I woke up today to NPR and the first story caught my attention with the fact that 30% of American children suffer from an anxiety disorder. I wanted to cry, and I DID!
I understand that there are various socio-economic factors that can be involved in the triggering of anxiety. But I also know that an understanding of how children are meant to grow, to be nurtured, to bond and attach, to move, to feel, and sense their environments, is critical.
We have a culture that, despite all the wonderful exceptions we can name, primarily thinks of children as a product of parenting “hacks”, education that fills their brains with information for their future work, and discipline to keep the bigger expressions of their emotions in line.
Our children are not something to be “hacked” to create a better product. The child-parent relationship is a deep process of souls unfolding together, brains growing in both harmony and difference.
The reason I am writing this is not just because of my strong emotional response to an NPR story, but because I have, for more than 30 years, been working with children whose behavioral issues, learning challenges, attention problems stem from parents’ lack of understanding of the early months and years of life that set the stage for future joy and success.
This is why I have created the online class “Birth to Brilliance”. This is why I am moving forward with a new Certification Training beginning in 2022.
The deep swirl of my own emotions during these darkest days of the year are churning to push aside a sense of futility so that my own heart can swell with hope that there is something we can do. There is education we can provide.
What we CANNOT do is continue to be satisfied with a country wherein 30% of its children are in a state of anxiety.
WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS. LET’S STOP SEEING PARENTING AS ANOTHER LIFE HACK AND CHILDREN THE PRODUCT OF THAT HACK. LET’S LOOK AT THE PROCESS. And isn’t it true that ALL of us are a process, not a product!
I would love to know what your contributions are to healthier children, if you care to share them. My contribution is my online class and training more consultants in this profound work.
I hope you will support me in distributing the information in this class widely, and I will support you in whatever way I can in finding a better way to the future.
With 2022 on the horizon, it is the time to make these kinds of statements, these vows to make a better future. I think we are all counting on 2022 to bring us to a better place. Let’s do more for children in this coming year.