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I will be writing articles on spirited children. In the posts and chat room
a lot of us mothers have decided that we have a spirited child. I recently told everybody that my spirited child had calmed somewhat, but she
decided to make a liar out of me and has started giving me some problems again. With her though it could be the teenager coming. So, needless to say,
at the advice of another mother I ordered this book. As I read it I will post my interpretations of it with excerpts from the book. I hope this will
help all of us at once, instead of everyone having to buy the book or waiting for it to be passed along.
This book is divided into Five Parts. I will also divide the articles as such. I can not tell you whether or not the book is helpful at this point as I have only read what I’m about to pass on to you. I can only pray for my sake and yours that this helps us understand our children.
Before I interpret this book I want to explain that the author of this book has changed the word spirited from difficult. You will see as we go on why she did this. The first thing that the author explains is how to determine whether or not your child is spirited. Her explanation is that a spirited child compared to a normal child is more. More intense, persistent, sensitive, perceptive and uncomfortable with change. Most children possess these characteristics but a spirited child possesses more. The discovery that your child was spirited might have happened at any point in his/her life. You might have had an idea while you were pregnant, at birth, or years later. It might have happened when you had your second child and you noticed the difference in the two. In the book the author list characteristics to help decide if your child is spirited. The child does not have to possess all of the five characteristics, but each child will exhibit enough of them to make her/him stand out in a crowd.
Many, but not all, possess four additional “bonus” characteristics: aspects of their personality that can make being their parent even more challenging.
We will go into detail in a minute about each characteristic and how to rate how spirited your child is. If you are like me, at this very moment you might be a little worried. When I was reading this part, I have two daughters that possess these characteristics….the older one more prominent than the younger one. Hopefully by the time my younger one starts having the “spells” real bad I’ll know what to do. One thing to help you out though…the author does mention that as she has learned to focus on the strengths of spirited children, she has realized that she is surrounded by spirited children grown up. She admires these people. They are individuals who have learned to understand themselves, to manage their strengths, and to minimize their weaknesses. Does this mean we might have a tougher time than normal raising these spirited children but in the long run they grow up into great people? We will see as we go along. |
