It's all about connection

Happy beginning of summer to you!

New beginnings are so exciting, that's how I'm feeling these days!

It's because, nowadays, when I pick up a parenting book I'll notice a running theme.

They all tend to say the same thing in different ways.

Whether you're reading a book specifically about social media, screens and video gaming. Or a book about a certain developmental stage (like adolescence.) Or a book about kids who act out... It pretty much circles back to the same thing.

It is so omnipresent, so thoroughly built into our human design, there's just no getting around it.

If you know me and my work you've probably already guessed it:

Connection

...the way we feel like we BELONG to someone.

...the way we feel like we're WANTED, we're SEEN, we're HEARD.

And here's a big one, one that often goes unnoticed:

...the way we feel like we CONTRIBUTE in a meaningful way that directly affects the world around us.

Some of the best parenting books I've read recently point to this unmet core need, our children's desire to contribute, to have a meaningful impact on the world around them.

Parenting from this place of connection means:

• not only do we get to live a deeply connected and meaningful life, but we're all learning, growing and evolving as designed, on our own trajectory, our unique path- we're simultaneously separate and together.

• it's much more simple and clear for us parents when it comes to setting a limit. We know our job: we see our child's bad behavior as them acting from their best intentions. We wonder:

how do they feel disconnected?

how can we bring them back into connection?

Once we start thinking this way ("my child is behaving badly because they need connection in some way")it's not that hard to set the limits that actually help them learn and grow and make the home a more harmonious, peaceful place to live.

With so much love,

Vanessa