The Temperament God Gave Your Kids: Motivate, Discipline, and Love Your Children

I have been interested in the 4 temperaments for several years. I first heard about the temperaments when I was in college and I heard a nun give a wonderful talk about them. After that I was so intrigued that I read as much as I could on the temperaments. I find them fascinating. I think they are a huge help when wanting to better understand yourself and the people in your life... whether those people be your spouse, children, co-workers, employees, etc...I bought this book after having my fourth baby; feeling like I needed a refresher course on the topic. However, I was disappointed with the book. I felt like the authors more or less based this book on their children’s experiences whether or not those experiences were relevant to the topic. Like forcing a puzzle-piece into the wrong space. They have 4 children. Coincidently... "one of each temperament"? Don't get me wrong... I like the "real-life" example as much as the next person... but a lot of times I felt that the examples they used to illustrate a temperament were not cohesive with the details they used to describe that very same temperament. So as a reader, I was often times left feeling that the lines between the temperaments were very blurry.A lot of the content seemed to be something teenagers would find appealing rather than the obvious audience they are targeting: parents! The authors use a lot of analogies in their book. Again... I'm a fan of a good analogy if it conveys the point you are trying to make. However, I felt that many of their comparisons were distracting. I found myself thinking: "How is that relevant?" It had a "dumbing-down" effect; quoting Winnie the Pooh and referencing Taylor Swift.I did not appreciate how the authors interjected their own personal feelings about each temperament. Projecting a biased point-of-view onto the reader. As if one temperament was better than all the rest. “Ah, the beauty of a Phlegmatic child […] If this child is your first, know that you are blessed.” (pg.85) They say nice things about the other temperaments as well, but are not nearly as glowing as when talking about the Phlegmatic. Even the phlegmatic’s vices appear to be blessings in this book. Then they say stuff like: “Parents of sanguines will tell you (with a heavy sigh) that these children need to learn by experience.” (pg. 159) Why the sigh? Depending on a parent’s temperament… they may prefer the hands-on child to the hands-off child. I found the authors’ writing less credible due to all of the personal assertions. I prefer the facts. No sugar-coating. Your temperament is God given… and all temperaments are equal in this regard. God has blessed each individual with the temperament that is most suited to them!The last chapter of this book was its saving grace. This chapter flowed well. And it was cram-packed with lots of helpful insights. The authors outlined the virtues and vices of each temperament. They offered specific ideas on how to help children work on growing in virtue and curbing their bad habits. They gave examples of different Saints that were of each temperament, which I found inspirational. Everything leading up to this last chapter was fluff in comparison.Overall... I think if you have not been exposed to much information on the 4 temperaments you may find this an informational book. But if you are looking for additional resources on this topic... skip this book.Instead, I would recommend the short book, "The 4 Temperaments" by: Fr. Conrad Hock(Which the authors actually cite quite a bit.)Or my personal favorite and quite comprehensive: "The 4 Temperaments CD's” by: Mother Mary Bosco of the Daughters of Mary.

I am amazed, enlightened, amused and much better equipped after reading this book. It was wonderful to understand the role temperaments play in each of our lives. This book is wonderfully written and a very easy read. It has lots of personal experiences from the lives of the authors' kith and kin.It starts off with explaining what temperaments are. Then it describes each of the 4 temperaments and how kids belonging to any temperament behave; what their inherent strengths and weaknesses might be; why some kids are the life of the class while others are quiet observers, etc. I really enjoyed this part that has a lot of real life experiences. When I was reading the temperament that matches mine, it was so much fun and I could see so many things that I did as a child. This information is enlightening in a way that once you understand your temperament, you get a panoramic view of why your strengths and weaknesses are easy or difficult for you. As I was reading the pages, behaviors and patterns of others also flashed before me and I was able to see the temperaments of some other people in my life. When you start understanding temperamental behaviors in others, its easier to forgive other people for those. The next section helps the parent identify their temperament and then comes a very interesting section where we see what happens when a parent and a child of different or same temperament interacts. The last section elaborately sketches the great and not so great things in each temperament and also gives very good and practical insight on how parents should help nurture the best in children of different temperaments. I feel this is key information for good parenting. In a single read it helps understand your child's as well as your temperament and how to best interact.I personally feel this book is a gem. I never read late at night as I doze off. I just finished this book at 1:30 at night and wanted to put out a review telling what a great find this is. I have all 4 of these author's books but found this the most breeziest and enjoyable read. If you have not read any of the authors' book, I would say start here (or The Temperament God Gave You) and then decide for yourself.

It’s important that we parents learn everything we can about children and the ones we are charged with the care of specifically. Learning about the temperaments of the children you are to teach and train, helps immensely with learning how to teach and train them. I’ve still not quite figure out all my kids placement but it’s a fun challenge and The Temperament God Gave Your Kids (and YOU!) is a good read, easy to understand and appreciate.

Why is my child like this is a question most parents would ask at some point. Nothing prepares you for parenting however this does. It helps you not to flare up and address things in line with your child's temperament.Glad I bought this for myself and A gift for a friend.

I feel like I’ve reached a new level of understanding my children’s behaviour. This just might be groundbreaking.