My little Inventor
Last night, Tim reminded me to read the chapter about Elliot in Please Understand Me II, a great all about personality types, character, temperaments, and intelligence.
I am an ESTJ. Elliot is probably an ENTP, and this means we're basically complete opposites from each other. Which is no surprise to anybody. :)
Elliot is an NTP for sure, and we're not certain yet about I or E. But one of them is nicknamed "Inventor" and the other "Architect." I read the chapter about little Inventors and it is seriously describing Elliot to a T. Listen to this: "It is so natural for ENTPs to practice devising ingenious gadgets and mechanisms that they start doing it even as young children."
..."They may even work against the system just for the joy of holding the upper hand. Inventors have also been known to engage in brinkmanship with their superiors, placing their own careers in jeopardy and behaving as if unaware of the consequences."
..."Their home environment also tends to be full of life. They are gregarious, laugh easily and often, and are typically in good humor. Although usually dependable providers of economic necessities, life with an ENTP is at times an adventure, and they can unknowingly navigate the family into dangerous economic waters. Orderliness in the routines of daily living is not apt to inspire them, and they usually solve this problem by letting their mates pick up after them."
And there is this sentence in particular about the INTP which rings a bell: "This type of Rational is the logician, the mathematician, the technologist, the scientist -- that person given to any pursuit that requires architectonics, systems analysis, or structural design." I know he's still a little boy, but you should see the countless folders full to the brim with drawings of plans and designs and ideas.
**And here is an excerpt from the chapter about parenting called Guardian Parent (me) - Rational Child (Elliot): Guardian parents admire their Rational children's seriousness and will-to-achieve, and this relationship works out quite well when SJ parents show regard for their little NTs fierce sense of autonomy. However, discipline can be a knotty problem. If the SJ parent tries to admonish or punish the NT child into obedience, the child will feel personally violated and will likely respond with growing contempt. Remember that NTs, at any age, must have a reason for doing anything, and when a parent is not forthcoming with a rationale for action other than convention or authority, the little NTs will do what they are told only reluctantly and with little respect. More specifically, it is the tough-minded Administrator Guardian that the Rational child is most likely to run afoul of, the child wanting to be free to choose, and the parent conscientiously trying to arbitrate choice."
If I were to go into a little more description about my own type, you would understand just how much some of these traits that Elliot displays really goes against my most fundamental principles. Of course I don't want to box anybody in too much, but I'm finding all this helpful and if I keep reading and thinking about it, I might figure out new ways to deal with Elliot.
Right now he's at the kitchen table bursting with excitement over making his own homemade battery using soda, salt, paper, foil, and copper pennies. He can hardly stand it. It was Tim's idea to show him a little youtube video of this project after he accidentally showed Elliot a video of two idiots making a homemade bomb with foil and ammonia. Elliot was in the kitchen with his foil out and READY. I actually emailed a friend who's husband is the fire chief here in town to see if he could offer Elliot any "education" about danger and safety. But Tim showed him a ton of youtube videos where people were dressed head to toe in safety gear while working with chemicals and stuff. So I think Elliot knows not to make a bomb. For now, batteries are a good distraction, and he can shock himself all he wants to with his little homemade battery.
*I have tried scanning his current drawing of how to boil vinegar and baking soda together to see what happens, but for some reason my scanner won't talk to my laptop. If I figure it out, I'll post it here.
I am an ESTJ. Elliot is probably an ENTP, and this means we're basically complete opposites from each other. Which is no surprise to anybody. :)
Elliot is an NTP for sure, and we're not certain yet about I or E. But one of them is nicknamed "Inventor" and the other "Architect." I read the chapter about little Inventors and it is seriously describing Elliot to a T. Listen to this: "It is so natural for ENTPs to practice devising ingenious gadgets and mechanisms that they start doing it even as young children."
..."They may even work against the system just for the joy of holding the upper hand. Inventors have also been known to engage in brinkmanship with their superiors, placing their own careers in jeopardy and behaving as if unaware of the consequences."
..."Their home environment also tends to be full of life. They are gregarious, laugh easily and often, and are typically in good humor. Although usually dependable providers of economic necessities, life with an ENTP is at times an adventure, and they can unknowingly navigate the family into dangerous economic waters. Orderliness in the routines of daily living is not apt to inspire them, and they usually solve this problem by letting their mates pick up after them."
And there is this sentence in particular about the INTP which rings a bell: "This type of Rational is the logician, the mathematician, the technologist, the scientist -- that person given to any pursuit that requires architectonics, systems analysis, or structural design." I know he's still a little boy, but you should see the countless folders full to the brim with drawings of plans and designs and ideas.
**And here is an excerpt from the chapter about parenting called Guardian Parent (me) - Rational Child (Elliot): Guardian parents admire their Rational children's seriousness and will-to-achieve, and this relationship works out quite well when SJ parents show regard for their little NTs fierce sense of autonomy. However, discipline can be a knotty problem. If the SJ parent tries to admonish or punish the NT child into obedience, the child will feel personally violated and will likely respond with growing contempt. Remember that NTs, at any age, must have a reason for doing anything, and when a parent is not forthcoming with a rationale for action other than convention or authority, the little NTs will do what they are told only reluctantly and with little respect. More specifically, it is the tough-minded Administrator Guardian that the Rational child is most likely to run afoul of, the child wanting to be free to choose, and the parent conscientiously trying to arbitrate choice."
If I were to go into a little more description about my own type, you would understand just how much some of these traits that Elliot displays really goes against my most fundamental principles. Of course I don't want to box anybody in too much, but I'm finding all this helpful and if I keep reading and thinking about it, I might figure out new ways to deal with Elliot.
Right now he's at the kitchen table bursting with excitement over making his own homemade battery using soda, salt, paper, foil, and copper pennies. He can hardly stand it. It was Tim's idea to show him a little youtube video of this project after he accidentally showed Elliot a video of two idiots making a homemade bomb with foil and ammonia. Elliot was in the kitchen with his foil out and READY. I actually emailed a friend who's husband is the fire chief here in town to see if he could offer Elliot any "education" about danger and safety. But Tim showed him a ton of youtube videos where people were dressed head to toe in safety gear while working with chemicals and stuff. So I think Elliot knows not to make a bomb. For now, batteries are a good distraction, and he can shock himself all he wants to with his little homemade battery.
*I have tried scanning his current drawing of how to boil vinegar and baking soda together to see what happens, but for some reason my scanner won't talk to my laptop. If I figure it out, I'll post it here.