Tips For Parenting the Intuitive Child

When I awoke this morning, I noticed my little man (who is six), lying there in between my wife and me. He has developed the habit of jumping into our bed in the early hours of the morning. Now I confess I am always at odds with myself about this habit. On one hand I believe that we need to get firm and puts the boundary in place to stop him from doing it so often. Then on the other I cannot help looking at his beautiful innocent little sleeping face and start to question just how many more mornings are we going to have like this? To me those are the moments that we must not take for granted. After all, when he does wake, we have the most spell bounding conversations.

Take for instance the other morning when we all started to wake. We laid there and he places one hand around my wife, one hand around me, pats us lightly as he looks up at the ceiling and softly says, “Ahhhh…my family. Love you mumma. Love you Dadda.” How could that not just melt your heart? Shortly after and unprompted he adds, “I am some happy I chose you as my family.” My wife and I looked at each other in surprise. Where did that come from? What a fascinating statement. How could we not dig a little deeper? “What do you mean you chose us?” we decided to ask. “I was watching you from the moon. I was watching for a long time. I wanted to be with you.” Again, just such beautiful, innocent yet heart felt words from a little soul. Was this him showing a memory from his soul side? Was he expressing his intuition? Even if he was, what do we do about it?

The type of experience that we had is not all that uncommon. The type of questions we were left with are also quite common. They are questions that I get asked regularly given my line of work and therefore I have decided to delve a little deeper and help out those parents who might be faced with a similar type of experience or questions.

The first step in helping an intuitive child is being able to identify whether your child is intuitive or just going through one of the many childhood phases. Here is a short list to help you ascertain whether they may be expressing their intuitive side.

The Signs of an Intuitive Child

• Sensitive with emotions

• Experience vivid dreams and can recall them with ease and detail

• Suffer from night terrors or have anxiety attacks

• Express compassion and empathy

• Talks about spirits, past lives etc

• Emotional maturity beyond their age

• Play with imaginary friends

If you find that your child exhibits 2 or more of these points, then it is highly likely they are intuitive. At this time, I would like to point out that that it is common for children between the ages of 3-7 express these traits. These years are when children can communicate better and have the cognitive function to participate and facilitate conversations, while maintaining their ‘innocence’.  After the age of 7, children start to lose their connection to themselves and these traits start to dissipate over time. Regardless of their age, once you have identified and understand that you child is intuitive, what can you do as a parent?

It can be quite challenging to be the parent of an intuitive child, especially if you are not familiar with it or had any of your own experiences. That is why I have put together these few hints and tips to help you, so you do not feel alone. It is a process I call the 3 E’s – Express, Explain & Empower.

Step 1 - Express

This is all about letting your child express what they are going through. One of the best ways to do this is by asking questions. BUT it is vital that you only asking open ended questions and not leading ones. If you are not sure of the difference here is a quick example. Your child is seeing and talking to an imaginary friend. You should ask, “Who are you talking to?” or “Is the person a man or a woman?” versus asking “Is that Grandma you are talking to?” The open-ended question allows your child to express themselves without influence or being led into a response. It can be tempting as an adult to take advantage of the situation and possibly have some communication with a past loved one, but we must remember that this is about understanding and supporting your child. When you are asking your child these questions, make sure you take note of their answers as you may never know where the information may lead you!

Remember that by paying attention, listening to your child without judgement or prejudice, and genuinely showing an interest you are building trust and place of safety for your child to communicate. Always do your best to keep these communication channels open.

Step 2 – Explain

After you have managed to listen to your child and understand more what they are experiencing then comes the next step of needing to explain to them what is happening. This step is going to vary depending on your child’s age and maturity level. For example, my daughter who is nine, would understand what it is happening in terms of energy whereas my son would not. I would need simplify the process a little bit for him. I am not going to tell how you should go about explaining the process as it is a very personal process, but one thing you must do is keep the explanation positive. The purpose of explaining is not about getting the explanation right but to show them that you are not worried about it and what they are experiencing is not negative. It is important that your child see that you are not fearful or worried about what is happening as they will take their lead from you in regard to how they should feel.

Step 3 – Empowering

The final step and a crucial one. Following the first 2 steps you should now have a nice open dialogue with your child and now is the chance to show them that they can control what is going on. Again, this will be dependent on the age and maturity of your child, but you can go through energetic exercises together to make them feel protected. For example, lead them through a visualization of wrapping themselves up in a golden bubble. The bubble is the place where they are safe and nothing negative can reach them and that it is a happy place.

Another great way to empower your child in this process is to reassure them that they do not need to interact with a spirit if they do not feel like it. A lack of understanding when interacting with a spirit is where I find most anxiety start with children. If we can work to empower them and let them know that they have a right to not interact with spirit this can go a long away to lower fear and anxiety. One of the ways I teach kids this is by letting them feel it out. If they do not like the feeling of the spirit or a presence in a room, let them know that they do not have to interact. No different to interacting with people in this world. The more they understand this and exercise this ability the more they will feel comfortable and in control.

Step 4 – Repeat steps 1-3.

Hopefully, you can now see how the three E’s can help you guide your child through some of the fears and anxieties they maybe be feeling with their intuitive abilities. It is by no means and exhaustive guide, but it is intended to help you as a parent navigate the process a little easier and show you that you are not alone on this journey. Regardless of where you or your child are at with your understanding, always remember to keep the communication channels open and show them that they are loved and supported. This combined with the 3 E’s will certainly help place your child’s mind and feelings at ease and the is a step in the right direction for everyone.