uncrowded place, release your child's hand, and pretend to turn your back for two seconds. (Keep a close watch out of the corner of your eye.) What does she do? Stand there? (Easy.) Grab your coat and cry? (Shy.) Run away without looking back? (Spirited.) The answer will give you a pretty good reading of your child’s temperament.
Here are the pictures we took yesterday at the Cherry Blossom Festival after we let Jackson out of his stroller. Sense a pattern here?
1 comment:
Does opening the door and running down the street while mom is distracted and talking to the neighbors (one of whom is a sheriff's deputy) and having her not know you are even outside until a complete stranger picks you up and carries you home asking, "Does he belong to you?" count as "spirited"? If it does, be warned. Jackson will not alert you when he figures out door knobs.
Practice the art of dead bolting the doors behind you and locking the dispensers on the refrigerator now. I can't tell you how to prevent or stop meltdowns as that code seems to scramble every few days, but this is just practical advice from someone who has learned the hard way.
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