Episode 26: The 4 Temperaments: A tool to Better Understand Your Child’s Personality
Season 6
Today on Mindful Monday, I will be talking about the four temperaments as a tool to better understand your child’s personality. By understanding temperaments, we, as parents, can meet our child’s needs in a more effective way. The four temperaments, which can be defined as traits and characteristics, are known as air (sanguine), water (phlegmatic), earth (melancholic), and fire (choleric).
“Although each temperament has specific qualities, we can expect that every one of the qualities will be seen in each individual.”— Chinyelu Kunz [
I talk about how, although each person has one or two dominant elements, qualities of each temperament is present in everyone. I advise on how to recognize, observe, experience, and manage each temperament in your child. Plus, I offer a guide to understanding how to bring all four elements into balance and harmony. I hope you will join me for this episode!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The power of understanding your child’s personality.
- The four temperaments and how they relate to the four elements.
- How Waldorf uses the temperaments as a tool to bring children to balance.
- Exploring how each element can present itself in children.
- A perspective from a Waldorf teacher and Waldorf mother.
- How to support our children by understanding and recognizing their characteristics as a part of their elements.
Books on Temperaments (short list)
Between Form & Freedom by Betty Staley
Children and Their Temperaments by Marieke Anschutz
Authentic Parenting by Bari Borsky & Judith Haney