Easy temperament

What It Means

An easy temperamentTemperamentA child's inborn style of reacting to the world, like how active, regular, intense or quick to adapt they are, which shapes behavior from infancy. See more is one of three broad types described by Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess. In the New York Longitudinal Study, begun in the 1950s, they rated infants from 2 months of age on nine traits, using parents' reports, and described three broad types: easy, difficult and slow-to-warm-upSlow-to-warm-up childOne of Thomas and Chess's three temperament types: a child who holds back from new people and places at first, then warms up with repeated exposure. See more. Children they called easy had regular eating and sleeping patterns, adapted readily to change and were mostly in a positive mood.

How Parents Say It

• "She slept through the night early and just goes with the flow."
• "He'll eat anything and nap anywhere."
• "Our first was so easy, the second one keeps us on our toes."

The Breakdown

What an easy temperament can look like (our examples of the traits Thomas and Chess describe)

What easy children still need. A child who rarely complains can be easy to overlook. Check in anyway, name feelings when they do come up, and give them the same one-on-oneOne-on-one meetingA regular private meeting between a manager and one person who reports to them, used for check-ins, feedback, problems and career growth. See more time a louder sibling claims.

When to talk to the doctor. An easy temperament says nothing about whether a child is meeting milestonesDevelopmental milestonesSkills most children can do by a certain age, like rolling over or waving bye-bye. CDC places each at the age 75% or more of children reach it. See more. CDC recommends talking with your child's doctor about any concern with how your child plays, learns, speaks, acts or moves, and that holds for a calm, content child too. A child who seems unusually quiet or doesn't react to sounds or faces is worth raising at the next checkup.

Where It Comes From

The term comes from Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess's New York Longitudinal Study, begun in the 1950s. From parents' reports on nine traits, starting at 2 months, they described three types: easy, difficult and slow-to-warm-up. Reviews in PubMed Central note these types are qualitative and still used today.

Good to Know

HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, describes temperament as a child's emotional style and says it is mostly inborn. Because it is largely inborn, a calm, content baby tells you more about the child than about the parenting.

Related Terms and Categories

• Temperament

  A child's inborn style of reacting to the world, like how active, regular, intense or quick to adapt they are, which shapes behavior from infancy.

• Slow-to-warm-up child

  One of Thomas and Chess's three temperament types: a child who holds back from new people and places at first, then warms up with repeated exposure.

• Spirited child

  Parent educator Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's term for a child who is more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent and energetic than most. It isn't a diagnosis.

• Highly sensitive child

  Researcher Elaine Aron's term for a child with the trait she calls sensory processing sensitivity: deep processing, easily overstimulated, strongly responsive.

• Social-emotional development

  How a child learns to understand their own feelings, read other people's, and build relationships, from early smiles to taking turns in games.

• Developmental milestones

  Skills most children can do by a certain age, like rolling over or waving bye-bye. CDC places each at the age 75% or more of children reach it.

Parenting and child development