Just as no two children are born with the same combination of physical traits, such as eye color, hair color and physique, no two are born who share the same behavioral characteristics. The aspects of a child’s personality that he or she has been born with, and therefore has not had to learn, work together to make up his or her temperament.

Children need to learn to express and utilize their temperaments in a wide variety of situations as their lives evolve to:

1. improve their learning abilities
2. their abilities to get along with others, and
3. their abilities to experience happiness.

You and other adult childcare givers can learn to help your children or the children you care for make better, more well-informed choices by helping them understand how their temperaments affect their perceptions of and behavior within specific types of situations. It’s important to remember that what constitutes a good choice for one child who possesses a particular type of temperament may be a poor choice for another child who possesses a different type of temperament.