What is Conscious parenting?

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We are not just raising our children. We are raising ourselves to become the parent we want to be and our child needs.

We often parent our kids on “automatic pilot,” meaning we aren’t very aware of what we are doing and why…especially when it comes to the way we respond to stressors and challenging behaviors.

Conscious parent?

• Cleaning up your emotional landscape.
• Be aware of your triggers. Being able to sit with the full spectrum of emotions and witness our minds.
• Ability to observe and then respond, rather than impulsively react.

Being more conscious about our inner world and how we respond to what happens is important for every adult who engages with children.

Whether you have a child with a significant disability, a neurotypical child, or everything in between.

This works for All Of Us.

We have agendas for our children, whether we realize it or not. When our children come into this world, they are not as neurotypical as we expected. We are deeply triggered because it is not what we wanted. So what do we have to learn?

Deep, Deep Acceptance.

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Unconditional love is the key; most of us are loved, but we are loved conditionally, and we don’t even realize it.

We love our children, but with conditions. This work of becoming conscious is about becoming aware of that plan and then releasing it.

We often parent our children out of our fears.

• Fear of them not being successful in life.
• Fear of them embarrassing us.
• Fear of what others will think of them and us.
• Fear of not teaching them what they need to learn.
• Fear of failure.

Parenting out of fear looks like this:

• Anger
• Threats
• Criticism
• Punishments
• Unreasonable expectations

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Conscious parenting tools

• Intentionally take a deep breath to put space between trigger and response.
• Learn to listen to what kids are communicating.
• Make time for connecting around things that matter to them.
• Remember that not everything you dislike or want to be different with your child is a “problem” that needs to be fixed.