Have you ever had that feeling you might not have acted in the best interest of your child? I have. There have been many times.
It’s not a great feeling, but that heavy feeling might be telling you something. If we listen close enough, our bodies will guide us. The human body is an amazing thing. There is something powerful at play here, an inner wisdom we should not ignore. If we can feel our feelings, trust them and allow them to guide us, we will start to see something special happen. Rather than working against the best interests of ourselves and our children, we can harness this wisdom to work for us. Trust these feelings, trust your inner truth. It will guide you in the right direction as it did for me.
How is this done?
First, let’s take our time. Time is on our side. If we let it, our intuition can guide us in the right direction, before we act even. So, let’s insert some patience and spaciousness into our lives. Life, and parenting, can be as hectic as we make it. So, breath and pause. Breath and pause. I know that in my parenting experience many times things would have gone better had I just breathed and paused before acting.
If you know that your parental instincts might need some fine tuning, or that you lean toward impulsive behaviour, think about this, and think about just breathing and just observing, even if only for a second or two.
Something interesting will happen. Not only does this pause help us avoid parenting errors, it actually helps us make better decisions. Given a second or two, we can tune into our inner wisdom, our big person hearts and brains take over and steer us in the right direction. Give it a try. This little thing will make a world of difference.
You see, there is no immediate threat of our children becoming unruly members of society if we don’t swiftly and sternly correct their behaviours at a young age. Parenting is a long game. Quick stern actions might feel like the right thing to do, especially in social situations, but it can lead to impulsive punitive actions that actually do more harm than good.
Let’s set our children up for success. Let’s raise a generation of children who grow up, not afraid of being punished, but who are motivated by an inner sense of goodness a deeper wisdom that resides within.
In truth and love
Drew Tupper Leadership Coaching 