Children are born curious. Each child shows her own interests and passions early on. Did your baby gaze up at a musical mobil above her crib and today plays an instrument? Did your toddler kick her legs wildly and today lives for her dance class? Did your infant spend time crawling through the grass and today identifies more than one hundred types of trees?
These interests and passions are so important for us to honor, nurture and encourage. From a child’s natural curiosity develops creativity, self-expression, identity, and confidence. To embrace a child’s individual talents is to be a green parent.
A green parent looks to raise confident, self-assured, and powerfully positive children by doing the following:
1. Allowing their child time to discover, play, and explore the world around her. A ride in the stroller followed by a picnic in the
park set with the scene of a loving parent, fresh air, trees and sky can do wonders for a child’s sense of safety and curiosity
for the world.
2. Praising their child in specific and understandable ways. When your child shows interest in music by taking piano lessons,
praising her about her effort, dedication, and interest is just as important as praising her for the beautiful sounds she makes.
3. Providing unconditional love. Even though you have set the stage for a safe foundation to explore and with specific praise to
instill self-confidence, your child will encounter challenges. Rather than mistakes, these can be reframed as learning
opportunities. If seen in this way, it is possible to provide your child with constructive feedback that won’t stunt her desire to
continue to explore, grow and try new things. Do you remember how you bounced back up from a fall easier as a child when
your parent was there to hold out her hand and help you to learn how to not fall again in the future? Often we forget to hold
out our hand to our children when they “fall” at different points during their growth, to get them back on solid ground and
then tell them what they need to learn to avoid falling again. Soon, your child will learn how to support herself with
unconditional love all on her own - now that is a gift.
You may wonder, “what does this have to do with green parenting?” The green parent looks at getting back to the roots of parenting. The green parent looks to raise children who are compassionate toward people, and toward the earth. The above steps will help to raise your child as a confident, loving and positive force in the lives of people and in nature. These steps lay the foundation to help to raise a little green queen or king who is able to use their positive power to help to strengthen others and the earth.
