I'm sorry. I've been working on some crazy, meta-organizing, what-it's-REALLY-all-about temperament post that will clarify all the limitations and challenges inherent in the temperament research and how it could be all addressed if everyone just got along and listened to me, the great and powerful scientist-mommy who really thinks SHE knows how to design a PERFECT temperament study that would actually inform our understanding of sleep problems with children of different types and… blah, blah, bleh. I've STILL got nothing for you. It's large and complicated and I'm obsessing. So that means that I'm basically too confused to put it all in a neat nutshell for you all. But I'm working on it. Really, I am. Until then, let me recommend a few good books that I think are worth reading about your child's temperament. And let's face it, you'll probably only be interested in READING about you child's temperament (or at least what to do about it) if you have one of those crazy little devils that will grow up to be the most insanely talented artists, the most successful, full-throttle CEOs or your run-of-the-mill criminals. In other words, call it what you will, but most books out there on temperament are focusing mostly on the "difficult", "sensitive" or "spirited" child. Here are some of the better ones:
I can write paragraph-long caveats for each of these books and there are other, great books out there as well on the topic that I haven't linked to because they are not directly related to temperament. Suffice it to say that each of these books that I've linked to DO have some serious limitations, but I think you can learn a good deal from them. At the same time, some of the others I would have linked to have too much of a judgmental angle (although strongly researched) for me to put up here.
I'll be back… either with something on temperament or something completely different because I will have lost the battle with the compulsive editor in my head…
What books have you found useful to understand your child's temperament or personality better?