Is restless when forced to sit still for long periods, Tends to get into fights. No, we are not describing your physician spouse. There is good news and bad news about this coping pattern. Compared to others, superachieving children have been found to be brighter, more physically fit, more talkative, outgoing, and socially skilled.
Many influences shape a child's coping style, including peers, schools, and the media.
And any parent knows that every child is born with a temperament that shapes certain coping patterns, regardless of what influence the parent tries to wield. But concerned parents are honest about another fact. In our efforts to enrich and educate our children, we are at risk of stressing rather than blessing them with a BIG LIFE long before they have the skills to handle it. Here, we offer a few words of caution and encouragement based on our experiences counseling over 700 medical families. They sacrifice much of their independence in order to raise a family, then discover that their kids find them to be perfectionists and overbearing, not nurturing.