The Conscious Parent

conscious parenting is that our children are inherently well-meaning and
want to do the right thing. However, in the course of a day, it’s inevitable
a child will make a few mistakes either through omission or commission.
If they are afraid of punishment, as already noted, they may then try to
cover up their mistakes by lying. The approach I’m suggesting not only
teaches a child not to fear mistakes, but also highlights that there are
simply too many precious lessons to learn about ourselves from our
mistakes to cover them up—lessons that enrich our life in ways we
couldn’t have imagined had we not made such mistakes.
By encouraging your children to let their mistakes go, you help them
separate the wheat from the chaff, then throw the chaff to the winds. The
true test of whether you have let go comes the next time you are asked to
trust them with the keys to the same car they crashed last week. If you
crashed your friend’s car, would you want them to never hand you their
car keys again?
When your children show you their most vulnerable aspects, and you
show up ready to meet who they are, you indicate to them that they are
worthy of being respected and received. If you betray them through your
own self-absorption with the way you imagine they “ought” to be, you
convey to them that they are unworthy and that the world is an
unforgiving place. They then become fearful of stepping out in life.
By exercising the courage to own their errors, children learn to respect
their fallibility and limitations, while demonstrating faith in their ability
to move on. This strengthens their belief in their competence. With the
reassurance they are still loved, they accept that each of us is a work in
progress.