What are we thankful for?

Posted in Holidays & Seasonal
by Lorain County Moms

By Priscilla J. Dunstan, McClatchy-Tribune

When asked, “What are you most thankful for?” parents often gratefully answer “My children.” In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I today write about the wonderful traits of each dominant sense, and how each child, through these traits and their personality, is worth being thankful for.

Tactile children: full of boundless energy, always wanting to help and be a part of things, and the child who includes everyone in their play. These characters approach life with unbridled enthusiasm and larger-than-life expression. With these kids, there is no need to guess — we know exactly what they are feeling, when they are feeling it! If something is wrong, they are easy to divert with a simple physical activity. They take great delight in expressing their love through hugs, cuddles and being helpful. You can always count on your tactile child to fetch something when you need it, or to help you with organizing siblings. Their enthusiasm for life is infectious, making it easy to enjoy life when they are around.

Auditory children have a remarkable ability to be logical. Their quest for understanding leads to many questions, and unique problem solving ideas. They don’t withhold information, so you will hear about everything that happened at kindergarten, both to themselves and friends. Being very logical, they can understand complex patterns and schedules, and will remember details with surprising accuracy. Their need for auditory expression means your home will be filled with chatter, singing and boisterous laughter. They do most of their learning through conversation, so parents of auditory children will be coerced into discussing a broad array of subjects, none of them dull.

Taste and smell children are sensitive little souls, with a natural empathetic side that will make anyone feel loved. They like people to be happy, and will go to great lengths to ensure they are. The taste and smell child’s memory is often emotionally based, and she will have an uncanny ability to remember intricate details about others, and her encounters with them. The child’s experience of the world is magical, with him feeling things intensely even small things we may overlook. This gives adults a chance to re-experience life anew, through our child’s eyes. Even the most basic of events — eating plain rice, picking fall leaves, or listening to a bird — will seem special viewed through the eyes of your taste and smell child.

Visual children can make our world more beautiful. They appreciate the visual and seek to enhance it. Their natural flare means that they can decorate a picture, a table, a room or themselves in expressive and creative ways that we would never have thought of. When we lose things like our keys, our visual child will be the one to find them and suggest solutions for not losing them again. Being organized and tidy, they show an innate respect for possessions and themselves a skill that usually needs to be learned by children — and can show invaluable leadership on this within the family. Their dedication to making the world appear better is inspiring.

How can we not be thankful for being able to have these remarkable children in our lives? Their dominant-sense traits only accentuate their amazing personalities; we are lucky to have them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Priscilla J. Dunstan is a child and parenting behavior expert and consultant and the author of “Child Sense.” Learn more about Priscilla and her parenting discoveries at www.childsense.com.