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Are INFP children difficult to raise?

15K views 37 replies 35 participants last post by  StaceofBass  
#1 ·
It seems to me that INFP children fall into two categories growing up: the ones who find it easy to adjust with others and society, and INFPs who find it hard to adjust.

The "Development of INFP children" would make it seem like there is a frustrating amount of difficulty in raising INFP children because we are Fi-Dom.

What do you think? Are INFPs difficult to raise in comparison with other types?
 
#28 ·
I guess that's it all depends on who you are as a parent.
I'm an INFP and while I get along so well with my dad (ISFP), it was difficult living with my mom (ENTJ). She was too controling and manipulative and we fought a lot to be honest.
So my advice to future parents would be: try to listen and understand your child (of any personality type, really). Make sure he/she knows that he/she is loved and everything will be just fine.
 
#33 · (Edited)
From the perspective of an INFP child:
My mom has always, always called me "the compliant one" "the mellow one" "the obedient one" and/or "the one who's always happy". (I'm the second oldest of six)
However on my side, I felt as if it was my job to be so, especially once she started using these names. It was (and still kind of is) a bit oppressive. I feel like I must fulfill these titles. I feel like it would be selfish of me to "have" problems or insecurities. Also, when I was young and I would try to express things that were bothering me I would get emotional and it frustrated my INTP mother who would then tell me not to be "overdramatic" and would send me away by giving me a chore to do... So I have also grown to be very independent. I handle everything on my own so as not to burden my mother with my issues, struggles, questions, or need for advice.
So my mom sees a very happy, independent, easy-going, never-having-problems girl. While on my side I have felt emotionally oppressed since age 12 and this has lead to issues with self-esteem, self worth, depression, suicidal thoughts, and finally numbness; all of which I have worked through on my own and through online friends my mother doesn't know about. She sees a super close bond while I can't wait to move out of state... This also breaks my heart because I love my mom so much...
 
#35 ·
I was a quite easy child to raise very early on. Deeply in love with my parents as were they with me, and not difficult at all. They always are oppened and wanted to help me find my way, whatever it might be. But being bullied from elementary school and thereafter was one of the reasons i closed myself to them.
I ended up being non-communical as i mistrusted everyone at a time. Even though with time i learned to open up to other people i never really did with my parents. I surely have some kind of profound grudge against them even now though i don't know the exact reason. Might be my ExFJ mother always trying to push me into E thing and i hated that.
Now my mother often tell me how she's sad i'm so distant with my family. My father also had a difficult childhood of another kind with family-related problems and it probably impacted me.
In the end I must've been harder to raise as time went by. My indecisiveness must've tired them a bit too.
 
#36 ·
I've raised two infp children and it was easy, very easy in fact. They have been encouraged to be who they are, their privacy has always been respected and they've never been forced to do anything they didn't feel comfortable with. I also have two children who are extroverted (not sure of their exact type) who were also very easy to raise.

I have four children, therefor i have to be four fathers. I have to relate to all four of them individually but also have to ensure that i do so in such a way that they don't feel the others are being favoured or treated differently. That's no easy task and considering my own father was a violent drunk, i have no role model to use as a guide. I just made it up as i went along but even so it wasn't that hard. I found that as long as my kids felt that they were respected and listened to, they tended to respond positively to most things. Boundaries were always flexible and if pushed hard enough they could be moved. This worked for me but probably wont work others, there is no recipe for success with parenting, no right or wrong way, you just do the best you can.

As for myself, I'm infp and i was a nightmare for both of my parents. They had a an ideal that i could never live up to, i tried but it just wasn't ever going to happen. When i was thirteen i stopped trying to be what they wanted and just started trying to figure out who i was. By the age of fifteen i was living on my own having been rejected by them both. I spent years just trying to survive, and believe me, there were many times when i very nearly didn't. It took me many years to shed the shackles of my childhood, i was probably in my mid to late twenties before i truly felt comfortable in my own skin.

It doesn't matter what personality type your children are or what personality type you are, its how you nurture them and teach them that matters.
 
#38 ·
I think I was pretty easy for my parents until my teens. I don't think it was the fault of anyone though. My teen years were wrought with emotional issues because my stepdad died when I was 13...my mom married someone new when I was 16 and I didn't like it one bit. I was still grief stricken from the death of my stepfather and I felt like she was replacing him. I look back now and think she was probably lonely. But the guy she married was abusive towards both of us so it really didn't help me grow in a healthy manner. I'm better now but it took me years to heal from.
 
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