While children generally take after their parents in key ways, there are plenty of surprises in store when you raise another person. Children are a combination of their parents' genes and their circumstances — and they're also the heirs to things you may not know about, further back in your family tree. These things can lie dormant for a generation or two and then pop up again. That means that no matter what rules you follow in parenting your children, they are absolutely going to be their own people, and there's nothing you can do about it!

This is both the blessing and the curse of parenting, and nothing makes that dichotomy more salient than the transformation from baby to toddler. After all, if an infant is naughty, sure, they can ruin your sleep, but they can't pull down furniture, set fire to the rug or endanger their siblings. Toddlers can. They have just enough agency to cause a disaster, but not enough to have the self-control to see that it's not going to help their situation. They can also be wildly affectionate and adorable in ways that make your heart do a happy dance inside your chest.

That's why the type of toddler you get makes such a difference to the experience of parenting through those two or three years. The important thing is to remember that however things look, the only thing you can be sure about in the long term is change. Just because your kid is good at age three doesn't mean they won't rebel as a teen; just because they are a little whirlwind of destruction at two doesn't mean they aren't a future honors student. Still, knowing what type of toddler you have will help with short- and medium-term planning! What kind of toddler do you have?