We’ve been discussing boundaries and in the previous podcast, we discussed boundaries as they applied to the SJ temperament. Today, let’s consider the NT child.
A Quick Reminder
Remember that even if you do not have an NT, your child will have friends or cousins who are NTs and you will need to understand the effects of boundaries on the NT for the purpose of interacting with those children and to help your child understand how boundaries may look a little different for others who are not of their same temperament.
Parenting, teaching, and leading are all easier when you know the temperaments you are dealing with and when you proceed according to who they really are.
Setting Boundaries Requires More than a Command
Setting boundaries is not just commanding that the child do something or not do something. The child needs to understand the boundary. And for the NT, there are some specific considerations because of their unique urges and drives. Remember: It is important and necessary to understand correctly who the child is at their core or center and what is driving them. It is also important to understand how the child sees us. So, I hope you have completed the temperament key for both the child and for yourself.
Boundaries Are Essential
Without boundaries, the child sees their urges and drives as unlimited. And they believe their urges can be used indiscriminately. But life must be lived within limitations or boundaries of time, resources, acceptability in relationships, and our social connections at work, play, etc.
So, let’s see how boundaries need to be established for the NT child.
For the NT, we will consider:
- The value of the NT parent’s method of discipline
- Results and consequences: how the NT will view and learn them
- How the child comes to know themselves, their world, and those who occupy their world
- One important phrase to remember when dealing with the NT child
- A parental mistake that must be avoided, particularly with the NT child.
- How to silence the debate
- How to communicate the boundary
- Interrupting them
- Reasoning with them
- Enforcing discipline with the NT child
Let’s dig in!