How Your Child's Temperament Affects Potty Training

Temperament affect how you learn and how you handle change. It also affects the how your child will respond to potty training. Nearly four decades ago, two researches, Chess and Thomas, professor of child psychiatry, respectively, identified three different temperament styles, easy, slow to warm-up and difficult. According to their research, Chess and Thomas found these three temperament styles reflect differences in the nine characteristics listed below.

• Activity level

• Regularity

• Distractibility

• Intensity

• Sensitivity

• Adaptability

• Persistence

• Approach / withdrawal

• Mood

Each temperament style has strengths and weaknesses. The "easy child" may be flexible and open to new situations but may not tell you force fully if he experience physical discomfort. The "easy child" is not happier than the other temperament but wont create a scene over nothing. The "difficult" child does not have an intrinsic flaw. He just gets stuck because he can doggedly pursue his agenda and protest forcefully if he doesn't understand. The "slow to warm-up" child always take his time to observe and grow into new situations.