This book will help parents understand and work more effectively with their young child’s temperament. Effective parenting isn’t one-size-fits-all. Every child comes with an innate temperament, which includes a unique set of emotional reactions and personal strengths, a motivational style, and needs that demand attention. And every family has its own values and culture. While we cannot change our child’s natural temperament (nor would we want to!), we can impact their self-regulation systems, nurture their positive behaviors, and promote healthy social and emotional development. In this book, psychologists Liliana Lengua and Maria Gartstein offer readers science-based recommendations for parenting based on the individual temperament of your child and the specific needs of your family. To help readers understand the innate nature of temperaments, the book begins with a brief, accessible overview of the neurobiological systems that underlie temperament. Combining this scientific understanding of temperaments with the latest psychological theories and research, as well as the authors’ own experience as clinicians and mothers, the authors present four broad parenting principles and then show how to apply these principles with young children of different temperaments. In particular, they focus on a handful of temperament characteristics that, when very strong, can present challenges related to children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development and well-being. These include being fearful, impulsive, inflexible, and easily frustrated. With its simple practical advice, relatable examples, and questionnaires to help you assess your child’s temperament and your own parenting practices, this book gives you the tools you need to parent more effectively and strengthen your relationship with your child.
