Parents are the first educators and they need competences to accompany the love for their children.
It sounds like an old slogan that I heard many years ago when I was doing leadership training for young female leaders coming from different African countries. Then the focus was on women, mothers.
Today I have the deep conviction that investing in parents is what is needed in Europe.
We come from a period that has rightly put the children rights at the center of attention. Unfortunately some of these rights are still not meet and violated, like having a proper education, that is often confused with good schooling.
Education of our kids starts in the family and we all learn to be parents alone, based on the experience we had as daughters. Many of us replicate the behaviour scheme, many want something different, still improvising.
I remember myself when I became mother with all the advice from the families, the finds, the suggestions on which pedagogy to follow and my own inner difficulties in dealing with a completely new experience. I had some resources in me and I used them, however it is when I got in touch with Mindfulness that my parental life got a completely new dimension.
I have learnt to ask myself 2 very important questions in moments that looked difficult.
Is this really so dangerous?
Is this really so important?
The first question took away the fear or at least reduced it to a size that was managealble
The second question helped to reframe my expectations and projections of my wishes to my kids.
Now my kids have grown up and I ventured into supporting parents to ask themselves the same questions and to gain serenity in parenting, in spite of all the big and little storms that come on everyday basis. The storms do not go away, however the response to the storm is completely different because of the inner stability gained.
And … it is easier than you may think.
Try it out for yourself. I am happy to support you in the wonderful job of parenting.