Discovering your parenting personality
A parent’s personality has a great impact on their children’s lives. They often worry that their children won’t turn out the way they want them to. If they are not developing the desired personality, there is a danger of parents trying to force them into one! It is important for parents to adjust to their particular children and encourage them along their own paths. Of course it is necessary for parents to understand their own personalities. The Enneagram is a wonderful tool which is used to guide people into understanding themselves and others and for personal growth.
How will it improve my parenting?
People think that a child’s personality develops from the parents rather than from inside the child. Culture and environment do play important roles in the overall shaping of a person, but it has been discovered that children have an inborn tendency to be either extroverted or introverted, sensitive or insensitive, adventurous or timid, passive or aggressive. Even the tendency for being neat or disorganised is something they are born with and not just the result of how well their parents trained them!
The Enneagram acknowledges that each one of us is unique, yet it identifies certain distinctive patterns of behaviours. This intriguing and complex personality system analyses how we relate to each other according to our differences and similarities. As we learn to perceive others more accurately, we will open ourselves up to greater compassion and acceptance.
Parents and teachers will learn to:
- Understand children who are different from them
- Appreciate that no type is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than another
- Help children gain a greater sense of confidence and well being by showing them how to draw on the healthy aspects of all nine styles
- Show children how to discern and appreciate their own, and others’ gifts
- Ease the minds of those who feel a sense of failure when their child doesn’t behave according to their expectations.
How do I discover my personality type?
Discovering your individual type is a process. I use various methods to assist in guiding you to discover your type. As the Enneagram is a map to assist in self-awareness and personal growth, the path to discovering your type is an important part of the process. Understanding your personality can enable you to break out of the repetitious patterns of past behaviours that are not helpful and guide you into developing more healthy behaviours.
For further information re a presentation, a workshop or individual coaching, check out: www.margaretlofus.com or email: marg@margaretloftus.com
"I recently attended a course on Parent Coaching for Teenagers; currently I have two teens and one soon to be. I found it such a simple, practical approach of respectful communication with my children, with instant results. It was a timely eye-opener, a fresh start, a way to respectfully and harmoniously guide my children into becoming independent adults."
– R.W.
