Raising an Intuitive Child

It seems absolutely clear that, as a species, we should at all times strive to achieve the excellence that is proper to our species. This means unlocking our human potential. As a species, we tend to underestimate and undermine our sense of intuition in our lives.  The early man was a hunter and food gatherer much before the advent of agriculture that opened gates to a stable and staple means of sustenance. Living in primitive times, man had to rely on his sense of intuition; as much as his physical skills, to survive well.

Over the ages, we have progressed into sophisticated beings with a plethora of technological advancement and might I say distractions. This has made the modern human rely less and less on her sense of intuition. This is a skill we would do well to regain. Probably the best place to start is with our children.

So what is Intuition?   

Intuition literally means a natural ability or power that makes it possible to know something without any proof or evidence : a feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why: something that is known or understood without proof or evidence.

Though science now understands that a particular part of the brain is concerned with the sense of intuition and also the creative talent of a person. It is also acknowledged that scientific advancement in fact owes a lot to the human being’s sense of intuition!

In simpler words, it is the ‘gut feeling’ one has towards something.

Benefits of Intuition

Intuition helps us to make better, heart based decisions. An intuitive person will most likely excel at creativity and problem solving skills. Research says that this is because our heart and mind are linked together and the mind takes its cues from the beats of the heart. A stable, coherent heart beat signals the mind to tap from its memory bank of similar situations where the heart beat was stable and calm and therefore it asks the body to respond accordingly.

Likewise, when we are angry, irritated or annoyed, our heart beats differently. The brain stores these beats with the matching situations accordingly. According to research by the Heart Math Inc., “When heart-rhythm patterns are coherent, the heart’s ability to perceive intuitive information is heightened. Stress chemical pathways reverse, paving the way for increased synchronization between the heart and brain. It is in this synchronized state, which athletes call being “in the zone,” that you can achieve optimal mental clarity, cognitive performance and perception of intuitive information.”   

Intuition therefore decreases our stress levels and helps us to perform better in life and at work or school.

Enabling Children to be Intuitive:

We all have some degree of intuition but it gets faded with time, with an overdose of rational thinking if I dare say. Inherently, we’re all connected to a higher consciousness. Our body knows better than us having being designed in a supremely sophisticated manner by which it is able to work as a combination of countless complex processes in every organ.

I feel it is very important to enable your child to be intuitive. Over a period of time, it helps the child to figure out which company to keep, how to stay safe, which career to follow and to feel confident above all.

Here are a few tips to help your child draw from her innate sense of intuition:

1.       Encourage creative expression – Get your child to write in a diary, or draw pictures regularly if not every day. If intuition is your gut feeling, than it can emerge in times of relaxed doodles and scribbles allowing the child to express what she feels.

2.       Pay attention to your child’s feelings – I remember my mother would drop anything she was doing to listen to me if I said, ‘Mama I had a dream last night’. It made me understand that my dreams were very important stuff! When we pay attention to our child’s conscious and subconscious feelings, over a period of time we are telling the child to also pay attention to them. Our feelings are the primary source of information about our own selves! Respect your child’s feelings and pay attention to them

3.      Boys and Intuition: Our social conditioning encourages boys to hide their feelings. Over a period of time, this effort to hide feelings makes a boy grow distant from his own inner wisdom so that by the time he’s a man, he is often clueless about his triggers, his gut feeling and how it a`ctually can assist him in making better decisions.

As a parent, never try to stop a wailing child by saying things like, ‘what are people going to say?’ and specially to boys, ‘you’re being a sissy’, ‘don’t be a cry baby’, ‘you’re crying like a girl’.  

It is wiser to draw a wailing toddler to a comforting embrace while their misery resolves, for older children and especially boys, it is wise to allow them their time and space to cry out their sadness. Sadly, for boys we often associate expressing feelings with shame.  Just as an infant wails incessantly to be fed or changed, an older child too needs to cry to resolve what makes it miserable.

4.       Engage with Nature: Activities that bring us closer to nature can increase our sense of intuition. Nature walks, gardening, trekking, camping and star gazing are just some of the activities that not only help you become more bonded with your family or child(ren) but also, increase your own sense of intuition by becoming more relaxed, calmer and at peace.

5.       Meditation: Meditation can help in being centered to the heart. Regular and mindful meditation in fact silences the mind and makes it sharper, precise and more effective when it is really needed. Children can be introduced to meditation right from the age of toddling by teaching them basic deep breathing. My own experience with my children shows that meditation helps them to sleep better, focus better on studies and calm down. 

‘Silencing the Inner Dialogue’ Exercise done in workshops by Schuitema Associates and are highly effective for children as well. You can read about this exercise by reading http://careandgrowth.com/personal/being-present/