508: Parenting Strong-Willed Kids Without Losing Your Cool

Wire Talk with Karen Stubbs

Karen Stubbs

Christianity, Motherhood, Parenting, Parenting Advice, Religion & Spirituality, Kids & Family, Christian Parent, Faith

4.9 • 936 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, Karen talked about the temperaments. This week, she takes that conversation one step further by answering real questions from moms who are navigating strong-willed kids, harsh words, whining, and emotional outbursts. If you’ve ever looked at your child and thought, I know their heart is sweet, so why is this coming out so sideways? this episode is for you. Karen shares practical wisdom for understanding your child’s wiring, correcting with grace, and helping them grow.

Episode Recap:

Last week, we talked about blue and red temperaments (2:00)
My blue/green son often comes across as critical and harsh (3:00)
My rising Kindergartener is controlling and bossy and can be physical (7:23)
My daughter used to love being the center of attention, now she’s self-conscious (12:25)
What is the temperaments book you reference all the time? (16:05)
Pick a “lane” when you take the temperaments test (18:57)

Scripture: Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Discussion Questions:

Which of my child’s behaviors may be connected to their temperament, and which ones need clear correction?
Do I tend to react to my child’s tone or behavior in a way that escalates things?
How can I better coach my child after the emotional moment has passed?
Where does my own temperament make parenting this child especially hard?
What would it look like to be more patient and intentional in helping this child grow over time?

Resources:

Listen to the rest of our conversation on WT+: boaw.mom/insider
Episodes featuring moms of different temperament colors: 330, 331, 332, 333
Grab Personality Plus for Parents by Florence Littauer
Take the Colors Temperament Quiz today

Want More of This Conversation?

Wire Talk+ listeners get extended conversations every week! Today Karen delves deeper into how moms’ own temperaments affect the way they respond to their kids and gives a helpful rundown of the core needs of each temperament.

Head HERE and join us for the full conversation.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to Wire Talk. Last week, we talked about the temperaments and understood them a little bit more, especially the blues and the reds.
0:07.9	Well, this week, we're going to talk about strong-willed children. We're going to talk about children with large emotions and how they clash and get very angry whenever they're not getting their way.
0:18.0	So if you have a child and you know that their heart is so sweet, but
0:21.6	sometimes what's coming out of their mouth does not match up with their heart, then today's
0:26.2	episode is for you. Let's get started. Hey moms and welcome to Wire Talk. We are so glad
0:35.0	you are here where this podcast is for you, whether you are a mom of preschoolers or college mom, wherever you are, we are here for you to encourage and equip you for a wonderful life of motherhood.
0:46.4	And mom, I'm so glad we're here today. We're going to be talking about temperaments again. If you missed last week, we talked about how to handle big emotions and how to just kind of work
0:57.7	through your kids with those and how to do that.
1:00.7	And then this week, we are talking about when temperaments clash, which is like negativity,
1:06.0	control, and communication.
1:07.6	Yeah.
1:07.9	So we got some big questions from listeners, and I'm excited to see how
1:11.2	you answer them. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm excited, you know, we're going to dive into all that,
1:16.9	and then afterwards y'all need to hang in there and join up with WireTalk Plus. Yes. That's for all
1:22.7	of our insiders, and we have more questions and more answers, not just questions and answers, but, you know,
1:30.4	you and I get a little bit more personal than we will on WireTalk and just share all the good
1:35.1	stuff. But being an insider has a lot more value than just extra questions. Don't you agree?
1:41.7	I would agree. And also, it's a really, really good way to get back to the ministry.
1:45.9	Because Wiretog is a free resource for all of you, but it does take money to put this podcast together.
1:50.8	Absolutely. And we do it for you because we love you guys. But Wiretok Plus is just, I think it's $10 a month.
1:56.8	Yep. And you get that extra stuff. but you also get discount in the store.
2:01.2	You get first notifications on when soar's going to be happening or anything's going to be happening, really.
	...

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