A Spiritual Approach to Parenting

I came across this webpage, which has an excerpt from the book, A Spiritual Approach to Parenting by Marilyn Barrick.  A few paragraphs are included below, but I encourage you to click on above link if you want to read more.

These children need to be guided rather than controlled. In fact, trying to control an Indigo child is fruitless in more ways than one. The parent loses patience, the child is discouraged and the moment of truth is lost. On the other hand, when these children are recognized, encouraged and championed for their unique gifts, they can be as bright lights in the family.
          Many times the Indigo child relates better to the grandparents than to the parents. In part that is because the grandparents aren’t usually involved in the day-to-day interaction and discipline that is necessary in raising any child. The Indigo child also seems to respect the wisdom of the grandparents because that wisdom matches the child’s own inner knowing.
          When Indigo Children are accepted, loved and guided with a respect for the truths they understand, they become more amenable to discipline. Much of the acting-out of the Indigo child seems to be caused by the frustration of being misunderstood. When parents respect the child and focus on trying to understand what the child is attempting to express, family life is smoother. These children seem to be born with an acute awareness of subtle energy fields and a hypersensitivity to other people’s emotions. They respond intuitively and relate better to adults who treat them as adults. I believe these children to be advanced souls in little bodies.

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Parents of Indigos soon discover that when they get upset with their children’s behavior, they do best to remove themselves from the situation and take a breather to regain their poise. They learn to take calming deep breaths and pray for spiritual intervention from the angels or the ascended masters. Of course, if the child has been indulging in a full-blown tantrum, tearing things up or throwing things around, the parents need to immediately give the child a time-out, and then go about composing themselves.
          Some parents envision themselves turning the entire situation over to God. They visualize giving their emotional upset to the angels or their Higher Self for guidance and resolution. Once they feel peaceful, they consider solutions to the problem.

I am particularly interested in the part about discipline because I feel that we have been struggling with finding a balanced approach for disciplining our three year old. I believe that I err on the side of giving him too much freedom, and this approach has backfired on me. We are now in the process of trying to find a middle ground.  I have to admit that I often feel angry when my son is tantruming, and when we have our daily battle of brushing his teeth. I like the above advice to recompose oneself by taking calming deep breaths and asking for spiritual intervention and guidance. I’ll see how it works with the next tantrum!

Please share your thoughts about what’s working for you and your sensitive child in the discipline department.