Our Waldorf Homeschool Journey

Hi Everyone,

I’d like to carry on with the 4 Temperaments, as promised. The Sanguine child is quite easy for me to explain, as both my son and myself have a dominant Sanguine personality. Together left to our natural temperament, we’d achieve little jumping from task to task with glee.

One positive to this child is that they are rarely unhappy. Awful things may happen and they merely shrug and say,”Oh well, thats the way it goes…it’s over now.” For me they are the children that live in the NOW, far more than the other temperaments. They enjoy each moment, and have the most lively imagination. They also are not overly affected by outside influences. For both StJohn and myself. The neighbours house could fall down and we’d be surprised nothing more. It’s not that we don’t care, but just have an inherent, “what will be will be” attitude.

Other children want to be friends with them, as they are exciting, and always full of new ideas for games.

These children seem to live their lives at high speed, they tend to run just about everywhere. StJohn will often come tearing through the house, on a mission of his own, if he knocks something over, he’ll just yell over his shoulder, “Sorry Mom! I Love you!”

I find it virtually impossible to get cross with him. The Sanguine child truly captures the pure essence of childhood.

The negative of the Sanguine temperament (as I know for myself quite well) is the inability to complete a task. As an adult, I still have to focus on completing a project or simply a task such as making the bed. One thing leads to another and if I’m not concentrating properly I get sidetracked. For example, I make the bed, half way through I find a pajama top under the one pillow, so I fold it, and pop it in my cupboard, and whilst doing this, I see that my jerseys have got jumbled so I start to unpack them and repack them. The bed forgotten. As an adult I am aware of this and therefore have learnt to control it, but I find when I’m tired, I am very scattered. Plenty of rest is a must! And this in itself is so difficult, as there are so many interesting things to discover in this world, and I can’t wait to do it, so bedtime sometimes comes too late! It comes down to self discipline!!!

For my son, I find what works with him, in fact what is essential is capturing his imagination. Chores for him are a burden. Say for example I want him to clean the wash basin in the bathroom, as he’s spilt toothpaste all over it, again. I won’t say to him,”StJohn please go and clean up the mess you made in the bathroom” This ends up in a long face and a sigh. Instead I’ll say to him in a voice that is alive and excited (difficult at 7:30 in the morning let me tell you!),”StJohn a dragon has been fighting with the toothpaste in the bathroom again. Please go and find Puff and help him clean it up!” Then he’s off in a shot, his imagination working overtime, and the bathroom clean. :o))

In essence patience is the key to dealing with the Sanguine child. Punishment of any sort does not work!!!!!!! By the time he is sent to time out he’s forgotten why he’s there in the first place. I’m not exaggerating. StJohn will in the most trying times be asked to spend a few minutes in his room to think about what he has just done, not the act itself, but how it affects other people! This seems to work as he sits and contemplates and when he has reached a conclusion will come to me and usually say, “Sorry Mom, I’ll try not to do that again, I understand it wasn’t kind/gentle/the right thing to do.” One situation specifically comes to mind….Sorry I have to share this…..

StJohn got it into his head that due to us not having a donkey handy, the chickens would provide him with a chicken ride. I ran outside when I heard a chicken squawking in fright as it was held around the throat and was being “ridden” like a hobby horse, the rider was singing, donkey ride, donkey ride. This was one occasion when we sat down had a chat about the chickens possible feelings, and he was asked to please contemplate the effect of his behavior in his room. I usually only do this when he’s been horrid and I need to get a bit of distance.

It can be infuriating but working with your childs temperament instead of against it, truly is rewarding, as you get things done, you get a happy child, and a relaxed child. You get a child that is true to themselves. A child that is not trying to adjust their personality to please you.

I hope this has been helpful to you in at least a small way. Please remember that this is merely a tiny bit of the Sanguine Temperament, and I strongly recommend the reading of Rudolf Steiners’ The 4 Temperaments, see the link below.

Don’t forget our Gnomes….Why not order a Sanguine Gnome for your Sanguine child, they’re bound to love them,as generally the Sanguine childs favourite colour is yellow!

Blessed be, everyone one of you as we enjoy our journey together.

Sue

Filed under: The 4 Temperaments, Handwork & Crafting, Waldorf Homeschooling, Homeschool on October 2nd, 2008