5 Things to Share With Your Child

What Kids Need

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’s why it’s important to share with our children who we are and how we experience life.

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 ‘grown-up’. In their world, grown-ups didn’t laugh or make mistakes or talk about their own life experiences.

These are 5 things that I feel are important to share with your child. They aren’t 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.

Love

Caidin and I talk a lot about love. The different types of love – love for a family member, love for a friend, love of things. He’s asked me about old boyfriends, what it’s like to be in love and I’ve answered him honestly. I’ve told him that love can be wonderful, it can be consuming, it can be overwhelming, but most importantly when it comes to love, I’ve shared with him that I believe in loving fully. I’ve 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’t reserve anything. He also hears me say ‘I love you’ often – to him, to his Dad, to his Grandma, to our animals. Being willing to show love and share love, without condition, teaches a child to embrace love fully and completely.

Laughter

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 until we cried. These are moments that will be remembered.

Truth

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’s 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 inevitable.

You and Your Child

These are just five of the many things we can share with our children. What’s 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’s why sharing who we are is ultimately so important.

What do you share with your child?

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’ Edition). Christine is founder of The Conscious Mom’s Guide, 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 Facebook. To contact Christine or to schedule an appointment with her, please email her.