I have one of those children…of course, she’s almost grown now and I can attest to the fact that her temperament really hasn’t changed at all. While she has taken over her own time management for the most part—she has always been someone who has no sense of urgency. Not only can she NOT be rushed and hurried, the more someone tries to rush her along, the more she balks and slows down!
I have to share, however, that there are some really great things about people who cannot be rushed—kids included. My daughter has an amazing ability to focus and work through things down to the tiniest details. This makes her a great artist and someone with a pretty easy-going attitude toward life. She’s also a pretty decent housekeeper—once she gets started cleaning a room; she can be very thorough and see the project through to the finish.
The downside is that kids like this have a tendency to be tardy and make the rest of the family late right along with them! I found when my daughter was younger that it helped to get her started earlier than everyone else and to have a “cut-off point”—if she wasn’t ready by that time, she went “as is” and took whatever she was working on with her. This meant that she was often putting on her shoes, soccer cleats, doing her hair, or whatever on the way to where we were going. It also meant that she has a tendency to eat as she’s leaving or going somewhere. BUT, these were just the realities of accommodating someone who couldn’t be hurried or rushed.
Over the years, she has developed some self-awareness and learned how to cope with her own time management, and she has also suffered the consequences of her tendency to be tardy and slower paced. But, I don’t necessarily think that there is anything inherently wrong with children who don’t want to hurry. Just because many of us are determined to live in a fast-paced, multi-tasking world—doesn’t mean that everyone wants to rush through life that way. As frustrating as it can sometimes be, I’ve had to admit that her pace is just as valid as anyone else’s.
See Also: Who Needs the Attitude Adjustment–You or Me?
Unconventional Kids–Unconventional Parents
How Much of This is Personality?