Entry 18 - Keirsey and Parenthood

A person with the ENTP personality type, such as myself, takes a liking to the most effective way of living life.  His or her definition of effectiveness is being able to form and nourish an independent mind constantly hungry for challenging obstacles from which he or she can learn valuable lessons from.  Through the need and use for an independent mind not bound by rules dictated by society, the ENTP is a sort of pioneer who stands up for his or her beliefs, however irrational they may seem to others.  In my case, my ENTP flare is incorporated into thinking outside the box and maintaining a creative outlook on life that seeks to help out my peers, explain natural phenomena, and invest time quarks. My personality code has influenced my way of life dramatically, from making sure I have a mental stability that allows for endurance to breeding a good amount of curiosity in my surroundings and what ‘can be’ in this world - a world I see as a puzzle of opportunities waiting to be taken advantage of.  Indeed, my code will also be apparent in how I raise any future children I plan to call my own.  Due to my inherent addiction to improving myself and making certain my personality and mental condition are up to date and in superb shape, I have a great likelihood of not becoming a very attentive father.  Instead of changing diapers, I would most likely be playing chess against an opponent, perfecting a new trap, and instead of helping out with my child’s homework, I would most likely be exploring a new cafe or adventure where children would only distract thoughts and higher level thinking.  It is thus the habit of the ENTP to provide freedom for his children so that they develop an independent mind of their own, an independent mind that does not form at the hands of another person, even if that person is their parent.  It would also be my habit to provide inspiration and an example for my offspring of how to effectively live life, tackling my child’s everyday tantrums and insecurities with words that seeks the most effective solution rather than a solution based in emotion.  In this way, rearing my children would be more like formulating a stance in a debate, seeking to provide a win-win situation for me and my child through logical advice.  After viewing the description of my parenthood habits on the Keirsey Temperament sorter, I have come to realize that I bring two strengths to a family setting, as well as one daunting weakness.  My first strength is that I will be able to give my children enjoyment of multiple freedoms, including freedom of speech.  In fact, I would encourage them to use this freedom to make sure they have enough self-analysis to be able to come up with their own opinions.  I would then expand on this development of the mind by debating their viewpoints and encouraging them to make them as soundproof as possible, comparing their malleability to my own.  In a sense, our point of views would grow together, and our conversations with each other would be not only plenty, but also opportunities to better understanding the world around us.  In my future, I see myself looking down at my son or daughter and feeling pride in the fact they he or she has a mind he or she can be proud of and can use for conquering his or her destiny.  My other strength is my ability to think logically, which I think will reflect in being in tune with how best to face an issue without losing one’s foothold.  I remember this one day at LA Zoo when I was interpreting at the meerkat exhibit, and all of a sudden a child next to me started to become scared of the meerkat standing in front of her, thinking it would somehow leap from the exhibit to her face.  I assured her that if it could and wanted to do just that, it would have done so already, this response making the child run back to her mom and me run to my next shift 5 minutes earlier than usual.  I think my personal creativity combined with this approach will give my child a good sense of how to deal with life as a whole, finding the most strategic ways of dealing with it and the most cunning possible ways to enjoy it - the equivalent of finding the seat with the best vantage point in a movie theatre.  I do hope my strengths will give me the role of sage for my child and will give him the freedom to ask me my two sense on matters deemed important to him.  My strengths will most likely give me the responsibility of making sure my son or daughter is a productive human being, exercising his or her skills so that he or she can take charge of his or her own destiny without outside influence.  My main weakness in how my temperature will be attributed to my parenting is that I will find it extremely hard to understand the emotions of my children, for emotions are most of the time illogical and inexplicable for a mind so keen on efficiency at living.  I would also see emotional discharge as dangerous to the development of my child’s mind, giving how it confuses reason.  Emotion though is central to a child’s life, as it excites the mind and enables it to learn - a thing I hold to high esteem.  I must therefore learn to take emotion under my lens and use it as an ally rather than a source of taboo.  My need to improve myself and how I act, combined with my curiosity for the unknown, will help me do just that, stretching myself outside my comfort zone and being a better father through understanding my son or daughter on all levels.  In this way, I hope to fully gain his or her respect, this I might see as an AE on an assignment, and I hope to better provide the tools necessary to live a long wholesome life.  In this way, I disagree with the temperament sorter of me being stubborn at times and unwilling to cooperate with the opinions of others; my children will be my judges for a debate performance at father-dom.

This picture is one my own father took of my mom and sister when we visited Alaska 2 years ago in the summertime; as a father, I will make it a point to take my children and wife exploring new places that shall hopefully expand their mental capacities and thus their sense of self

For me, food allows myself to improve my health and threshold for happiness, and being father will only make me want to improve myself even more so that I can die knowing I fathered children able to live away from my responsibility 

My children, as I hope, will each have a personality of their own, a personality that shall be their rally flag in life and that shall be an arsenal of confidence they can dip into in time of doubt;  it is this hope that I will provide my children with a worldly outlook on life complete with an experience of its complexities

This is a picture of my own father, whose personality is very much like my own, except for the fact that his appeals to emotion and love while mine deals mostly with analyzing life and not busying myself with emotions;  I hope to learn sensitivity from using my creativity at living and from  my relationship with both my wife and children

This photo of my sister and I overlook at the vanishing ocean behind us sort of represents how I am willing to change for the better with children, so that i adapt to their needs and come to inspire them with my life experiences