Describe your child’s personality, temperament, and more

As we enter a new school year, you might be asked to describe your child to their teacher either in a letter, email, or on the phone. Providing this information is extremely helpful for their teacher because they will be spending a lot of time with your child in the classroom.

We recommend giving your child’s teacher insight into their past academic performance and experience, current home life, important medical or learning needs, and of course, their personality and temperament. But, you might not be as familiar with the ways to describe your child’s personality and temperament to someone who has never met them before. You’re not alone. To help parents and teachers start the school year off right, we’ve created this guide so you can describe your child’s personality simply this fall.

What is temperament?

Before you dive into describing your child’s personality, you might want to first think about their temperament. Temperament is often used when talking about the personality of infants and toddlers. According to HealthyChildren.org (an organization run by pediatricians), “the ease with which a child adjusts to their environment is strongly influenced by their temperament - adaptability and emotional style. For the most part, temperament is an innate quality of the child, one with which they are born.”

However, temperament is still a term that can be used for children and even adults. It refers to their general demeanor, how they react to difficult situations and change, their mood, distractibility, sensory threshold, and more. There are at least 9 characteristics like these that come together to make up a child or person’s temperament.

Temperament examples

When describing a child’s temperament, there are 3 loose categories that most people use. These are determined by the characteristics mentioned above. The categories are:

Easy. If you say a child has an easy temperament, it means that they generally have a positive mood and are adaptable to new situations. They can quickly fall into a routine and do not experience much anxiety around difficult or frustrating tasks. Roughly 40% of children fall into this temperament category.
Slow to warm up or shy. Children in this category adapt more slowly to new situations and might experience some discomfort when making new friends or meeting new people. As the name suggests, they are likely hesitant or shy in these situations and might have some anxiety. However, as time goes by, children with this temperament will warm up and become more accepting of these situations.
Difficult or challenging. Children with a difficult or challenging temperament react to the world in a more negative way. As a baby, they might have been fussy or colicky. They tend to be stubborn and intense and might have trouble adapting to new situations. This can make it difficult in school and it should definitely be something that a parent tells their child’s teacher.

Photo of describe your child's personality

Describe your child’s personality to a teacher

Now that you know more about temperament, you can start to figure out how you will describe your child’s personality to a teacher. Depending on the age of your child, there is probably more to their personality than just their temperament. Therefore, we recommend thinking about the answers to these questions when you plan to describe your child’s personality.

How does my child react when meeting someone new?
Does my child make friends easily?
Is my child adventurous? Do they like to try new things?
What makes my child happy? What makes them nervous or scared?
How can you motivate my child?
When is my child the most excited?
Does my child react negatively when taken out of their routine?
Is my child easily excitable or easily distracted?
What is the best way to interact with my child?

Describe your child’s personality to a teacher example

Let’s put everything together! We created a version for each temperament category so you can see the different ways to describe your child’s personality. Depending on your child, you can mix & match or adapt one of these.

Easy child

Sarah (she/her) has an easy temperament and really loves to try new things. She has no problem making friends in the classroom or on the playground. Her previous teachers said that Sarah does a good job of including other children when everyone is playing. She really enjoys reading and extra reading time is a good motivator for her. She does get distracted chatting with friends sometimes, but she loves school and pays attention in class.

Slow to warm up or shy child

Sarah (she/her) can be shy when meeting new people, both adults and children, but she will warm up after some time. She’s definitely hesitant when it comes to trying new things and getting out of her routine. If you speak with her 1-on-1 and gently offer suggestions, though, she will try something! She loves science and extra science time would be a great motivator for her. Her other teachers have said she does not get distracted easily and she focuses well on her schoolwork.

Difficult or challenging child

Sarah (she/her) reacts negatively to change and can be difficult when she doesn’t get what she wants. It is helpful if you don’t raise your voice when she gets upset because her sensory threshold is low and loud noises make it even harder for her to regulate herself. We are working on coping strategies for when she feels overwhelmed and I will share those with you in my letter so that you can help put them in place in the classroom. She loves art and spending quiet time coloring is a good way to calm and motivate her.

The team at Sawyer is always here to help if you are looking for communication strategies, back-to-school schedule guidance, and more resources or fun activities for your children. Best of luck ahead!