Personalities in Kids

I’m always fascinated with personalities. In the Bible you have gutsy Peter, eccentric John the Baptist, encouraging Barnabas, driven King David and so on. People are wonderfully designed with so many different styles of life.

My two children are vastly different in personalities. Sonora is particular, loves to be pretty, sings laments when she’s in trouble and regularly speaks of her owies. Josiah on the other hand is aggressive, hands-on and he can be sweet one moment and growling angry the next. For example, when Sonora gets in your lap, she subtly, gently and sweetly climbs up. But Josiah runs and flops on you, then scrambles up. There is so much fun to be had in discovering the differences in kids!

As a parent or as a children’s ministry volunteer, we need to be students of our kids’ personalities. While I don’t suggest we put kids in a box and limit them to our decision about what their personality is, I do, however, recommend that we learn their tendencies. We do this to praise their strengths and correct their weaknesses. We notice and comment on what part of their character is right in God’s eyes. And we also strategize with them on how they can improve the not-so-healthy parts of their character.

Consider some different personalities in the article: Motivation and Personality Type.