What is Conscious Parenting?
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
-Viktor Frankl
In a nutshell, for me conscious parenting has been about:
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Becoming aware of what is underneath the ways we behave in moments of stress - adults and children alike.
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Learning to approach those moments with curiosity and wonder, instead of blame, shame, anger and unconscious reactions.
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Learning a new language of feelings, needs and beliefs and applying it to our family's everyday interactions.
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Letting go of needing to know what to do as a parent and instead surrendering and trusting that the 'right thing' will emerge just in connecting and being in relationship with each other.
But most of all, what it's given me is a choice to respond in the moment with love, empathy and compassion, where before there was only a reaction - no choice.
I've found that space that Viktor Frankl was talking about.