Christian Parenting Kids With Different Personalities

Christian Parenting Kids With Different Personalities - Parenting Like HannahIf you have multiple children, you probably realized each of your kids was born with a slightly or vastly different personality than your other children. In the old nature versus nurture debate, it has become increasingly clear that God created each of us to be unique. Even identical twins have differences.

So how can you differentiate your parenting and give each of your children what they need to reach their godly potential? One shortcut is to understand their personalities and what those personalities have for str nights and weaknesses.

So I was interested when offered the opportunity to review Reading People by Anne Bogel.  Bogel addresses eight different personality type tests in an effort to help readers understand themselves better. Parents could also use the information to better understand how their kids are “hard wired”.

After an introductory chapter, Bogel begins with the rather simple extrovert versus introvert distinction. As the book progresses, she tackles more complex indicators like the Myers- Briggs, the Clifton Strengths Finder and more.

The author does agreed job in helping you to understand each type within a particular indicator and the theories behind the test in general. The problem is that some of these require the reader to pay the creators in order to take the necessary assessment to determine your type.

Bogel does provide detailed discriptions of each result, so if you are extremely self-aware you may be able to figure out your type without the test.  Of course, if you have taken the tests before and know your type, then her additional information can be helpful. She also does a great job of explaining what the results of any particular test can and cannot tell you about yourself (or in our case, your kids).

Unfortunately, if you haven’t take some of the tests, even being self-aware can leave you confused. For example I haven’t really taken the Enneagram assessment so that entire chapter didn’t give me much insight. I have taken most of the others, so I’m not sure how those chapters would have helped someone who doesn’t know their type. I know the Enneagram is supposedly confusing even with test results, so it may just be that chapter.

Over all, I think this book can provide some helpful insight into how you and your kids were created to function. After reading about eight different tests though, I came away wondering if too much information is just that – too much information to process. Could taking too many of these tests actually leave you more frozen than before?

I plan to keep this book in my reference library for a time and see how helpful all this additional information about myself and others can be.

 

A copy of this book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience  

 

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Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

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