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Home > Ready for Life > Parents > Temperament > About Temperament > Tips For Working With Persistence
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    • Temperament
      • About Temperament
        • Tips for Working With Activity Level
        • Tips For Working With Awareness Of Feelings
        • Tips for Working with Children Who Enjoy Change or Who Enjoy What’s Familiar
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        • Tips For Working With Persistence
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Tips For Working With Persistence

three-year-old girl diligently rolling out modeling clayTips for Working with a Child Who Is Very Persistent

Friends, Family and Home

  • Resist family members’ efforts to label her stubborn, and say that she is “persistent” instead.
  • Encourage him to be flexible and willing to change activities when friends want to do other things.
  • Encourage family members not to give in to her wants all the time.
  • Recognize that persistent babies can be labeled as “difficult” by family.

Learning, Childcare and School

  • Read picture books with more words and tell longer stories to him.
  • Encourage teachers to be very specific with her about expectations.
  • Parents and teacher should allow him extra time if needed to complete tasks.
  • Alert teachers that she often needs some notice to be able to stop her activity and move on.

Activities and Television

  • Provide him with activities that have many steps.
  • Enroll her in classes and activities that she will be able to continue for a long time, such as soccer or ballet.
  • Allow him to keep unfinished projects somewhere to complete after dinner, chores or other activities.
  • Repeat and continue songs, games and books until she is satisfied.

Guidance and Discipline

  • Be firm in your decisions so that continual attempts to get you to change your mind don’t work.
  • Remember he is not stubborn, just persistent and that can be a good thing!
  • Talk with her about different ways to do things.
  • Meet a baby’s needs as soon as possible.

Tips for Working with a Child Who Is Less Persistent

Friends, Family and Home

  • pre-school-aged siblings work together to wash the family's dishesEncourage family members to be patient.
  • Offer to help him and his friends complete a project, such as making a fort.
  • Work on chores and activities together.
  • Ask family members to respond immediately when possible to a baby’s cries and needs.

Learning, Childcare and School

  • Provide her with puzzles and activities that are quick, and congratulate her completion.
  • Set goals with him, and establish timelines for completing steps to the goal.
  • Ask teachers to encourage her to complete simple activities.
  • Encourage process art, where experiencing the art materials is more important than making something specific.

Activities and Television

  • Encourage short-term projects, such as short card games, simple art projects or a one-time class, so he can complete something.
  • If she is watching TV, discourage changing channels constantly.
  • Involve him in simple cooking activities that are fun and quick.
  • Provide activities that don’t have to be completed such as blocks, Legos and dramatic props.

Guidance and Discipline

  • Offer her small rewards for completing a job or chore.
  • Use charts so that he can see his progress when he completes work.
  • Break chores, rules and instructions into smaller steps and give them to her one at a time.
  • Encourage and help him to try again when learning to walk, sit up, ride a bike, or other new skills.

Related Video

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    In this video, you will learn about how our temperament traits make us different from one another.
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  • Temperament Traits

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    Learn to balance what your child needs from their environment because of their temperament and also what they need to learn to adapt to.

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