Originally Posted by Jool
I agree with Kriston about personality playing a role in perfectionism. My friend has a ND daughter in 3rd grade who is having a really rough time at school because she's so hard on herself when she gets anything wrong

I do think that personality has a role in this, but I think that our personalities get shaped by our environments to some degree. An example from Dr. Rimm:

Originally Posted by http://www.sylviarimm.com/article_wwwperfect.html
What Causes Perfectionism?

The pressures children feel to be perfect may originate from extreme praise they hear from the adults in their environment. The pressures may also come from watching their parents model perfection-istic characteristics, or they may simply stem from their own continuously successful experiences, which they then feel they must live up to.

Certain activities like ballet, gymnastics, and music encourage perfect performance, and children involved in these activities strive to meet the high standards expected of them. This may be healthy, or children may generalize these expectations of perfection to other parts of their lives, and perfectionism may then become unhealthy and dissatisfying.

I saw a sweet little two year old yesterday, and heard myself say:"What a beautiful little girl you are!"

I was mortified. I am committed to praising character traits a person can develop, rather than 'facts' that a people just happens to be, such as smart, pretty. Not yesterday. Can you imagine how many times your friends ND daughter has heard, "What a pretty little girl you are" from well meaning strangers like me in her life time?

Just a thought - I could be totally off, LOL, (It happens)
Grinity


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