Category: Parenting

Electronic Organization: Google (Calendar), Jooners & VolunteerSpot (Volunteers), TeamSnap (Sports)

My Work Colleague Mom Friend asked me to blog on online calendaring systems and simultaneously, my Mom Marketing Friend has told me twice about her friend in California’s company that organizes volunteers called Jooners.  Then, just yesterday, My Dad Friend told me about Volunteer Spot which is similar to Jooners.  And now my oldest’s soccer team is using TeamSnap to organize the soccer practices and games.  Like it or not, electronic calendars and scheduling are upon us.

I have to say that I have fought electronic calendaring for years.  Until recently, I had clung to my old-fashioned desk calendar — weekly format is my preference — and I was very happy with my Mommy version by Sandra Boynton:  Mom’s Family Desk Planner.  But problems existed.  My husband asked me EVERY DAY what was on the agenda.  He said he can’t read my chicken scratch.  Fair point.  I have very bad handwriting.  He wanted a gigantic wall calendar to track the complex scheduling that is our children’s lives but we really didn’t have room for it in our kitchen without junking it up.

Last January, I succumbed and bought an iPhone and it’s been a life altering switch.  We now are on the Google Calendar which links so nicely with my gmail account.  My husband has a Blackberry that can access Google Calendar nicely and we use a litl webbook in our kitchen to see the family calendar daily and frequently.  We’ve only had a few minor glitches which are likely user based where certain events or appointments disappeared but, all in all, it’s really working for us.

But you all must know about and use Google Calendar — I know I am a late technology adopter! — so I will go over the other websites which might come in handy if you coach  your child’s team or are in charge of mobilizing a volunteer effort.

Jooners and VolunteerSpot:  both these sites organize volunteers for one day or multi day events using invites, email reminders, and calendaring.   The biggest differences between the two is that VolunteerSpot is free and Jooners is not.  VolunteerSpot makes money through partner advertising.

Jooners:  has a nice feature for collecting money online for things like coach’s gifts.  I have to say that this is a great feature because it’s surprisingly hard to coordinate monetary gifts especially for coaches because you don’t typically have all the parents at one school so the coordinator tends to under collect money thus funding more than their share.  Or maybe that is just my experience.  It has features for auction planning also but having run my online auction at elementary school, word on the street is Bidding for Good is the most expensive online auction platform but the best one.  We had a really good and successful experience with Bidding for Good.  It’s the gold standard but Jooners is a great option if your organization can not afford Bidding for Good.  Jooners offers a 30 day free trial.

VolunteerSpot:  This looks tailored for classroom parents (which I am one this year for my son’s Kindergarten class so I will be trying it out!).  It looks very straightforward:  Schedule, Sign Up, Remind.  One nice feature is if someone cancels last minute, the organizer is notified and that person can shoot out another request to the group for a replacement.

For those who use gmail and Google Calendar.  There is also an invite feature in gmail that links to Google Calendar. The invites also have an email reminder system and you are notified of changes.  This is another great free option and is particularly attractive if you already have email addresses of your group in your gmail system.

I have also seen eVites used very successfully to coordinate “You Bring” type of events such as Teacher Appreciation Luncheon/Breakfasts. Evites has a nifty feature that lets the organizer break out categories of food and the invitees just reply yes/no/maybe  with a comment of what they plan to bring.

The most time consuming part of coordinating volunteers electronically is getting all the email addresses inputted correctly.  If you are an organizer, you might want to consider where your email addresses reside already OR where you need the email addresses for other things.  I have a lot of email addresses for parents at my children’s schools through eVite because I used it to coordinate my child’s birthday plus a huge grade cocktail party for parents.  But if you need to email parents for other things (like when I had to do viral email campaigns to encourage parents to bid at our online school auction), I used gmail.

This is our first time on TeamSnap and my husband has been doing more of the coordination of our children’s sports schedules.  Our oldest is on TeamSnap for travel soccer and my husband says that it’s really great and easy to use.  It’s tailored to sports teams and has nifty features like tracking stats individually or for the team, and allows easy photo sharing.  It also tracks fees and payment.  The most useful feature allows you to see who can make the games and practices.  There is a free version that comes with some advertising, a basic version and a premium version.  You can try the paid versions free for 21 days.

What kind of tools are you using for organizing?  Someone told me about a site that helps to figure out mutually free times to meet for a group.  I can’t remember that one but that is big hurdle always for Event Organizers.  Does anyone know something good for that?  I could use that now for coordinating my children’s book clubs for the new school year…

Sep 09, 2010 | 1 comment View Post

How To: Support Your Child Academically As They Start the New School Year

Whew!  The kids are back in school!  The first month of school is typically a time to assess and review from last year.  What does this mean for math? Assess and review is great except for those kids who:

  • Reviewed all summer and need something new.
  • Are just naturally great at math and find review boring.
  • Didn’t quite grasp a few concepts from last year, and the fly by September version is not enough AND making them feel like they are bad at math.  And now they are starting to hate math.
  • The math review is adequate and just right, but there will be some concepts and/or math facts mastery coming down the pike that they need extra support to feel confident in math OR you, the parent, want a little extra time because you know that they will be so busy with other stuff (sports, music, you name it) that getting a jump early now will make that period less stressful for everyone.

What’s the best way to proceed if any of the above applies to you?  There are  lots of choices:

  • Math Facts for review or getting ahead.  Try games.  Math iPhone/iPad/iPod apps are inexpensive and fun.  There are so many good ones, but I like Math Ninja in particular because my kids LOVE it.  I have some free web games that are mostly from Academic Skills Builder (see footer of my home page).  My kids like the race games the most.  The Blox game is also a good one.  Board games specific to math are great for parent and sibling participation. Lakeshore Learning is a great resource for that.  There are also other games using dice or decks of cards.  Here are two games devised by kids that are fun and really effective.
  • Math Concept Review with parent or tutor.  Workbooks can cover concept review with some drill but they will require 1:1 time with your child.  I am partial to Singapore Math because they give such great concept presentation in a visual and intuitive way.  If you don’t feel confident in math yourself, you can just read their words to your child and it is usually pretty effective.  The other advantage is their presentation, because it’s visual, might be the one that makes the concept gel for your child.
  • Math Concept Review plus drill without parent.  Probably the best program that I’ve run across is TenMarks.  What I like about their program is that it has built in tutoring (tips and also video for solving each problem if your child gets stuck so it is a frustration free experience that does not need parental participation).  It’s also a web based program so that kids think it’s really cool and fun.  You are also able to customize the daily worksheets of ten problems to what you child actually needs help with.  A Mom Work Friend tried their summer program because her daughter is very strong in reading but needed math review and she told me that her daughter thought it was SO fun that she would do 5 days worth in one sitting and ask for more!.  Gotta love that!  And the price is really reasonable at $10/month. Here’s that link.

I will readily admit that phonics is just not my thing.  I don’t really get it and I certainly can’t teach it.  But when my child needed phonics supplementation, everyone recommended Explode the Code. The workbooks were great and now they have an online version. It’s not fancy or four color, but it’s really effective. ProgressivePhonics.com was more fun — silly poems that teach phonics in a step-by-step way — but less effective as a tool for phonics mastery.  It’s still worth doing, particularly for  a child who insists on reading aloud but knows very few sight words.

For reading, it’s just read, read, read!  Now is the time to consider creating a book club for your children if you have the bandwidth to organize one.  Or just spend a little time introducing a new series to your child because if he or she likes the first book, you are all set for a few months!  Some great book choices for grades 1-5 are 9 (and not all books here are series but the authors have more books that are excellent):

For grades 3-5:

For younger readers, grades 1-2:

And for the newest of readers:

To view any books more closely at Amazon, just click on the image of the book.

Sep 08, 2010 | 0 comments View Post

New Standards in Education from the NYTimes

Below are some key paragraphs about the new state standards.  Here is the link to the New York Times article.  Here is the link to the PDFs that spell out the new state standards.  This seems like a good thing but what are your thoughts?

————————

By SAM DILLON Published: June 2, 2010

The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released on Wednesday a new set of academic standards, their final recommendations for what students should master in English and math as they move from the primary grades through high school graduation.

The standards, which took a year to write, have been tweaked and refined in recent weeks in response to some of the 10,000 comments the public sent in after a draft was released in March.

The Obama administration hopes that states will quickly adopt the new standards in place of the hodgepodge of current state benchmarks, which vary so significantly that it is impossible to compare test scores from different states. The United States is one of the few developed countries that lacks national standards for its public schools.

Students whose families move from New York to Georgia or California, for example, often have difficulty adjusting to new schools because classroom work is organized around different standards. The problem has become worse, since many states have weakened standards in recent years to make it easier for schools to avoid sanctions under the federalNo Child Left Behind law.

The new standards were written by English and math experts convened last year by theNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. They are laid out in two documents: Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, andCommon Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. With three appendices, the English standards run to nearly 600 pages.

Under the new math standards, eighth graders would be expected to use the Pythagorean theorem to find distances between points on the coordinate plane and to analyze polygons. Under the English standards, sixth-grade students would be expected to describe how a story’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes and how an author develops the narrator’s point of view.

In keeping with those principles, the English standards do not prescribe a reading list, but point to classic poems, plays, short stories, novels and essays to demonstrate the advancing complexity of texts that students should be able to master. On the list of exemplary read-aloud books for second and third graders, for instance, is James Thurber’s “Thirteen Clocks.” One play cited as appropriate for high school students is “Oedipus Rex,” by Sophocles.

Sep 06, 2010 | 3 comments View Post

Setting Up Routines at Home for Academic Success, Particularly for Reading

School is starting and usually there is a month of adjustment for both teacher and children doing things like assessing each child in a variety of subjects, getting into the rhythm of classroom routines and behavior norms, finding out how each child learns best, making new friends and reviewing academic material from last year.  It’s not a time where new learning is emphasized (except if your child  is lucky enough to “loop” with his or her same class from last year in which case it’s business as usual).
So, as a parent, this is a good time to start setting routines for good academics at home.  Make sure there is a good spot for homework,  even if it’s the 2-minutes-a-day kind and even more important, set a time of day when the homework gets done.  We actually set different schedules and spots for different subjects:  math is right when the kids get home from school concurrent with a snack; spelling lists review are a parent/child pair that happens when we go upstairs to start our bedtime routine and is more successful when the child writes as opposed to recites aloud (a fun way to write on the windows with dry erase pens or on a white board); reading is at night right before lights out and usually in bed, cozy and together.
But … WHAT IF your child does not enjoy reading?  WHAT IF, your child hates to read aloud but is at the stage where it’s necessary to make sure the words are decoded correctly?  WHAT IF, reading is torture and you, the parent, do all the reading to your child?  WHAT IF, it seems as if your child will NEVER read for pleasure?
I think this is a phase that all parents go through with their children and it can be longer or shorter based on the child.  The key here is to try, and try again.  Mix it up.  Try new things.  Don’t give up.  If you keep at it, your child will reach that magic thresh hold when upon you will catch your child reading when other things were supposed to happen.  Like going to sleep.  Here are some ideas to get your child reading:
  • Let your child choose the book from a pile that you select and can summarize to him or her.  Use your child’s teacher, librarians, peer recommendations and blogs to find ideas for books that might interest your child.
  • Graphic novels are a legitimate choice!  There are great ones for both girls and boys.
  • Read together, especially the first chapter to get your child engaged in the story.  Once your child is engaged, take turns reading, either page by page or chapter by chapter.
  • A trip to the library or bookstore should be fun and frequent!
  • Books on tape are also a good choice and ebooks as apps are another way to do this.
  • Non fiction on topics of interest are also great:  ufos, bugs, disgusting things, mummies … find a topic that fascinates!
  • Magazines count!  Get a subscription to their favorite one.
  • Make your own book on tape.
  • Create reading time for the whole family to do together.
  • Motivate with a reward system to get over the hump.

What is working for you?  I’d love your suggestions for motivating your children to read plus any surefire books that your kids recommend. We got these recommendations from the kids in our neighborhood and my 10-year-old daughter loved them.

For grades 3-5:

For younger readers, grades 1-2:

And for the newest of readers:

To view any books more closely at Amazon, just click on the image of the book.

p.s.  And with regard to math, September is a good time to review math facts from the end of last year.  Our favorite way is to play 10 minutes of  math games a day .  The games can be on the computer, with a deck of cards, an actual board game or an app on the iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Sep 06, 2010 | 2 comments View Post

7 Ideas for Social/Emotional Learning and the Start of School (From Edutopia)

We start school in two days and my kids are getting a little anxious about it despite being very familiar with their elementary school.  I know it’s normal to be anxious even if the transition seems small.  I came across this great list about Social and Emotional learning and the start of school and there is great advice for both parents and teachers.  Hey, we are all in this together!  Here’s to a smooth transition to your child’s school year!  Let me know how yours went and if you have any advice on what worked for you.

From Edutopia by Maurice Elias:

From a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) point of view, the most important consideration at the start of the new school year is to create positive feelings and optimism about school. This has many practical implications for both educators and parents.

Here are seven ideas to keep in mind:

Number One

Make a special effort to greet children in a positive and uplifting way at the start of school. Create a festive atmosphere, not a “get down to business” factory atmosphere.

Number Two

Highlight all the good and exciting things that will be happening at the beginning of the school year, as well as throughout the year.

Number Three

Give students a chance to share good memories about the summer, what they are looking forward to for the new school year, and something about themselves that they would like classmates to know. Time spent helping the students in a class bond in positive ways will bring large dividend later in the year as students work together in pairs, teams, and groups.

Number Four

Allow students to have input into setting the rules for the classroom, in terms of both “do’s” and “don’ts.”

Number Five

Give students an opportunity each day to reflect on what they are learning. Ask them to keep a journal and write down, at the end of the day, three things they are taking with them from the school day. Have them keep daily journals in one or some or all subject areas where, at the end of a class period or unit or project, they write down three things they are taking away from that unit of work.

Number Six

Parents, the parallel of all these apply to you. Keep the first days of school very positive. Allow time for routines to kick in. Don’t get upset if your child is running late, or forgets things. Make it clear that you understand and expect by the end of the first week of school, routines will be set and work well. Ask your child for suggestions about ways to modify the routines that are not going well.

Also, after school, ask your child to share the best parts of the school day. Later, ask your child what they are looking forward to most the next day. Please note the words, “best” and “most.” These are relative terms, so there will be a “best” part of a bad day and something to look forward to “most” even where the day is dreaded. In that way, you keep the focus positive. Remember, school is much more than classes. Asking about hallways, announcements, and things other than academic classes may garner special conversations.

Number Seven

Teachers and parents should share what the school is doing around social-emotional and character development, health, and such key areas as prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Parents, if you are not given this information proactively, seek it out. Teachers, your best hope for continuity and reinforcement of school messages out of school is if parents know what it is that their children are being taught!

The essence of SEL is to be sure that the adults dealing with children understand that the gateway to learning is through children’s social and emotional skills and experiences. Opening that gateway at the start of the school year will lead to a smoother path during all subsequent days.

Sep 05, 2010 | 0 comments View Post

How To: Cope after the Unbearable Loss of a Child

This sensitive post is from The Children’s Book Writer.  She has a great blog and I’m always finding interesting posts on a variety of topics.  I was talking to Capability:Mom the other day who has a friend whose two children both have had cancer.  One child’s cancer is in remission but the other child’s cancer is the bad kind.  The thought of a child dying brings overwhelming emotion to any parent.  But for those who have actually experience the unbearable loss of a child, Randy Gilbert, the guest author of her post,  suggests two helpful ideas:

  • Don’t try to rush the grief journey. Let it be in your own time. Everyone is different and grieves in his or her own way.
  • Find what works for you.

And when the family is ready to move forward, he gives these ideas:

Do something special to honor your lost child. Make it a monthly or yearly project. Get the other members of your family together and coordinate it. It can be anything that makes you feel closer to your child: scholarships, memory gardens, scrapbooks, gift baskets to your child’s friends. There are a number of things parents can do to keep their child’s memory alive.

You need to move forward. Find ways for you and your family to adjust to the loss.

  • Rearrange the seating at your dinner table so that the empty chair will not always be a reminder that a family member is missing. Do the same thing with the family car. Sit in a different place than you normally do.
  • Physical activity helps. Whether it is walking, biking, swimming, or just walking the mall, the activity helps you cope as each day passes.
  • Helping others is the best way to heal yourself. Get involved in a selfless project. The satisfaction and gratitude you receive from helping others will soothe you.
  • Attend a grieving organization meeting. They are located in almost every state. They lend support and walk beside you in grief because they have lost children also.

Dr. Proactive, Randy Gilbert enjoys producing the “Inside Parenting Success” show hosted by Jodie Lynn. She presents her insightful interview with Frank and Cathy James (TheJourneyIsMore.com) based upon the techniques from their book. You can hear the entire inspirational interview for free by going to: http://www.insidesuccessradio.com/Guests/Cathy-James

For the entire post, please click here.

Aug 28, 2010 | 0 comments View Post

Top 7: Habits of Highly Effective Special Needs Parents (that we can all learn from)

From NewsDX Blog.  Click here for full post.  Author Joan Celebi originally founded SpecialNeedsParentCoach.com in her capacity as a certified life coach for parents of children with special needs. Her goal is to give you the practical strategies you need for successfully navigating life as a parent of a child with special needs and helps you create a manageable, balanced, and joyful life, for both you and your family. Visit Joan at http://www.specialneedsparentcoach.com.

———————–

I’ve seen it time and again: the more you practice these 7 Habits, the more productive and efficient you become, the more you’re able to handle whatever comes your way, and the more things fall into place in your life.  Many of these habits are about taking excellent care of yourself, so you can continue to take excellent care of your children and family.

It’s well known that when parents lead low-stress, balanced lives, children do better socially, emotionally, and academically.  Try some of these 7 Habits, starting today – you’ll be amazed at what a huge difference they’ll make – for you, your children, and your family.

1. They make rest a priority.
Highly effective special needs parents are in bed by 10 pm or even earlier most nights, even if it means leaving something unfinished. Parents whose children have irregular sleep patterns take naps whenever possible to make up for the late nights and pre-dawn awakenings.

2. They make time for eating well.
Highly effective special needs parents don’t skip meals – and they eat delicious, nutritious food. They get the whole family involved in weekly or monthly meal planning. They also tend to stay hydrated by sipping water throughout the day.

3. They find support.
Highly effective special needs parents get help with even the smallest things, as often as they can, from anyone and anywhere they can: family, friends, neighbors, agencies, organizations, and their community.  They hire help when necessary, and find creative solutions for bartering help with family and friends.  They belong to support groups for their children’s special needs and disabilities, and they’re in close contact with other special needs families in their area.

4. They guard their time carefully.
Highly effective special needs parents know they have to be careful about how many activities they sign up for, and the activities they do choose to participate in are only those that are nearest and dearest to their hearts.  They save most of their free time for whatever truly matters to them most.

5. They schedule social time on the calendar.
Highly effective special needs parents regularly go out with friends, and also with their spouse or partner.  They take the time and effort to train sitters, relatives, or friends on how to care for their children, so their social time can be as fun and worry-free as possible.  They take advantage of respite services in their area when they need a break.  They schedule social time weeks or months in advance, and then do whatever’s necessary to make it happen.

6. They nurture their own needs and interests.
Highly effective special needs parents reserve time for exercise – walking, biking, hiking, stretching, exercise videos, even gym workouts.  Many exercise with friends.  They engage in creative pursuits and hobbies that can be fit into small moments here and there throughout the week.  And they make time for intellectual activities too, like reading or taking a class for personal growth and enrichment.

7. They intentionally practice stress-reducing techniques.
While all of the above habits are excellent for reducing stress, highly effective special needs parents take stress reduction a step further by practicing deep breathing, meditation, or anything that helps them build up their inner reserves and cultivate inner calm.  Highly effective special needs parents also reserve time each day to put aside the therapy goals and the discipline issues, and relax with their children, enjoying them just the way they are.

Aug 26, 2010 | 2 comments View Post

Quick Brain Scan Could Screen for Autism (Reuters)

(By Ben Hirschler

LONDON | Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:34pm EDT

Reuters) – A 15-minute brain scan could in future be used to test for autism, helping doctors diagnose the complex condition more cheaply and accurately.

Key Point:  The new scanning method — which picks up on structural changes in the brain’s grey matter — could be ready for general use in a couple of years. The next goal is to test it in children.

Click here for entire article.

Aug 12, 2010 | 0 comments View Post

Top 10 Starting School Books: Kindergarten & Preschool

A reader asked me to help her round out her list of books for incoming Preschoolers.  I searched, and there are not tons of them.  I decided to combine this with entering Kindergarten because in September, my youngest child will start Kindergarten. I feel that you can use the books somewhat interchangeably and that books that your child enjoys will be more important than whether the book aligns exactly with his or her school entry point.

With regard to my youngest entering Kindergarten, I’m not that sad about that.   I’m sadder that he is elongating and losing his baby chubbiness in his face and legs.  I made the mistake of my middle child thinking that she’s been to elementary school so much as a tag-along that she’s an old hat.  But a transition to a new grade or school, not matter how small, is still difficult for children.  It’s helpful to visit the new school as often as possible.  Play with kids that will be at the same school if you can.  And read, read, read to your child books about starting school.  The familiarity of routines and activities of the new school will take a lot of the anxiety away.  So, while my youngest has been visiting his elementary school for 5 years so far, we’ll take it one step at a time and read these books over and over to ensure a smooth landing in September.  And a few play dates with new friends is also on the books!

To purchase any of these books, please click on image of book

or buy at The Pragmatic Mom store to the right hand column.

10. Mama Don’t Go by Rosemary Wells

Yoko has trouble separating from her mother the first week of school, but her new friend Timothy helps her to understand that mother’s “just keep coming back!”

9. Welcome to Kindergarten by Anne Rockwell

At first, everything seems so big and overwhelming, but after going over the routines of Kindergarten it feels just right to the little boy in the story.  A sweet and gentle depiction of the routines of Kindergarten.

8. Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come by Nancy Carlson

Henry the mouse is so excited about starting kindergarten…that is, until he walks through the door to class.  But as he recognizes all the things he talked about and made a new friend, he realizes that Kindergarten is going to be fun!

7. My First Day at School by Ruth Wickens

My kids liked this book because it’s a pop-up books and it talks about the first day of preschool with a little boy learning about all the wonderful options of fun things to do at preschool as well as the routines.  My kids liked to read this book while well into preschool just to compare what is the same and what is different about their preschool.

6.  Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Ashley Wolff

A glimpse about what the teacher does to get her classroom ready for the kids in her class!

5 Sumi’s First Day of School Everby Soyung Pak.

Sumi doesn’t speak English and today is her very first day of school ever.  Will it go well?

4. D.W.’s Guide to Preschool by Marc Brown

D.W. is an old-hand at preschool and is reassuring about how much fun it is!

3. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

Wemberly is a worrywart and is especially worried about starting school but her teacher is so nice and she makes a new friend who reminds her of herself!

2. I AmToo  Absolutely Small for School by Lauren Child

Lola thinks she is “too absolutely small for school” because she is a little nervous about starting school.  Or is it Soren Lorenson, her invisible friend, who is nervous?  But all is well when she makes a new friend the first day.  Lola is her usual delightful and funny self!

1. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

The sweetest story ever about the magic of kisses to help with separation anxiety!

If you like this post, please recommend to Digg it, Delicious or Facebook.  Icons to the right hand top of post.  Thanks!

Baby Shower Favors

Aug 11, 2010 | 4 comments View Post

Study Indicates Personality Set for Life by First Grade!

My Mom Friend sent me this story today.  I had heard that a child’s personality locks down around 3 so I was glad to see that this study gave me a few more years to mold my kids.   Well, actually, it’s too late for my older two but I have another year for my youngest. That reminds me to wrestle away my iPhone/iPad/DSi/TV/computer from his hands.  I’m running out of “influence” time!

Here’s a link to the entire article.

“We remain recognizably the same person,” said study author Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. “This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts.”

Here are the key findings:

  • Talkative youngsters tended to show interest in intellectual matters, speak fluently, try to control situations, and exhibit a high degree of intelligence as adults. Children who rated low in verbal fluency were observed as adults to seek advice, give up when faced with obstacles, and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
  • Children rated as highly adaptable tended, as middle-age adults, to behave cheerfully, speak fluently and show interest in intellectual matters. Those who rated low in adaptability as children were observed as adults to say negative things about themselves, seek advice and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
  • Students rated as impulsive were inclined to speak loudly, display a wide range of interests and be talkative as adults. Less impulsive kids tended to be fearful or timid, kept others at a distance and expressed insecurity as adults.
  • Children characterized as self-minimizing were likely to express guilt, seek reassurance, say negative things about themselves and express insecurity as adults. Those who were ranked low on a self-minimizing scale tended to speak loudly, show interest in intellectual matters and exhibit condescending behavior as adults.

Changing personality

  • Previous research has suggested that while our personalities can change, it’s not an easy undertaking.
  • Personality is “a part of us, a part of our biology,” Nave said. “Life events still influence our behaviors, yet we must acknowledge the power of personality in understanding future behavior as well.”
  • Future research will “help us understand how personality is related to behavior as well as examine the extent to which we may be able to change our personality,” Nave said.

This article is byLiveScience Staff

LiveScience.com – Fri Aug 6, 5:25 pm ET

Aug 10, 2010 | 0 comments View Post
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