Years ago, a child psychologist recommended a little book to me. It is called ADD: A Different Perception, by Thom Hartmann. She said it was a really positive way to look at some of strengths and weaknesses of our children who have ADHD.  I found it applicable not only to children, but also to adults.  While the little book certainly way oversimplifies people by lumping them into one of two categories, it is an interesting concept, helpful in understand our hunter type children. The following is my personal interpretation of the book.

 

As I have presented to groups, it has been interesting to see the reactions of individuals when I mention the hunters and the farmers.  Some people identify with one or the other type almost immediately. On at least one occasion, the concept led to life altering action by an adult entrepreneur in the audience. He had felt he was a failure because he became bored after a few years with any one business, even if that business was successful.  Subsequently, he went into an entirely new field and seems very content improving the lives of children.

 

If we think about the strengths of the hunter we see a need for quick decision making, and fleetness of mind as well as fleetness of foot.  Strong hunters can monitor the entire landscape while pursuing a prey.  If the prey suddenly changes direction, or if a more accessible prey suddenly appears on the scene, the gifted hunter can change tactics and direction without a second thought. 

 

Hunters crave action and novelty.  Perhaps this explains why Daniel Boone was never able to stay home and farm, but was always on an adventure exploring the new frontiers.

 

Hunters do not do well with repetitive workÂ….(or waiting in line). They are creative and innovative, and always looking for a different way to do something.  They tend to be impulsive and can changed direction in an instant.  They tend to be global thinkers, not compartmentalized thinkers. They are short on patience, long on physical and mental activity, and love excitement.

 

Farmers generally like more routine, detailed work, and generally do not crave so much variety.  They seem to have more compartmentalized minds.  They can handle more detailed and repetitive work.  While the hunter can hyper focus on details when something is of high interest to him, that ability wanes when the interest or novelty wears off. They have great difficulty attending to tasks that do not interest them.  This is often not a matter a choice, but a reflection of an actual need for variety.

 

Farmers and hunters are smart to partner together.  Each has his own strengths to complement the other.  One example is a high powered law firm, who has the hunters sitting at the courtroom table, and their farmer partners doing a lot of the ground work and detailed paperwork in the background.  Each needs the others.

 

Hunters are best at task sprinting, while farmers are better with the long haul. Hunters must work at pacing themselves.

 

I am a hunter. We have a grown daughter who is a farmer. I am what I would call a global thinker. Our daughter loves her accounting job, and amazes me with her ability to compartmentalize and spot errors.

 

Together we have a genealogy site.  She can pick out who-in-one-generation does not link with someone-supposedly-in-another-generation, who has it right on the internet and who does not, and who-is-a-cousin-twice-removed-through-Aunt-Jennie, etc. I am lost after my grandparentsÂ' generation. 

 

On the other hand, I believe my lack of so many compartments in my brain enables me to be an innovative and creative visionary.  I handle the website graphics and design.  I love researching life in the early pioneer days, envisioning what it must have been like for our ancestors.  She handles all the compartmentalized information regarding the family tree. Together we make a great team.

 

We also have a very bright daughter who went into teaching some years back.  She loved the teaching part, but found coping with the system very stressful. She realizes now that the organizational requirements and repetitive paperwork did not play to her strengths. 

She is, by the way, a strong hunter type whose job tended to spotlight the weaknesses in the areas of organization, planning ahead, demands of repetitive tasks.

 

A wise hunter will select a career that will play to his or her strengths.  A hunter should also know that it is not at all unusual to have a number of careers throughout a lifetime.  Changing careers can be a reflection of the need for variety, novelty, and growth, which sustains a hunterÂ's passion and interest in what he or she is doing, at work or at play.

 

It does not matter which type you are, be it a hunter or a farmer.  One is not superior over the other. Each type has its strengths.  Each type has its weaknesses. Farmer and hunters can partner successfully in many areas, including business or marriage. 

 

 As we analyze the concept we realize that the typical classroom setting is not a hunter friendly environment.  It is a farmer oriented environment.  Such a setting may require accommodations and/or modifications, as well as instructional flexibility for our hunter children to succeed.

 

Judy Bonnell