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Introduction

Raising a child is the most challenging job most of us will ever have. Each child is different; each parent is different; no size fits all. Soulful Parenting: How to Embrace, Engage, and Encourage Our Children is for anyone who is looking for a broader perspective on helping children weave the threads of their life’s tapestry.

In our first book, we presented the reader with what many have come to call an Indigo child and the programs that were serving these children at that time. Since then, we have had much experience with both children and adults who are intuitive. Although Indigo is the nom de jour for intuitive people, we no longer like to use the term. It has become identified with personality characteristics, which are not indicative of intuitive abilities at all. We have had parents come to A Place of Light, saying, “My child cannot be an Indigo; he has brown eyes.” Thus, we have come to believe that a child’s name is sufficient enough a label. The practice of labeling children causes growth stagnation and takes away from the feeling of personal power.

Crystal, Indigo, starseed, rainbow—all of these labels are an attempt to drag the gestalt nature of intuitiveness back into the Western culture’s way of defining and categorizing. Linking with Spirit is something that simply occurs when one leaves oneself open to the possibility. Linking is not something one learns to do in the same way one learns to drive. However, when one is a skilled driver, the techniques flow naturally, just as linking with Spirit does.

On the other hand, linking with Spirit is not something one should do lightly or out of curiosity. It is important to remember that, according to the Cayce readings, all our actions, including linking with Spirit, need to be grounded in a deeply revered spiritual ideal. The readings included in this book were answers to questions posed to the “sleeping” Mr. Cayce by parents, teachers, and others who were interested in spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional ideals helpful to the positive development of a child. The information is as relevant today as it was when it was offered.

This book was written as an answer to all those who called and emailed, asking, “How can I help my child to keep intuitive abilities?” Parents are concerned about the things their children see when in the dark, about the voices their children hear, as well as how to handle family and friends who do not understand. All children come into this world able to link with Spirit to some degree. It is not something that needs to be taught to them. Through this book, we hope to help parents understand how to help their children remain enlightened, rather than unintentionally teach them how to forget. While each child (and each parent) is different, this book offers a general overview of the pattern and possibilities for helping children to remember their abilities.

What does need to be taught to children is the understanding of how the physical world works. Children are not born with the necessary skills to get along in the culture into which they were born or subsequently transplanted. This, too, is the job of the parent: To teach the child the skills and knowledge required to get along. Whether that skill is to hunt or to balance a checkbook, childhood is the time to gain the knowledge required to survive within a culture.

In this book, we have offered practical suggestions on topics such as diet (from the pregnant mother to the seemingly endlessly hungry adolescent), education (both of linear thinking and intuitive insight), and discipline (including sibling spats), through which a parent can help the child hold on to those intuitive abilities with which, again, everyone is born, to some degree. Each child requires an individual touch, but we believe that what is written here provides a good understanding of the nature of intuition as well as what will encourage or inhibit its presence. This book is based, in part, on the Western views of child development, although linking with Spirit is universal across all traditions.

We begin at the very beginning, conception, which the Cayce readings tell us is a crucial time in determining which soul will choose us as parents. We then follow the child through the developmental stages from birth to adolescence. We desperately wish there were a genderless pronoun with which to refer to a child, but the English language is lacking. As a compromise, we have referred to the child in some chapters as a she and in others as a he. We hope this will work with the reader and that the reader will understand that we mean each individual child, regardless of gender.

Besides the developmental stages of growth, we also address four key components that need to be considered throughout the raising of the child, the first being the universal laws, which are the spiritual laws that govern the outcomes of our choices. Education, from both the perspective of academics and spirituality, is the second consideration. Third, discipline is essential for any of us to mature into emotionally healthy adults, and the reader will find not only tips on parent/child interaction but also child/child interaction that encourages nonviolent resolutions. Finally, spiritual protection is particularly essential for those who are extremely sensitive to the spirit world. Each of these topics is approached with the inclusion of the spiritual development of the child.

It is important to remember that even though a child may be highly intuitive, that child does not have the wisdom that is attained only through life experiences. The brain still has much to sort out as it gathers information from both the physical and spirit worlds to weave a meaningful pattern of life. The parent stands as the helper and guide in this process, or not, along with providing the child with the tools that enable success within a culture.

All parents make mistakes as they raise their children. The mistakes are not intentional, for the most part, but nonetheless, they do happen. People in even the most loving relationships inadvertently hurt one another’s feelings; what is important is that we trust each other that the hurt is not intentional. There are two extremely important aspects of parenting (and all relationships): First and foremost, that the children trust that they are loved. Second, that they trust the parent to stand firmly in their way when they try to do something that is not helpful to their spiritual, emotional, or physical growth. All the rest is the wondrous exploration into the human experience of remembering our spiritual roots.