While your fun and energetic sanguine child might be quick to start, she’s likely slow to finish. If you need to motivate your extroverted sanguine child, I hope these tips help.
Related personality posts:
- Strengths of the Confident + Take Charge Mom (and her struggles)
- Strengths of the Calm + Steady Mom (and her struggles)
- Strengths of the Strong + Deliberate Mom (and her struggles)
- Strengths of the Fun + Energetic Mom (and her struggles)
This week we’re tackling how to motivate our kids. We’ve already discussed the many reasons throughout their childhood we’ll want to motivate them.
To do chores, to do homework, to make plans for their future, to go to church or join a club or be nice. Or pretty much anything.
Before we talk about how to motivate your fun-loving always-ready-for-an-adventure-child, let’s review some characteristics of the sanguine fun loving child.
What's in this post...
Characteristics of the Fun + Energetic Sanguine Child:
- extroverted
- activity prone
- fun-loving
- optimistic
- impulsive
- bored easily
- people pleaser
- charismatic
- live in the moment
- forgives and forgets easily
- enjoys attention
- bubbly and chatty
- short attention span
- changes focus in an instant
This is just a snapshot of the Fun + Energetic personality, but it’s enough to know that it can be tricky to motivate your fun-loving child to do something that doesn’t seem like a good time.
This personality has a hard time sticking with longer term projects, goals, or tasks since they lose focus so quickly, but you can do it!
Help set a schedule for follow through
Fun loving children are quick to start a project or task, but loathe to finish it. For larger projects, help them set up a schedule or accountability system. If they are older and agree, use rewards and consequences for failing to meet goals.
While this may not mimic the real world, it will help them learn and internalize the importance of follow through.
While they may never be completely natural at following through, they can learn how to pace themselves and commit if taught from a younger age the tools they need to keep themselves accountable.
Reward well for finishing
Because Fun + Energetic children love a good time, rewards work very well for them. Of course, rewards should be appropriate and to scale, but whether it’s homework or chores or something they consider “boring” having a fun reward will help.
Choose goals that are exciting to your child, like having friends over, a dance party, dress up, or trip to the ice cream shop. Of course, these will change as they become teenagers, but remember they are driven by the need to be out and about and enjoying life, so let your rewards speak to that.
Help make things fun
Even basic mundane things can be made more fun which will help energize your sanguine child. Clean to music, set a pretty homework table (they love pretty things), or even let younger ones wear beautiful dress up clothes to do other chores.
Think out of the box (particularly if you are not this personality) and ask your child what would make a certain activity more fun.
This does not mean don’t require them to do boring things, life is full of boring things, but to get them used to doing things by making things more fun. Once they learn to think this way, they can also make things more fun for themselves as they get older.
Ask them what things they love (a nicely decorated room, a nice wardrobe, etc.) and help them learn to make those a reality.
Develop observation and detail
Fun + Energetic children are great observers of people since they are eager to please and be liked by others, but they don’t have much attention to detail. Play memory games with your younger ones, ask questions that require thought as they age, and make a habit of drawing their attention to the necessary though “unfun” things of life.
This might be to how things are made, how things are organized, how much work it takes to make dinner, or even how to discipline one’s self. These things will change as your child ages, but be aware that your fun loving child will not naturally notice the small but important details, so try to direct their attention there when possible.
Give a lot of positive feedback and encouragement
Similar to fun rewards, Fun + Energetic children respond well to praise. They love being the center of attention so when you are able, sincerely praise them for their efforts.
This is particularly effective if you praise them for things that are not naturally in their giftings. Praise them for follow through, persevering in a task, handling something “boring” without complaining, or just sitting still.
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