What exactly is Attachment Parenting?

My idea of Attachment Parenting goes beyond some explanations more than likely:

Attachment Parenting is basically listening to your heart and believing in yourself as a parent to know what is best for your child.  It’s trusting yourself and knowing what is best for you as well. When we trust ourselves we easily trust our child and we do it in some of the following ways:

• We trust that our child has been born exactly as he is supposed to be.  That he is carrying the biology of the families he was created by and that he tells a family story.  We trust that he is born innocent, loving and very trusting of us. We do not feel the need to make him “wrong” or change him or train him to be loving or good.  We celebrate him for all that he is.
• We trust that our child is doing the very best he can do at any given time and we believe in him.
• We don’t feel we have to control, punish, and reprimand the child.  We don’t label behavior as good or bad. We see all behavior as opportunity to learn more about what our child may need and how they operate.  Behavior is a key into a door of what emotions or stories our child carries.
• We realize that our children tell a story about us and that we can see ourselves more clearly through our children in simple daily activities.  We can use this as a great opportunity for personal spiritual growth and clarity.
• We understand that it is unfair and not realistic to expect children to behave in ways that make us comfortable at all times. Adults cannot even accomplish this task.  If behavior is uncomfortable for the child or the adult, we get a chance to look more closely and see what stresses may have occurred or where there may be fear or confusion showing up for the child. We respond by assisting the child through the process.
• We do not set out to teach life’s lessons, we allow them to come and we model positive responses.  Life has its frustrations and hardships and joys and thrills and each child has the right to observe these and learn the lessons from them in his own time.
• We allow our children to experience their emotions.  We do not make any emotions wrong.  By showing emotion ourselves and stepping into Spiritual Leadership State we show a deep respect for the human condition and the access to Spiritual states that allow a fully integrated way of living.
• We live by the principals of non-violent communication. We do not shame, humiliate or make our children wrong. We do not hit, spank, grab or smack our children.  Punishment is a very damaging response to a child’s behavior. No child or parent feels good about this response during or afterwards.
• We do treat our children the way we wish to be treated and wished to be treated when we were growing up. With love and trust, respect, honor and compassion. We trust our children to know what they need and we help them get it.
• We take complete responsibility for our state of being and we do not project blame outward upon our children.
• We model excellent respect for our body, mind and spirit and make available to our children the very best foods, drink, exercise, rest and learning environment for them to thrive in.

To learn more about Attachment Parenting or to receive coaching on how to parent your family in an abundant, healthy way- give me a  call at 903-939-2069 and set up a free introductory session.

Parenting with Power is not going on a control trip. It’s about modeling a way for your children and nurturing their divine nature while you nurture your own. It’s about living by example and modeling a life of passion and integrity and personal power for these amazing little people we share space with. It’s about coming from a place of Spiritual Leadership and teaching your children to lead as well.

Below are 10 ways you can nurture your nature and your children’s nature so that harmony and joy can exist while you grow spiritually on your paths individually and together.

1.Get your world in order-

• a.Step out of the Stress Cycle
• b.Slow down and be in the NOW
• c.Set short term, medium term and long term goals
• d.Make a vision board
• e.Structure your day so that you have “me” time for at least 1 hour every day to pray/meditate/sing/dance/journal, etc
• f.Connect with your Creator daily
• g.Do things that are congruent with your personality
• h.Clean up your relationships
• i.Be involved in only those things that are positive for you and your family
• j.Spend time as a family for at least 1 hour every day
• k.Create family rituals- cyclical and daily

2.Focus on Values and Goals-

• a.Know what your values are
• b.Help your children choose their values
• c.Help your children set goals
• d.Create a vision board with your children

3. Teach your children to respect and enjoy Nature-

• a.Go for walks together
• b.Plant an organic garden
• c.Talk about giving back to the earth
• d.Make some birdhouses together and put out seed
• e.Clean up he street together
• f.Recycle
• g.Raise animals and teach responsibility and care
• h.Teach the importance of a good amount of sunlight
• i.Learn to wake with the sun and rest with the moon
• j.Lay out under the moon and observe the moon cycles
• k.Plant herbs and cook with them together

4.Teach your child Self-care-

• a.Have daily quiet time
• b.Have a safe time-out space or a God-space
• c.Make bath time relaxing with candles and music
• d.Teach your child the use of essential oils and aromatherapy- safely!
• e.Do yoga together or another form of exercise
• f.Teach your child to pray and meditate

5.Respect your body with Healthy Food and Drink-

• a.Start eating more at home
• b.Choose organic when possible
• c.Stop fast food intake
• d.Eat Live foods for energy
• e.Eat to Live- don’t live to eat!
• f.Teach your children to get in touch with how they feel after they eat certain foods and drink certain drinks
• g.Switch over to herbal tea’s
• h.Start juicing
• i.Add raw to your diet
• j.Teach your children to cook

6. Take time to Give-

• a.Volunteer with your children
• b.Make goody baskets for others and deliver them
• c.Feed the hungry
• d.Rake the neighbors leaves
• e.Clean out old toys and take to local shelter or daycare
• f.Sponsor a child
• g.Drop a birthday present off at a children’s ranch
• h.Visit the nursing home

7.Play together-

• a.Create a family game night twice a month
• b.Create a family cook night twice a month
• c.Pick a sport to enjoy together
• d.Do arts and crafts together
• e.Go on family “field trips” or outings
• f.Explore other cities together
• g.Moms have girl’s day and Dads have guys day and then Dads with daughters and Moms with sons.
• h.Read together
• i.Write together
• j.Play instruments together

8.Get Serious together-

• a.Talk about the body and the way it works
• b.Build things together and teach them how to maintain a home
• c.Clean together
• d.Cook together
• e.Talk about careers and life long passions
• f.Discuss spirituality and religious views openly
• g.Prepare children to respect their bodies and their sexuality
• h.Talk about education
• i.Teach them about money
• j.Show them how to dream
• k.Talk about peer pressure- give them tools
• l.Teach them about stress and show them coping skills
• m.Model honesty and integrity for them

9.Foster and attitude of Gratitude and forgiveness-

• a.Talk about things to be grateful for
• b.Model unconditional love
• c.Allow them responsibility and a way to earn what they want to achieve
• d.Show them ways to display their gratitude
• e.Share different empowering prayers with them
• f.Share with children methods and rituals of achieving forgiveness
• g.Model observation- being in the NOW and enjoying the moments

10.Allow Emotions to Flow Freely-

• a.We are spiritual beings having a human experience- we are emotional
• b.Talk openly about emotions together- emotions are never wrong.
• c.Teach children how to acknowledge the emotion and allow it to flow on through
• d.Model how to handle anger in a positive way
• e.Praise a child for expressing emotion in positive ways
• f.Acknowledge your child’s emotions and talk to them about yours

Parenting with Power is a wonderful way to nurture you and your child’s nature. If you struggle with any of these tips or need some guidance on how to instill these into your life on a consistent basis or if you need help getting your life in order so you can nurture your child, I invite you to take my course “Parenting with Power”. “Parenting with Power” is a 4 month journey tele-course to help you get into your power and empower your children. We will cover all the steps above and more so that you can transform your family and enjoy this journey together. You will step out of the stress cycle into a fantastic parenting journey that will bond you and your children together and allow each of you to experience life in a deeper, more meaningful way.

To sign up for “Parenting with Power” tele-course or for more information on how to phone into this course from the convenience of your own home, call 903-939-2069.

There is no doubt that parenting is one of the most important spiritual pursuits we can follow. Though it doesn’t take much thought or effort to make a baby, parenting a child is not an easy thing to do. Many assume that parenting is simply meeting the basic needs of a child so they are safe, well fed, clothed and have some form of shelter. While all those things are necessary, they certainly are not enough to grow a healthy, spiritually minded, emotionally strong individual that will contribute to this world and make a difference all the while having an excellent level of self esteem and a knowing of who he is and what his purpose is.
Spiritual parenting is not only a necessity but an art. As our awareness expands it is of utmost importance that we gift that expansion daily to our children. They have come to
learn from us and it is our duty and privilege to give to them what they need. It is easy for us to limit our children and assume that at certain ages they are only able to grasp certain things but I like to believe that all children are spiritually minded from the start and able to grasp more than we even realize. Honesty is the very best policy when it comes to dealing with them and leading by example is of highest importance.
As a parent of 7 amazing children ranging from age 22 down to age 3, I can truly say that I think I have learned more from my children than they have ever learned from me. Why?
Because I choose that outlook. Each child has brought with them a different set of rules, a
different outlook and a different lesson for me to learn. I do not parent with the intention to teach my children “the way”, I parent with the idea that each child is perfect just the way they are and gifted in many ways and it is my job to bring out the best in them and guide them so that they can fully realize their greatness and use it to make a difference.
I try to approach each moment with the idea that I need to first understand where they
are coming from and what they are trying to say from their heart through their words and
actions. It is often not what I would have originally guessed because like many, I have been programmed to believe that certain actions mean certain things. I also realize that most of the time when I assume their behavior to mean something I am often wrong and end up
de-valuing my child or hurting their feelings. I often do not learn the personal lesson for myself that this child has brought me when I take this approach or fall into old habits of
making assumptions.
As I look throughout my spiritual journey in life up to now, I have learned immeasurable lessons from my children. I have learned that material items are not nearly as important as the human heart, that we have to stand up for our child and believe in them because no one will do this better than we can. I have also learned that honesty is the only way to deal with a child even if its simple honesty because they can see right through everyone anyway; that overpowering any individual whether they be a child or an adult does not accomplish anything positive; that being tired or overwhelmed is not an excuse to be dishonest or break promises; that how we treat our spouse or any other individual has an effect on our children physically and emotionally; that our children expect to be treated with honor and with the kindness we would have for others; that our emotional state is felt by our children and therefore it is of utmost importance to love ourselves unconditionally and treat ourselves well so that we are healthy emotionally; that personal integrity is expected by all and if you don’t have it a child will not respect you or trust you; that life should be a balance of hard work and plenty of fun; that every waking moment is a chance to be creative and see the beauty in everything, and countless more lessons too long to list.
Reflecting on all these lessons, we can only conclude that children truly are an extension of God and they are pure and innocent at heart. Often we are hardened by the world and we are the ones that can potentially take that innocence away from them by bombarding them with our rules and beliefs that are not clearly set out by us individually but programmed into us
by generations before and the world around us. With this idea in mind
I chose a path of spiritual parenting.
What is Spiritual Parenting?
First of all it is important as parents that we know who we are and
what we believe, not what we are told or taught to believe. This
takes some in depth study on our part but is critical to the life
of the child we are impressing upon. We no longer can float
through life just believing what we have been told or have seen and even worse, professing to have certain principles that we don’t follow ourselves,
telling our kids what is right or wrong and think that we are having a positive impact on their lives. This would be foolish. We must strive daily to know who we are and what we believe and why, and establish our life around those beliefs. Rather than tell our children how to
believe we must lead by example allowing them the right to question and try it their way when possible. Remember, if our lives are not working optimally for us, why would they trust us to know the way?
As spiritual partners with our children we must keep our energy levels high and be careful not to drain the energy from our children. How do we drain energy from our children? By not having time to acknowledge them for their greatness, by not holding the intention of unconditional love regardless of the situation, by putting other adults or other people’s children above them, by falling into control dramas or ego trips, by hovering over them, or by using them to make us look good or feel ok are a few examples. When we drain our children’s energy then they will grow with a disrespect of our values and beliefs because what they
experienced from us did not feel good to them. Instead it’s important to allow our children the boundaries to express themselves however they desire even if we are tired or do not choose certain activities that they do at any given time.
As spiritual partners with our children, discipline is a necessity but it goes both ways. First, we ourselves must be disciplined in the way we ask our children to be. Otherwise it doesn’t work. We must stay centered when disciplining. This should never be done out of anger but out of a deep respect for this little genius whose life has been entrusted to you and who looks up to you as a role model. The way we view our children has a deep impact. Especially those spirited children of ours! Remember that they are simply being a mirror to us and pushing those very buttons we still have to deal with in ourselves.
If we stay centered and keep our eye on the idea that a disciplined approach to the situation at hand is a positive thing for the life of this child then we will have a great impact in a loving, nurturing way. It’s not about winning or losing with this child, it’s a partnership born of
respect and honoring of all people. When I talk about discipline, I do not mean physical punishment, I mean a self control born of choices that the child buys into because they
believe they are positive for their life and they can see the value in the choice for themselves and all involved.
As spiritual partners with our children it is important to realize that we have something very important to give our children and they have something very important to give to us. If we keep our spiritual energy high and stay centered then we will give them what they need and desire and they will in return give us those lessons we need to learn and the desires of our heart. It’s an art of synchronicity. As they follow our example then we see in them the messages we are to learn about ourselves and we grow from that thereby giving them even higher more important messages as we all grow spiritually in the partnership.
If we do not deal well with the dramas of life and we do not stay centered then those
things will be revisited to us by the actions of our children later in life and we then create or perpetuate generational wounds and curses. The main point here is to give our children the gift of energy when they need it most and guide them with unconditional love and acceptance of who they are. In that, we all learn who we are and spiritually raise the awareness of one
another in a positive way.
I do believe that children are a gift and give us a gift of their presence each and every day and they should be honored and given respect. If we cannot experience these things with our children and feel the joy daily of sharing our lives with them then we need to take a good hard look at how our lives are structured and what may be out of balance. I personally had to restructure many times over the years when I felt things were out of balance. I think this is up for constant review.
As a working mom of a busy household I had to make sure that all of my life was structured around my children making them the highest priority. How we structure our lives and how we prioritize will have to be worked and re-worked until we reduce
the feeling of overwhelm and become positive, pro-active, high
energy, spiritual beings who enjoy our lives and make the
difference we truly desire to make. In this way we show our
children how to do the same.