I read a very interesting book some years ago - Raising Your Spirited Child. "Spirited" is another word for what some people might label "Difficult". It was extremely interesting to me, not so much for the major topic, but for a relatively minor aside which explained my son and my brother.

The major topic says that in 9 categories of personality, on a scale of 1-5 (1 is easy going in that category, 5 is not), those persons who score above 30 are "spirited". Approximately 15% of the population fall in the above 30 category. K scored 34, S scored 35. I figured that was ok - I scored a 36. (What - difficult? ME?) (A friend of mine's daughter scored 42. We used to regularly compare notes on what worked.)

The coping strategies weren't newly useful to me - they were all strategies I learned at my mother's knee, watching her deal with my brother (a 38) who was 8 years younger than I; that is, I was sufficiently older to pay attention to how she did it, rather than simply experience it first hand.

Ok, the point I'm eventually rambling around to is that one of the categories is "negativity". Is the first, knee-jerk reaction to anything new, No. In my case, this is one of my high scoring areas. I tell my kids what my mother told me - if you insist on an answer right now, it will be No. Give me time to think about it.

Ok - I've thought about it. And of course, by this time everyone's probably already signed up. However:

The rules: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

If there's anyone left who isn't already signed up, I would be happy to send something to the first 3 people. If there isn't, I promise to do the same for someone who isn't on the blog circuit. I don't mind shipping outside the US, it may just be something light.