The Temperment Trap: Recognizing and Accomodating ChiIdren's

PersonaIitiesBy Susan Culpepper

Early childhood professionals have individual preferences about how they like children to behave
(Eddowes, Aldridge, & Culpepper, 1994). Early childhood professionals also play a critical role in
helping children accept themselves as unique (Aldridge, 1993). While students preparing to work with
young children learn about cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development, they often neglect
to study personality development (Aldridge & Cowles, 1990). The study of personality is important
because a child's temperament influences the teacher more than the child's intelligence (Lerner &
Lerner, 1986). n fact, teachers often give grades and implement classroom management strategies
based upon specific children's temperaments (Pullis & Cadwell, 1982).

hat Is Temperament?
Temperament is the part of the personality with which each child is born. According to Chess and
Thomas (1987) temperament refers to individual differences in physiological responsiveness. t
includes the characteristic way that an individual responds emotionally to people and objects. Thomas
and Chess (1977) found nine temperament categories, which they believed were present at birth.
These categories include the following:

1. Activity Level. Does the child display mostly active or inactive stress?

2. Rhythmicity or Regularity. s the child predictable or unpredictable regarding sleeping, eating, and
elimination patterns?

3. Approach-Withdrawal. Does the child react or respond positively or negatively to a newly

encountered situation?

4. Adaptability. Does the child adjust to unfamiliar circumstances easily or with difficulty?

5. Responsiveness. Does it take a small or large amount of stimulation to elicit a response (e.g.,
laughter, fear,pain) from the child?

6. Reaction ntensity. Does the child show low or high energy when reacting to stimuli?

7. Mood Quality. s the child normally happy and pleasant, or unhappy and unpleasant?

8. Distractibility. s the child's attention easily diverted from a task by external stimuli?

9. Persistence and Attention Span. Persistence How long will the child continue at an activity
despite difficulty or interruptions? Attention span For how long a period of time can the child
maintain interest in an activity?

asy, DifficuIt, and SIow-to-arm-Up

The nine temperaments suggested by Thomas and Chess (1977) have been grouped into three basic
classifications of children: easy children, difficult children, and slow-to-warm-up children.

Easy children usually have positive moods and approaches to new situations. They adapt quite well to
change. Easy children are somewhat predictable in their sleeping, eating, and elimination patterns.
Difficult children tend to have irregular sleeping, eating, and elimination patterns. They often
experience negative moods and withdraw from things which are new. Difficult children are slow or
non-adaptive to change.

Slow-to-warm-up children may react to new situations in a negative but mild manner. They are low in
activity levels and tend to withdraw in new situations. These children are more likely to warm up when
approached in a way which respects their temperament traits.

While environment influences temperament, the original research on temperaments traits in children
focused primarily on inborn tendencies (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Today, environmental factors are
considered as important to a child's temperament development as inborn tendencies. For example,
children with difficult temperaments may actually come from difficult home environments. These
children may be helped if their temperaments are valued and their personalities supported. By
creating classroom environments that complement children's temperaments, early childhood
professionals can help children develop and reach their full potential.

hat Is Goodness of Fit?

oodness of fit is simply defined as the compatibility between environment and a child's temperament
(Thomas & Chess, 1977). Poorness of fit occurs when temperament is not respected and
accommodated. Children are more likely to reach their potential when there is goodness of fit for
example, when teachers provide active learning center experiences rather than total seat work for
children with high activity levels (Cowles & Aldridge, 1992; Eddowes & Aldridge, 1990).

While a child's temperament is affected by the teacher and the classroom setting, the teacher is also
affected by the child's temperament. Teachers spend more time with easy children because they are
pleasant and positive. Teachers also spend more time with difficult children to prevent inappropriate
behavior. Thus, slow-to-warm-up children may "slip between the cracks (Keogh, 1986). Children who
are slow to warm up would benefit more than easy children from teachers' time and attention.
Unfortunately, they are often overlooked. n addition to the interaction between teachers and children,
goodness of fit also includes the relationship between students and learning (Keogh, 1986).

Accommodating DifferentTemperaments
Early childhood professionals can do many things to value children's different personalities. The
following eight strategies will help early childhood professionals be more conscious and accepting of
personality and temperament differences.

1. Observe Children's Behavior. Write down children's likes and dislikes. Notice when children do
not readily adjust to a new situation. The information from your observations and anecdotal records
will help you plan future activities, experiences, and classroom arrangements.

ancy's perience
amie, a four-year-old, had been in school for eight days. On Monday the petting zoo traveled to her
class. amie was terrified of the boa constrictor and displayed his fright by screaming and clinging to
Nancy, his teacher. n contrast, Lisa, another four-year-old, was the first volunteer to touch the boa.
amie and Lisa have different temperament characteristics, particularly those of reaction intensity and
adaptability.

Nancy carefully observed amie and Lisa to determine whether their behaviors were responses to the
reptile or if they were generalized across other situations. Nancy spoke with amie, Lisa, and all of the
other children in her class, and told them that she understood how they felt and that they each were
unique.

2. Consider Classroom Arrangement. Classrooms should be arranged and modified based on the
different temperaments of the children who reside there (Eddowes & Aldridge, 1990). Appropriate
classroom arrangement should be based on careful observation of the children.Arrangements should
accommodate the personality variations of the children.

inda's perience
Linda, an early childhood teacher, had several children in her class who were easily distracted. She
rearranged the room to create more one- to two-child spaces at activity centers so that when children
were working at them they would have their backs to the door or window. These minor changes
helped the distractible children focus more
effectively.

3. Provide a Variety of Activities. The more you use closed-ended activities, the less you value
children's differences. For every classroom activity, plan alternatives and choices if at all possible. For
instance, children who are slow to warm up may not want to share during circle time. Provide
alternate methods of sharing, including writing or drawing in ajournal, and simply sharing with afriend
of smaller group.

Tanya's perience
Tanya's students displayed a wide range of activity levels and attention spans. Tanya worked hard to
provide projects and center activities, which could be accomplished with varying amounts of
persistence and activity. n the puzzle area, for example, Tanya placed puzzles of different degrees of
complexity. She also planned some projects, which could be completed within one activity time, and
other more in-depth projects, which took periods of several days to complete.

4. nvestigate Non-School-Related nfluences. A child who occasionally acts difficult may not have a
difficult temperament. Often a child's behavior is caused by stress from other environments. The
behavior may be situationally induced. Discussions with the child's parents or other caregivers may
identify the root of difficult behavior.

hitney's perience
For the first week of school, Yolanda always smiled. She was a leader of her peers, and a polite,
helpful student. During the second week of school, however, Yolanda hit Paul on the head with a
block, and knocked Kristy down on the playground. Yolanda also required help in choosing an activity
each time a choice was offered.

Whitney, Yolanda's teacher, talked with Yolanda casually in an attempt to determine a cause for her
behavior change, but could discern none. Whitney then called Yolanda's parents and found out that
Yolanda's father had lost his job on Friday of the first week of school. Yolanda had apparently related
to her family's trouble by acting in ways not usual for her temperament. Whitney decided that it was
best to avoid making judgments about children's temperaments until she had seen consistent
behavior over a period of time.

5. Assess Your Own Temperament. Consider your own temperament traits and the traits you prefer
in children. dentify your preferences by making a list of children's behaviors which trouble you and
which you enjoy. Be aware of your own vulnerabilities when interacting with children.

Ginny's perience
inny was a teacher of four-year-olds in a child care program. inny's temperament qualities
included high persistence, low activity, and regularity of patterns. Although she was generally
pleasant in mood and easily adapted to new situations, inny became aware that certain traits in
children irritated or upset her.

Children who were eager and active sometimes caught inny off guard. They would approach her
with an "'m ready to do something new attitude before inny was ready to present a new activity.
inny learned to say, " am glad that you have enjoyed the center which we have today. Let's see if
there is a different way to work at the center which is out right now.

inny also found that she was different from children who had an apathetic approach to people and
activities in the class. For instance, uan quietly flitted from one part of the room to another and
appeared unable to find an activity which interested him for any period of time. inny's challenge was
to avoid feeling that uan was wrong for the way he behaved just because he behaved differently.
inny tried to help uan find the subject or approach which interested him most and gave uan ample
opportunities to enjoy things the way he liked them.

6. Evaluate Your Curriculum andTeaching Methods. Sometimes what we teach and how we teach
are not flexible enough to accommodate all of the temperaments with whic we work. Evaluate your
curriculum and teaching methods or, better yet, have a coworker evaluate them for you.

aren's perience
Karen, an early childhood teacher, and Scott, another teacher, decided to study children's
temperaments in the classroom. Karen asked Scott to observe her children, classroom arrangement,
and teaching methods, and jot down comments. Scott observed Karen in her classroom and made
several observations including that Karen preferred children with easy temperaments and avoided
children with difficult temperaments. This observation helped Karen to monitor her own behavior and
spend more time with certain children.

7. Choose Appropriate uidance Techniques. A guidance technique that works for one child may not
work with another. uidance techniques often do not take temperament differences into account.
Careful observation and anecdotal record-keeping can help you guide young children's behavior.

CarIos's perience
Carlos, a preschool teacher, had always been aware that children react differently to guidance
strategies. Carlos could see how five-year-old Mason's easy adaptability and low reaction intensity
caused him to be almost blindly obedient. A slightly disapproving look from Carlos made Mason
adjust his behavior. With other children in his class, Carlos had to spend more time and use different
techniques.

8. Share nformation With Parents. A parent is the child's first teacher. Parents can tell teachers
much about their child's temperament.Sometimes a parent's description ofhis or her child is different
from how the teacher perceives the child. A parent/child/teacher partnership can help make
transitions between home and school easier and less stressful for everyone.

Steve's perience
Steve had noticed how quiet and reluctant Kita was at school. Steve spoke with Kita's father about
her behavior. Kita's father was very surprised and described Kita as the oldest of three children and
as talkative and sometimes overbearing. Steve told Kita's dad that Kita was one of the youngest
children in the class and that she might be intimidated because she is not accustomed to dealing with
older peers.

ConcIusion
Temperament and goodness of fit are important concepts for early childhood professionals to learn
and use in daily interactions with children. Healthy social and personality development occurs in
young children when there is compatibility between the child and the demands and expectations of
the teacher and center environment. A teacher's understanding and respect for children's
temperaments are vital if her students are to thrive and develop.