Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

“Personality is immediately apparent, from birth,” actress Meryl Streep has said. And by understanding our children’s personalities, we can parent more effectively. Today on Home School Heartbeat, John Trent joins HSLDA President Mike Smith to help you discover how.

The Blessing Challenge

This week’s guest, Dr. John Trent, has launched the Blessing Challenge to encourage and equip families and churches to make a difference in the lives of children by blessing them. Learn more about Dr. Trent’s initiative and take part in the Blessing Challenge by clicking the link below.

Learn More Here >>

Mike Smith:
This week John Trent, well known author, speaker, and president of StrongFamilies.com, is here to talk about parenting. John, welcome to the program!

John Trent:
Well thanks, it’s great to be with you!

Mike:
John, you’ve identified four general personality types parents will recognize in their children. How can identifying a child’s personality really be helpful for parents?

John:
Well, I mean, let’s start with Scripture, is a good place to start. You know, in Proverbs everybody’s heard, “Train up a child in the way they should go.” Well, what it literally says in Hebrew is “Train up a child according to their bent,” and there’s a sense in which each parent—now moms know this for sure, and most dads do too—kids just, they cry differently!

I mean, I’m a marriage and family counselor and in my clinical studies, I mean, there’s a 64-point checklist that you look at with little babies and so, they’re just different from the get-go. Even though our kids look just alike, I mean they came from the same cookie-cutter, but there really are different characteristics.

Mike:
John, thank you so much for being with us today, that is so very interesting! And until next time, I’m Michael Smith.