Posted by Alan Wilson on October 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Children today are more sensitive emotionally, physically and psychically. They are concerned about everyone and everything, tend to suffer more dietary problems and just how do they know what mood you’re in before you even enter a room!
When you consider they are also coping with unprecedented rates of change in technology, population dynamics and culture, we must take a look at how we parent and educate them. Most of them will be employed in jobs that don’t yet exist and many of them will be solving problems that we aren’t yet aware of, using technology that in some cases, frankly intimidates us.
After countless hours with hundreds of truly remarkable families I have come to realise that:
- Every child has “special needs”
- Every child has inner wisdom, and
- Every child has something to teach us
What if, instead of seeing your child as rude and aggressive, you see someone who is floundering emotionally, desperate for more support and struggling to express themselves? What if you see the potential your children are trying to demonstrate and embrace it with all your heart.
It takes a special parent/carer/teacher to set aside their inbuilt reactions, preconceived ideas and socially acceptable norms to be able to truly hear the depth of wisdom in our children. Some parents feel they are failures even though they are doing the best they can with what they know. It’s been said before ‘children don’t come with a manual’. These days it would need to be online and interactive.
We need to empower our children to experience themselves and then they will be confident to take responsibility for themselves. All parents want the best for their children… maybe in this new world we’re going to need to spend a little more time listening to them and learning from them if we are going to truly help them discover their magnificence.