Mindful Act Of The Day: Empathy towards children

I’m reaching out to parents, guardians, aunts, uncles, elder siblings and literally anyone who is fortunate enough to interact with children. Try to connect with the emotions of your inner child as often as possible, because this will give you a new and wide perspective on how to approach your relationship and interactions with the children around you. I find that, more often than not, adults disregard the fact that kids have strong feelings as well– they want to be heard, affirmed and loved just as much as we adults do. The fact that adults know and have experienced more in life does not give the right to be dismissive about what the younger ones go through. And that is why it’s very important to revisit the relationship you had with yourself when you were younger– feel the feelings of hurt that you felt when older people around you invalidated your feelings just for being a kid. Now remember how happy it made you feel when people showed you compassion, comforted you, offered guidance, or genuinely spoke to you without treating you like a lesser person because you were a child. With this, you should know that every interaction with a child is a possible chance to create impact. Whether it may be positive or negative, that’s totally in your hands. In most cases, the root cause of adult trauma tracks back to childhood. So please, be kind and gentle with these kids. Guide and do not disregard. They too, are on a path in a journey full of unknown. I understand that sometimes kids can frustrate and frazzle but the mere act of being mindful when interacting with them, or when reprimanding them, will guide you on knowing what to, and what not to do.