Fearful, Feisty, or Flexible Infant Temperaments

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Fearful, Feisty, or Flexible Infant Temperaments

• What Culture Tells Us About Matching, Clashing,
  or Adjusting
• Betty Easley, Ph.D.
• Hector Talamantes

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Temperament Treasure Hunt

• Walk around and talk to one person at a time.
  See if you can find someone who fits each of the
  descriptions and have them write their name in
  the blank. Each name can be used only once.
  When all blanks are filled, call out,
  Temperaments. The first five will receive
  prizes.

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• Research and Materials
• by
• WestEd/Program for
• Infant Toddler Caregivers

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What is Temperament?

• Born with a specific temperament
• Represents your natural tendency to respond
• Appears in first few months of life
• Remains fairly constant throughout life
• We learn to moderate our extremes

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• Relationships
• Understanding temperament is the key to
  establishing a relationship.
• Development of meaningful relationships is one of
  the most important aspects of child care.

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Goodness of Fit

• Adults need to handle each child in ways in which
  the child can meet the demands successfully.
• Adults make the adjustment, not children.
• Adults should not insulate or protect the child
  from events that are distressing.

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What Does the Research Say?

• Nine Temperament Traits
• Video Available from
• California Department of Education
• PO Box 271
• Sacramento, CA 95812-0271

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Can The Traits Be Grouped?

• Three Temperament Types
• Fearful
• Flexible
• Feisty

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What is Your Temperament?

• Assessing yourself
• Assessing another
• Comparing the assessments

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Goodness of Fit

• What temperament would your ideal child have?
• How might you respond?
• Temperament Quotes

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Temperament Traits in Differing Cultural Contexts

• Culture influences everything we are and
  everything we do.
• Our ideal child image is influenced by our
  cultural values.
• Different cultures value different groupings of
  traits.
• Environments and curriculums develop out of our
  cultural view of preferred traits.

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What Do Our Cultures Say?

• Do children interrupt adult conversations?
• Do children look at an adult in the eye when
  being reprimanded?
• Do children talk during meals?

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Your Program

• What traits are valued by families and staff?
• Do your children fit the value system?
• What happens when they dont fit?
• Do your curriculum and physical environment
  reflect the values of the program?

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• Evaluation
• Questions and Answers

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Contact Information

• betty.easley_at_mail.tmccentral.org
• hector.talamantes_at_mail.tmccentral.org
• http//www.wested.org
• http//www.pitc.org

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