Our Caroline is a Dreamer in every sense of the word. She is also sensitive and spirited. Anyone who thinks those labels are just imaginary, probably does not have a child like this. Some children look at the world differently. Once you begin to read the explanations of others, it is like the light comes flooding in because it all finally makes sense!
There is very little out there that is helpful for understanding how to raise, nurture and discipline a dreamer. In fact, much of the advice given (especially in Christian circles) is actually counterproductive, sometimes in the extreme. I’ll continue to add resources here as I find them and welcome any links or books that others would recommend!
Books
Strong-Willed Child or Dreamer?
Online Articles
The Spirited Child from The Fussy Baby Site
Spirited Child Handout (PDF)
How to Handle Your Spirited Toddler from Baby Center
Parenting a Spirited Child from Prenatal to Parenting
The Highly Sensitive Child from Family Education
The Highly Sensitive Child: Parenting Strategies from Family Education
The Highly Sensitive Child from The Highly Sensitive Person
Raising a Sensitive Child from Education.com
Stubborn Preschoolers from Berkeley Parenting Networks
Raising Your Spirited Child from ivillage.com
Nurturing Our Spirited Children from Nurturing Our Families
Thriving With Your Spirited Child from University of Wisconsin Extension
Discussion Boards
Support for Raising Spirited Babies from Baby Whisperer Forum (There are many threads on this topic. You will not feel so alone after you read some of them!)
HELP – How to Enjoy a “Spirited” Baby from Baby Whisperer Forum
How do you feel about the term “free-spirited child”?? from Mothering.com
Spirited Children on BabyCenter.com
You may also find my High Need Infants, Babies and Children page helpful!
Please note: The inclusion of a link is not an endorsement of all its content or the content of the site on which it is found.
I’m currently reading the Strong-willed or Dreamer book. Being the mother of a dreamer (and dreamer myself) it’s wonderful to finally be able to understand and accept the wonder of what my child is even though they don’t fit in the traditional mold. The light has come flooding in…so important to share this information.
Cara,
It IS so helpful to see the light come flooding in! It sometimes feels like a lonely battle when people assume “If you would just do A, B and C then it would totally ‘fix’ everything.” Please feel free to share any insights you get. Although there aren’t many comments here, this page gets visited very frequently by people who come here by search engines.
I was wondering if anyone has found a group that shares the wonderful challenges that come with raising an Edison trait child?
Tina – I haven’t specifically looked for an online group about the Edison trait. I did do a quick search at BabyCenter because they have SO many specific discussion groups. I found this discussion that mentions Edison Trait children. My theory is that parents with Edison Trait kids are too busy trying to keep up with them to have time to discuss it online. LOL! Just kidding (sort of). Was there any kind of specific information you were trying to find?
Tina – Here are two posts I wrote related to this topic. Not sure if you saw them, but thought I would put the links here for anyone else who ends up here looking.
Dreamers, Discoverers, the Edison Trait and Caroline’s Art
Raising a dreamer child and ignoring conventional wisdom
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