What is temperament?
Temperament is your child's natural way of responding to the world around them. These nine traits are present from birth and influence how your child approaches daily experiences.
Understanding these traits—in both yourself and your baby— helps you adapt your parenting approach to better support your child's natural tendencies, creating what child development experts call a "goodness of fit."
Understanding "Goodness of Fit" in Parenting
Goodness of fit refers to how well a parent's temperament matches with their child's temperament. It's not about having identical temperaments—it's about understanding your differences and adapting your parenting approach accordingly.
When there's a good fit, parenting feels more natural and children thrive. When there's a mismatch, it doesn't mean there's a problem—it just means you need specific strategies to support your child's needs while honoring your own temperament.
For example, a highly active parent with a less active child might need to provide calm, quiet activities, while a less active parent with a highly active child will need to create more opportunities for movement and physical play.
This was adapted from Georgetown University's Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation IT³ Temperament Tool.
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Explore the 9 Temperament Traits
These traits help explain how your baby interacts with the world. Click through each one to learn what it means—and how to respond with confidence and care.
Activity Level
How much physical movement your child typically shows during both play and routine activities like diaper changes or bedtime.
Distractibility
How easily your child's attention shifts from what they're doing when new sights or sounds appear in their environment.
Intensity
The energy level of your child's emotional responses—whether they react with big emotions (laughs or cries) or with more subtle, measured responses.
Regularity
How predictable your child's biological functions are, such as hunger, sleep, and elimination patterns from day to day.
Sensitivity
How sensitive your child is to physical stimuli like light, sound, and texture—whether small changes are very noticeable or barely register.
Approachability
Your child's initial response to new people, places, or things—whether they naturally approach new experiences or prefer to observe first.
Adaptability
How easily your child adjusts to changes and transitions in routines, environments, or caregivers without becoming upset.
Persistence
How long your child continues with activities when faced with obstacles—whether they keep trying or move on to something else.
Mood
Your child's general emotional disposition—whether they tend to approach life with a generally positive outlook or a more serious, analytical perspective.
Get Your Personalized Temperament Assessment
Learn how your temperament matches with your baby's and receive custom strategies for your parent-child combo.
Can You Guess the Temperament?
Click each photo to reveal clues about the baby’s behavior and guess which temperament traits might be at play.
Of course, you can’t truly understand a baby’s temperament just by looking at a facial expression—this is just for fun! For a deeper, research-backed approach to understanding temperament and how to work with it in daily life, check out our Baby’s First Year course.
What temperament traits might this reflect?
What do you think?
What traits stand out to you?
Do you agree?
What temperament type would you guess?
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