o_19kdfsn0q18e31dfraas1esh19vta.pdf

Parenthood
Keirsey (1998) described INTJ parenthood as a carefully researched and prepared strategy. INTJ
parents, he notes, will have read everything available on child rearing, digested the information,
formed their own conclusions, built a plan, and will carry it out. INTJs are good at providing
structure for their children. They will use schedules and checklists to keep track of their busy lives
and enforce the rules consistently.
INTJ parents will probably notice that they are different from the other parental units they meet in
their child's playgroup. Most other parents will seem oddly satisfied by the domestic sphere of
house and children; this mindset is foreign to the INTJ. Besides this, parenting books tend to be
targeted towards the majority, i.e. Artisans and Guardians; as such, they fail to provide strategies
that work for INTJs. Let's look at some of the characteristics of INTJ parents and how they differ
from the norm.
Penley (2006) has noted that INTJs parents seldom create traditional roles for themselves or their
children. "Everybody else gets to do this, everyone else has this toy, everyone else is going," the
children may whine, but the INTJ parent will not be moved by such peer pressure. INTJs tend to
expect the same qualities from their children that they themselves exhibit: autonomy, achievement,
a willingness to think critically, and perseverance. INTJs enjoy their children more and more the
older they get. The more the child's mind develops, the more interesting the child is to the INTJ's
own intellect.
The INTJ is not only a parent, but a teacher. They want their children to learn and will provide
materials and opportunities for doing so. They don't mind explaining "why" and will try to give a
real answer. They delight in their children's curiosity, wonder, and imagination. INTJs will often
expose their children to advanced concepts or books at an early age. They will take an active
interest in child's education, and perhaps even take the child's instruction upon themselves. For
instance, Bowditch's son observed of his father,
He [Bowditch] devoted much of his own time (though not so much of late years as formerly) to the
instruction of his children, particularly the elder ones; his chief endeavor being to awaken in them a taste
for mathematics. He persuaded one of his sons to learn French when very young, by the stimulus of a
small compensation for the translation of a certain number of pages. ... His experience, also, led him to
acquiesce in a child's pursuit of any study, though comparatively useless in itself, if voluntarily