B

CHAPTER 5

Is Your Child Growing You Up?

eing absorbent, our children soak in all our inanities and
insanities. For this reason, we must become aware of the
emotions we experience and unduly thrust upon them. We can
only teach our children those insights we have inculcated in our own life.
If our children see us constantly displacing our feelings onto others and
witness how we blame others for the lack we experience in our life, this is
how they will live too. If they observe how we invite opportunities for
introspection and are readily able to admit our faults, they will learn to be
fearless where their flaws are concerned and be able to transcend them.
Conscious parenting means that in our interactions with our children,
we ask, “Am I dealing with my child in an aware manner or am I being
triggered by my past?” The focus is always on us as parents, requiring us
to look within and ask, “What am I bringing to this relationship in this
moment that is mine to own and not my child’s to receive?”
Especially in the early years, parents function as mirrors for their
children. Consequently, if you are unable to access your joy, you will be
unable to be a mirror of your children’s joy. Thus they are barred from
access to an essential aspect of their being. How sad for a child not to be
able to enjoy their spontaneously joyous essence!
Our consciousness and unconsciousness are transmitted not only by
our overt pain, but also in the energy we exude just by our presence, even
when we say and do nothing. Thus our children pick up a great deal from