{"id":109,"date":"2012-05-09T16:49:03","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/?p=109"},"modified":"2015-11-30T17:07:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T22:07:45","slug":"5-things-to-share-with-your-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/05\/09\/5-things-to-share-with-your-child\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things to Share With Your Child"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Christine and Caidin (C) 2008 John Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Children learn by observing those around them. They look to their parents, their siblings, their relatives and their teachers to understand how to act, respond and interact. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to share with our children who we are and how we experience life.<\/p>\n

When we were little, many of our parents felt it would undermine their authority to engage with their children on any level other than being the authoritarian parent, which meant acting \u2018grown-up\u2019. In their world, grown-ups didn\u2019t laugh or make mistakes or talk about their own life experiences.<\/p>\n

These are 5 things that I feel are important to share with your child. They aren\u2019t necessarily things to teach your child, but rather things that you do that in the end will give your child invaluable life gifts. Share your experiences; share what these things mean to you, or in some cases actively display these things in your own life.<\/p>\n

Love<\/strong> \u2013Caidin and I talk a lot about love. The different types of love \u2013 love for a family member, love for a friend, love of things. He\u2019s asked me about old boyfriends, what it\u2019s like to be in love and I\u2019ve answered him honestly. I\u2019ve told him that love can be wonderful, it can be consuming, it can be overwhelming, but most importantly when it comes to love, I\u2019ve shared with him that I believe in loving fully. I\u2019ve explained to him that people hold back out of the fear of being hurt. But when we choose to love fully we seldom have regrets because we didn\u2019t reserve anything. He also hears me say \u2018I love you\u2019 often \u2013 to him, to his Dad, to his Grandma, to our animals. Being willing to show love and share love, without condition teaching a child to embrace love fully and completely.<\/p>\n

Laughter<\/strong> \u2013 For me, there is nothing better than getting into a laughing fit with Caidin. Laughter releases stress, it lightens our heart and it offers a host of other health benefits, but more importantly it creates a unique moment between parent and child that is memorable and bonding. From an energetic perspective, what we remember are moments of both high energy and low energy. The moments that we laugh together are high energy moments. I remember the first time Caidin laughed, he was on the changing table and I was trying to pull his pants on over his diaper. His giggle sounded like silvery music. More recently Caidin surprised me as he was coming up the stairs and I was heading down. I let out a yelp and we both laughed untilled we cried. These are moments that will be remembered.<\/p>\n

Truth<\/strong> \u2013 I believe that as children we intuitively know when someone is telling the truth or when they are lying. As we grow up and we are told lies by the people we trust, we begin to doubt our internal knowingness. By the time we are teenagers we lose that ability. Sharing the truth with children helps to establish trust and confidence. It also helps your child to honor what they intuitively know. And when we share the truth we teach our children to tell the truth themselves. Sometimes it takes a little extra thought to find the words that fit your child\u2019s age, but in the end sharing the truth with your child will pay off in big ways down the road when you want them to confide in you and to trust you with those difficult life moments that are\u00a0inevitable.<\/p>\n

Mistakes<\/strong> \u2013 We all make mistakes, but sometimes as parents we think we need to appear perfect. Perfection is hard for a child to measure up to, especially when we\u2019re not really perfect in the first place. I think it\u2019s important to show our children that we make mistakes and to then either show them or talk about how you fix your mistakes. If we try to be perfect in our kids\u2019 eyes, we create an illusion that can\u2019t ever be matched. When we acknowledge our mistakes and demonstrate how we react and respond to them, we teach our children that mistakes happen but what\u2019s important is what we do afterward.<\/p>\n

Gratitude<\/strong> \u2013 Sharing our gratitude for the people and things in our life and even for our life in general teaches a child exactly that \u2013 to have gratitude, but what they gain can even go beyond that. I tell Caidin all the time how happy I am that he is here and that he is my son. He in turn tells me how happy he is that I am his Mom. For a child to understand that the mere opportunity to be in each other\u2019s lives is a gift will shape how he sees every relationship as he grows up. When you live with gratitude and you share that with your child, they learn to live their life with gratitude as well.<\/p>\n

These are just five of the many things we can share with our children. What\u2019s most important is to consider how your child sees you based on what you share with them. The idea is to show our children that in addition to being their parents, we are human. Just as they have experiences, so do we and we are willing to show these experiences and to talk about them. When we share with our children we open the door to meaningful communication, to trust, to bonding, to understanding and to compassion and that\u2019s why sharing who we are is ultimately so important.<\/p>\n

What do you share with your child?<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Christine Agro<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christine Agro is a clairvoyant, naturopath, Master Herbalist, conscious mom and author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously as well as of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Special Moms\u2019 Edition). Christine is founder of\u00a0The Conscious Mom\u2019s Guide<\/em><\/a>, a membership site where she helps support you on your own journey of living life consciously and on your journey of being a Conscious parent. You can also join Christine on\u00a0Facebook<\/em><\/a>. To contact Christine or to schedule an appointment with her please email<\/a> her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children learn by observing those around them. They look to their parents, their siblings, their relatives and their teachers to understand how to act, respond and interact. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to share with our children who we are and how we experience life. 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