One  of the key components for good parenting is being able to know ourselves and to be able to heal our own woundedness; to lead ourselves toward balance.  What does this really mean in action, though?

• We have dealt with any addictions in ourselves or co-dependency with our partner or family members
• We are self-aware enough to see the patterns that we have created in our life and we take responsibility for those patterns
• We can see that our own suffering need not be the end, but a springboard and foundation for setting better patterns within our family and for our children
• We can use boundaries lovingly and we are not afraid of using boundaries, whether to assert what we need for our own health or for what our family needs
• We can see what “triggers” us, and what to do when those triggers arise.  We can work with difficult emotions in a healthy way.
• We believe we can do hard things; we can harness our initiative and willing forces for changes that will benefit the family
• We can work with our partners and any adults that live in the home for the benefit of the children that live in the house
• We offer enough rhythm and stability for children that they can feel secure
• We have enough confidence that we can separate ourselves from our children, including what our children do and say to us.
• We have enough awareness to connect to our children in love, and we trust ourselves enough to see when something isn’t right with our children
• We can form intimate relationships both inside and outside of the family.
• We believe in our children enough to set limits, to ask them to rise up, to love them and nurture them unconditionally

Many blessings,

Carrie