This month I’ve been reading a very interesting book called Raising Your Spirited Child by  Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. My son sent me a copy of the book when we were trying to understand our grandson better. I have been most interested in the tools she provides for evaluating your child and yourself.

It is always good to be a student of your child. In this way you can help to mold his character and yet not break his will. Many of the problems we have with our child comes from misunderstanding needs and motivations. Knowing what the baseline is for both of you can help you to respond, instead of reacting, to your child. It can help you to plan ahead to avoid some explosions.

For the next few months, I will share some of the evaluating tools included in Raising Your Spirited Child. There is much more to the book. I would encourage you to get a copy if you find these tools interesting and helpful. The book is loaded with personal examples and ideas for dealing with problems arising from our basic makeups.

The first of the evaluators deals with temperament. This is even a bit more basic than personality which can be influenced by our experience, culture, education, and upbringing. These are in-born traits that can be identified at an early age and don’t change throughout life.

Why not take a look at these evaluation tools?  Child’s Temperament and Parent’s Temperament

I hope you find these as interesting as I did.