Sensitive children often get a bad rap. They can be labeled as “difficult,” “dramatic,” or “spoiled,” and often parents are blamed for coddling or over-accommodating them. Yet, research increasingly suggests that children show real differences in sensitivity and respond to parenting differently as a result. In other words, some children really are just more sensitive than other children and it isn’t just an excuse that parents use for “misbehavior.”

One way that researchers have conceptualized sensitive children is the orchid-dandelion metaphor. According to this metaphor, some children are orchids, meaning they thrive only under ideal conditions and are very sensitive to changes in their environment. Orchid children are contrasted with dandelion children, meaning children who can flourish in any environment and who are not very sensitive to environmental changes. According to research, about 31 percent of people are orchids and 29 percent are dandelions. Research also shows that about 40 percent of people are tulips, meaning they show a level of........

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