On October 29, Brianna Reyes held a workshop called “Parenting by Temperament” that covered lessons on dealing with child temperament for parent-students.
The workshop lasted an hour from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Reyes introduced her lesson with a slide presentation describing what temperament is, and the importance of keeping your temperament balanced in order to achieve an effective relationship between others.
“Temperament is made up of various characteristics that you are born with. It really can’t be changed,” Reyes said. “It’s pretty hard because we are born with it. It might change or fluctuate over time.”
The workshop also covered what a temperament scale is and the three categories of temperament: slow to warm, active to challenging, and easy to flexible. Many children share traits from multiple categories.
Reyes also discussed the various key terms associated with temperament.
“Adaptability- how quickly do you adapt to change in your schedule? Regularity- how regular are you in your eating, sleeping, and elimination habits?” Reyes said.
Some guests spoke about their personal stories as parent-students, such as Nadya Shmeleva, a LBCC college student and parent.
Shmeleva recounted her experience as a student-parent.
“I have learned how to juggle more, in the aspect of dividing my time and giving my time out. There’s a lot of sacrifice that goes into parenting and putting yourself through college is even additional sacrifice,” she said.
Shmeleva said her most difficult obstacle as a student-parent is finding time to engage with her children while still completing her obligations.
Shmeleva said, “There’s certain priorities that have to be moved around and re-established.”
However, Shmeleva said she is able to persevere through her hardships and struggles because of her dedication as a hardworking person.
“If you don’t have that desire to move forward, then it’s hard to continue to do something,” Shmeleva said.
The workshop ended with a brief video going over some key principles about understanding a child’s frustrations and finding ways to calm them down.
