Understanding you and your child's temperaments can help with parenting. For example, melancholic children respond well to fairy tales describing hardships. The phlegmatic child likes comfort, to be kept warm, and delicious food. Sanguine children respond well to calm parenting but enjoy social situations. Choleric children like to be leaders and you may find letting them be in charge of tasks helps to give them direction. In Waldorf schools teachers work with temperaments to help children grow and develop.
Children of these temperaments are often drawn to these colors:
- Choleric: Red & Fire
- Sanguine: Yellow & Rainbow
- Phlegmatic: Green & Forest
- Melancholic: Blues & Ocean
According to Rudolf Steiner- the founder of Waldorf education - each phase of life has a temperament associated with it.
- Childhood: Sanguine
- Adolescence: Choleric
- Adulthood: Melancholic
- Old Age: Phlegmatic
A goal of adulthood is to bring all four temperaments into balance, to bring harmony into one's life.
Here's a list of animals associated with each temperament.
- Lion (Choleric/Dominance) Strengths— Visionary, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, leader.
- Otter (Sanguine/Influence) Strengths— Outgoing, responsive, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, compassionate.
- Golden Retriever (Phlegmatic/Steadiness).
- Beaver (Melancholy/Compliance)
You can look at the characters in Winnie the Pooh to find the four temperaments - Eeyore is the melancholic; Rabbit choleric; Pooh phlegmatic; and Christopher Robin himself is the sanguine.
Take a quiz to determine your temperament. (A very fun activity to do with children - our family had so much fun discovering our temperaments!)
Let me know what temperament you and your children are in a comment below to enter to win a set of 4 Playsilks in the colors of the temperments_ Blue, Green, Yellow and Red. Winner will be chosen on 1/20/25 and announced here!
For further reading on this subject I recommend looking at Dr. Gilbert Child's work entitled Understand Your Temperament! A guide to the four temperaments: Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Melancholic.
I am definitely a melancholic! Oh my, that is right on the nose. My 6 year old is likely choleric. But my 3 year old… she’s a mystery to me. I can say that she is not melancholic or choleric. We will have to see more of her true colors as they develop!
Renee on
This was a very interesting read and we had a lot of fun figuring out our temperaments. I got phlegmatic and my little guy is melancholic!
Susie on
According to the quiz, I’m phlegmatic and my daughter is sanguine
Theresa on
Phlegmatic which is definitely very fitting!
Bryanna on
My daughter and I are both beavers 🦫
Sierra on
I got Sanguine which really surprised me! My oldest and middle were Melancholic, and my toddler was Choleric. I feel like lots of toddlers probably lean Choleric, LOL!
Rachel on
Me – phlegmatic with a bit of red and blue
9yo daughter – melancholic
Husband – sanguine/melancholic!
Amy on
I was of the chart “red”. lol Can someone not have a dominant temperment and come out equally with three of them?
laurel west on
We got Melancholic for my Daughter and I… I wouldn’t have thought so.
Sarah on
Chakra meditation has been a transformative practice in my life. It brings a sense of balance and inner harmony that resonates on both a mental and physical level. Highly recommend giving it a try for a refreshing and calming experience!
Ajay on
It always interests me to see the temperaments written about, as there often seems to be an unconscious bias or infinity towards some temperaments rather than others… In this case it is interesting that when listing animals associated with the temperaments, Choleric and Sanguine get strengths listed, but not so the Phlegmatic or Melancholic … I would love to see strengths listed for all, as I feel each temperament has strengths and weaknesses equally worthy of consideration. Phlegmatic strengths to consider might include loyalty, optimism, patience and diplomacy… Melancholic strengths to consider might include compassion, emotional intelligence, deep thought, eye for detail…
Diana on
My daughter is the Otter and I’m the Golden retriever
Teresa on