What if every child who came into the world was born with a personalized manual attached to his or her little toe? What if all new parents could take a series of vaccinations, which inoculated them against repeating their parents' mistakes? What if all the people who cared for children, whether parents, grandparents, teachers or friends, were issued a special device which enabled them to be clairvoyant, insuring they would never again misinterpret or mistreat a child for any reason? What if every child who was born grew up healthy, happy, peaceful and free? What kind of world would this be?
Well, there are no personalized toe tag manuals, clairvoyance devices or vaccinations to help parents. There are no guarantees that any of us are even emotionally ready to become parents when we do. For the most part, we simply step into parenthood, hoping for the best. And to our credit, let me say that in my opinion, most of us strive to do our very best at all times and often against tremendous odds. It's just that too often, our best is simply not enough to prevent the unhealthy patterns we have inherited from being passed on to our children.
When most of us become parents, we assume that we will just know what to do or that doing what our parents have done will be enough for our children. But we do not "just know" how to parent and repeating what our parents have done raising us is as likely to pass on damage to our children as it is to nurture their development into healthy whole and balanced persons.
Even those of us who were raised in loving and supportive environments may be at a loss as we face the demands of living in the post-modern world. Many families can no longer survive on a single income. With both parents working, family dinners and many of the other simple, stabilizing and connective rituals of family life are lost. To compensate for the absence of togetherness, parents often opt for over-enrolling their children in extra-curricular activities. The result is the Post-Modern Family: a group of people living under the same roof but going off in so many different directions that they barely have the opportunity to develop real intimacy. Post-Modern Families become disconnected instead of interconnected. Sometimes, family members don't seem to know each other at all.
Another component of the Post-Modern Family is that our children are Being labeled ADD (or what I call "Adults Demanding Drugs") and ADHD and ending up on Ritalin and other similar drugs designed for behavior modification. This kind of band-aid response to the needs and demands of our young people may make the school day and the afternoon at home more manageable, but how does it help our kids? It doesn't. What it does is help adults maintain the status-quo.
But what is the status quo that adults are seeking to maintain? Is our world so perfectly balanced, so filled with peace and love that we can afford not to question our choices? Can we honestly afford to ignore the possibility that if our children are having difficulties we might be the ones who need to change? I don't think so. In fact, I believe the future of our world depends on parents, teachers, and other adults who care about the welfare of children, developing the insight and behaviors necessary to empower young people to develop their abilities to the utmost. And we need to be able to do this with full awareness that in many instances we have no idea what many of these abilities are because these children are often gifted in truly novel ways.
What can we do? Educate ourselves. Read about the new children. Be willing to create the time and money to take conscious parenting courses. Grow as people. And most of all: we can be honest with our selves and our kids. The new children know what they need, and if we stay open and learn to listen without defensiveness, they will tell us. Taking an Indigo's point of view seriously may be new to many of us, but it may be precisely the point of view that our world needs most.
Jan and Lee are interested in bringing that point of view to light in order to assist you in growing. I have been asked to contribute in this area of conscious parenting. My vision is to lead and accelerate enlightened and empowering change in the world by recreating the worldview beliefs about parenting. My focus is on shifting the paradigm context in which we have previously taught children, so that we can honor and enhance the love, gifts, and responsibility levels of our children. As the Director of Family Education for Neale Donald Walsch's Heartlight International and a Certified Parent Educator and Trainer with the International Network for Children and Families, I have the opportunity to keep my finger on the pulse of the evolving world of parenting as I travel around the country teaching parents and creating other trainers. I am able to clearly see the direction in which parenting must evolve in order to continue to make a difference in the lives of the Indigo Children, because they hold the promise of the future for all
of us.
I know that as readers of this wonderful site you share my passionate concern for the welfare of the Indigo Children and their families, and because of that, your partnership is a vital part of this process of shared responsibility for mutual growth. I would like to ask for your assistance by providing me with your questions and concerns, thereby allowing me to help you make changes in your lives that are necessary in order to create an even more conscious family unit. Please email your questions to me at: please indicate Indigo Children in the subject box.
Author of "The Unofficial Guide To Living Successfully on Planet Earth" and contributing author to "An Indigo Celebration" Barbra Gilman has twenty years experience as a therapist. She is the CEO of Success Strategies For Life, a
firm assisting families, couples, companies and individuals in developing their full potential.
Barbra teaches "Conscious Parenting for a New Paradigm" a 5 week course that teaches effective strategies for today's adult/child relationships which can make parenting a lot more successful and fun, while helping parents deal with the stresses in today's family. The course is endorsed and recommended by pediatricians and mental health professionals nationwide. She also trains those interested in becoming facilitators of this course. Barbra facilitates a workshop; "Awakening Inner Child Consciousness" focused on healing the parents of the Indigo Children from their childhood wounds.
She also teaches the popular training "Living Life Eyes Wide Open" which was the inspiration for her book, as well as the number one training in corporate America: FISH! Barbra served as the Director of the Center for Spiritual Awareness and has hosted her own radio show, "Conscious Choices".
For information on how to bring "Conscious Parenting for a New Paradigm" to your area or how to become a trainer contact Barbra at: (please indicate Indigo Children in subject box) (518) 272-4048 .
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