In our culture, feelings and bodies have been demonised for centuries.
Yet, feelings are not enemies. Feelings can be our most profound friends.
Listening lovingly to our child’s deepest, rawest, biggest feelings can be some of the most profound experiences we have as parents.
It is natural for our children to feel all kinds of feelings every day.
In our culture, these are often not recognised.
Often these feelings can be missed.
The signs not seen.
The toddler who screeches or babbles agitatedly all day long.
The three year old who can never sit still.
The child who takes forever to go to sleep, fidgeting all the while.
The child who hits their sibling or pulls the dog’s tail.
The child who never cooperates.
So often, there are feelings here, tender, beautiful feelings, waiting to be heard by us.
Children waiting, just waiting, for us to lovingly listen to their tears, rage, overwhelm.
Giving us the honour and the gift of getting to be with them in those deepest places in them.
Do you resonate? Did you long for your feelings to be heard as a child?
Being able to be lovingly present with our child’s feelings can be so hard, and yet doing so can profoundly change both our connection and the trajectory of their life.