Can you take a giant step back?

In our discussion of Parenting, the first pillar of family life, here’s a pondering for you:

You didn’t have a baby.

You aren’t parenting a toddler or a preteen or a teenager.

You are in a deeply close and powerful relationship with a unique person.

Stay with me here!

A person arrives. They emerge into the world in a primal developmental state. That little being is a person, just like you or me, and they are in the phase of development that we call babyhood.

That person grows and their brain, body, and skills transition into the phase of development we call toddlerhood, then pre-schoolhood, childhood, tweenhood, teenhood, young adulthood and on into adulthood. (WOW!!)

This long and amazing process has its own triumphs and challenges for the person growing. It also evokes different emotions and feelings in the people caring for that person (that means YOU).

The thing is – all the while, THAT PERSON, that wondrous being, is there. That person wants to be known and seen and appreciated, deeply. And they want this at every stage of development. This means the 6 month old, the 16 year old, the 65 year old – we all want to be valued and seen.

Since this is the case, it’s a profound gift to the people in your world to feel your love, acceptance, delight and appreciation of their essential beingness throughout all the phases of life.

Today, as you move through the to-dos, the twists and turns, be curious. Experiment with taking a huge step back. Be open. Be allowing of change and experimenting and choosing love.

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Sometime today, look your growing people in the eye and ask them one or more of these questions:

Who are you?
What do you love?
What makes you tick?
What brings you joy?
How can I help you?
How can we be a family who cares for each other and enjoys each other for the very long haul?

Even if you think they are too young to answer, still ask these questions. Be open to connecting with all the ways they communicate. And keep asking as they grow.

To your big perspective of parenting,

Carrie

P.S. Take the prompts to another level and in a moment of quiet, ask yourself the same questions. You don’t need to answer them right away, just open the door to the answers coming to you. This connects more with Personhood – which I’ll talk about in August – so I want you thinking about this now!