Ouch. I sympathize. I have no kids myself yet, but I dread having a Sensing child, and especially a Feeler. May I ask a really blunt question? Do you love him the least?

I realized recently that I grew up in a family of three INTJs (mother and two children, including me), an ISTJ father and a third child (the middle child) that is an ISFx. Imagine how hard it was for my ISFx sibling growing up. :-( (Oh, and yeah, my parents' marriage sucked.)

Methinks MBTI should be taught in school.

My 4 year old son is an ESFP and I get along better with him than my xNTJ 7 year old. The ESFPs do seem less stubborn than we Rationals! He is endlessly curious and expressive, wears his heart on his sleeve, so I have no trouble "reading" him. He takes readily to helping around the house (SFs have a strong desire to belong and contribute) and is naturally polite. Yes, it is exhausting to deal with his extraversion at times, but his good qualities more than make up for that. As long as I am gentle and sensitive with him he is a little angel.

Now my 7 year old is a "mini me" and I believe I am being paid back in full for all the exasperation that I put my own parents through, LOL! Argumentative and independant as heck.

My advice for dealing with your Artisan kid is to take a second before talking with him to "rewrite" or translate what you are going to say in your head to Emotion speak. You could say, "Rover's hungry, please take care of him" instead of just telling him to feed the dog. You could emphasize that you need help with chores and that he is showing how much he is part of the family when he sets the table, etc. Thank him when he does things well by stressing that he is important and that you can count on him. That sort of thing.