About Temperament
Behavior Management
Preschooler
Hoping to decrease conflict with your preschooler?
Does your preschooler tend to be more
Strong-willed and feisty?
- Always on the move?
Difficulty with sleep?
Resists dressing or getting in the car seat? - Temper Tantrums? Hard to discipline—Won’t mind, Won’t stop?
Hitting, biting, won’t share? - Distractible?
Interrupts?
Cautious and fearful?
- Clingy, cries when left with a new sitter?
Holds back in new situations?
Rejects new food or clothes? - Gets easily upset in crowds?
Not involved with other children?
Unassertive?
Afraid of dogs and cats? - Tantrums?
At the Preventive Ounce, you can:
Fill in a temperament questionnaire and immediately see a profile of your preschooler’s temperament. The thumbnail examples below show how different preschoolers are in terms of low or high Sensitivity, Movement, Intensity, Adaptability and more.
What are your preschooler’s traits? (Click for enlargement)
Preschooler 1
Preschooler 2
Learn what specific behavior issues are normal for your preschooler. Child behavior depends on temperament. For example:
- It’s normal for high-energy, emotionally intense preschoolers to push the limits and show aggression.
- It’s normal for sensitive, cautious preschoolers to experience separation anxiety.
- Adults who don’t understand temperament may describe your preschooler as aggressive, stubborn, hyper, or just plain bad.
Then learn how to manage behavior issues in ways that are tailored to your child’s temperament.
Once you know what to expect, the Preventive Ounce website explains how to manage the issues that are normal for your child. Understanding your preschooler’s temperament helps you understand what triggers problem behaviors. Then you can prevent some meltdowns, calmly offer support during others, and gradually teach more mature ways to behave.
Learn to work with inborn traits… rather than struggle against them. Gradually, over the preschool years, you can help your child begin to manage his or her own temperament traits—a valuable lifetime skill.
History: The temperament traits discussed here were first described over in the 1940s by Dr. Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas. Since then, more than 40,000 parents have used the Preventive Ounce to make parenting easier and to avoid unnecessary blame and guilt.
Who should use this program? ALL parents. Every child has a temperament, and every temperament has different issues and risks.
For only $10, a 1-year family membership lets you:
- Fill out 4 temperament profiles on 4 different infants, toddlers, or preschoolers, or different adults can complete profiles on the same baby/child.
- Have access to individualized parenting strategies for 1 year.
Your fee also helps maintain and upgrade this non-profit website. Thank you.