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-=- From Mimi Doe and
http://www.SpiritualParenting.com
There is time......it is possible.....
You can add more spirit to your family life.
Welcome to the Spiritual Parenting community.
This newsletter is my gift to you in the hopes of
creating a worldwide chain of people who are
committed to empowering children and teens by honoring
and nourishing their inner lives.
Pass it along to others who would like to join us.
To subscribe or unsubscribe please visit:
http://www.SpiritualParenting.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-10 Tips for Spiritual Parenting in 2004
-Spiritual Parenting Groups
-In the News
-You Say
~*~ Topic of the Week ~*~
10 Tips for Spiritual Parenting in 2004
The fresh New Year is just the time to dive in
and begin balancing your life and becoming the
parent and the person you want to be. Start by
re-evaluating family priorities and developing
a plan to honor those choices. Consciously making
decisions about how you connect with those you
love is the first and vital step in creating more
harmony in your life. Your relationships at home
sustain and ground you and your children.
To follow are 10 additional tips for creating a
more connected family and a deeper sense of
spiritual parenting:
1. Be original when responding to each of your
children. Don’t feel you must have a “one size
fits all” method of relating to your kids.
Different children respond to different styles of
parenting. Take some time to jot down ideas
about each of your children and their specific
personality traits and learning styles. Perhaps
your eldest is super responsible, for instance,
and is reluctant to communicate with you. You
might need to plan extra time to connect
with this child in the next 12 months.
2. Practice letting go of total control in your
family. Assume that your kids innately have a
sense of what’s right for them. Allow them to
develop their own answers from what they think,
feel and know, then support them in this discovery.
“What do you think is the best way to stop the
headaches you’ve been getting?”
“You are in charge of planning what we do on
Saturday. Let me know your ideas.”
Give your kids lots of opportunity to make
choices. Their intuition and decision making
skills grow stronger as a result.
3. Let go of the old definitions you have of your
children and see them as the divine spiritual beings
they are today. Be open to knowing them in this
New Moment! It’s tough not to judge our children
by what others think or get caught up in our
society’s ideas of greatness. But, when we step
beyond popular opinion and help kids remain connected
to their authentic selves, their dreams and wishes,
we give them hope. Make an effort to begin fresh
with each of your children. Perhaps you can come
up with a ritual for releasing any negative
associations or limited thinking you might have
picked up around your kids.
4. Pick one day a month as FAMILY DAY. Mark them
on your calendar and begin planning now for all
twelve magical days. You might even have a family
meeting to launch 2004 and discuss these family
days as well as other logistical arrangements for
the upcoming year. Don't forget to give each
family member a chance to contribute, even the
youngest has opinions!
5. Put the TV in a place that takes some effort
to reach instead of allowing it to take center
stage in your home. What a year you will have
without the energy draining dullness that passive
television watching elicits.
6. Write down all the exciting things about the
past year and how you have grown as a parent.
Don’t get caught up in the format or trick yourself
that you don’t have time to make this simple list – just
start writing. Focus on the positive and how you have
overcome challenges or think back to situations
where you did just the right thing. Now, write
what you would like to manifest in this fresh New
Year with each of your children. Write about how
you would like to grow as a spiritual parent.
7. Take a look at the rules and regulations
you’ve created for your kids. Are any of them
made out of fear or distrust? Restricting our
children can curb their creativity, self expression
and freedom to soar. Take some time to revamp
family regulations for 2004. Make sure to include
your kids in this process.
8. Become inspired by your children. A child’s
natural impulse is to believe in her own greatness.
Her expansive soul is already “self actualized.”
By respecting this boundless dimension we sustain
children’s inner freedom and creativity. Our only
limitations in life are self imposed. We are filled
with the Divine essence of God -- this is who we
truly are. Young children are a purer channel for
this light because they haven’t picked up the many
filters we have accumulated by living longer.
Filters such as doubt, fear, anger, guilt, and
old programming, that block the pure light
from manifesting as our experiences. Observe
your child’s sense of unlimited potential and
accept it as the truth for your child and for
yourself.
9. Rather than assuming that each parenting
choice we make is final and unalterable, let’s
lighten up and realize our role
as parents is that of a loving guide.
Try this affirmation:
My decisions are made by following my deepest
intuition. I let go of fear and trust that all
is in Divine Order.
10. Amidst the whirl that is often our lives with
children, we can truly retreat, even for a moment,
to that seed of serenity within. Come up with
little habits that will connect you with spirit
throughout your day. Maybe when you awaken in
the morning before hopping out of bed, you pause
for a moment and whisper a prayer affirming patience
for the upcoming day or when you hear the phone
ring, it is your cue to take a deep breath and
drop your shoulders. We always walk in the light
of God/Spirit/All that is. Sometimes we just
need a habit of reverence, a breath, to remember.
May 2004 be a year filled with delight for each
of you. May your spirits soar as you coparent
with God. You are never alone in this journey
of loving and guiding your children – in fact,
there are about 40,000 other parents reading
this newsletter on the same quest. It can be
tough to find balance in your day to day life but
the power of this Spiritual Parenting community
can lift you up and energize you as you quench
your own hopes and dreams and foster those of
your children.
Consider joining a “real time” Spiritual Parenting
Group so you can extend the messages of these
newsletters, my books, and my weekly Hallmark television
program. Meeting with other likeminded parents
can be a wonderful support.
I send love and light from my heart directly to
all of yours,
Mimi Doe
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~*~ SPIRITUAL PARENTING Groups~*~
The New Year is the perfect time to join a
Spiritual Parenting Group so you might have a
touchstone for your parenting journey.
For information on existing groups or how to
begin your own, go to:
http://www.spiritualparenting.com/spiritual_groups/index.html
If your group is listed with us and you no longer
are taking new members, please let us know.
Likewise, if you are looking to add members to
your group, feel free to post information with us.
Remember, these groups are based on the principles in
“10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting” and are
always free of charge. There is no “religious”
agenda and all are welcome!!! Groups are started
by interested parents and are self facilitated.
SpiritualParenting.com provides study guides and
other materials to the group leader free of charge.
Email for a listing of those groups currently taking
new members:
editor@SpiritualParenting.com
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~*~In the News~*~
We are gathering a wonderful virtual editorial
team for the Spiritual Parenting website and
newsletter. I would like to introduce a new
editor/writer, Renee Sprengeler. Renee is the
Mother of 10-year-old Sam and 8-year-old Zachary.
She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her sons and
husband and has been a Spiritual Parenting
newsletter subscriber for about 3 years.
Renee has been gathering and editing your
children’s wisdom stories. (see below)
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~*~YOU SAY~*~
In the last newsletter we asked you to send in
examples of your children’s wisdom. They are
indeed huge spirits housed in little bodies.
Here are some of your stories:
All four of my children seem to be wise way
beyond their years and amaze me daily. An
example was with my just-turned 8-year-old
daughter Bailey. I had been stressed about
moving to a new home and all the unexpected
expenses we continued to face. When the water
didn't turn on and we found out that the well
house was on a separate electric account, I was
frustrated yet again. Bailey looked right into my
face and said, "Mommy, don't worry. Just let go
and let God."
--Cindy
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My two older children hold Community Service
Birthday Parties to celebrate their birthdays.
They chose a children's charity, partner with
them and ask the charity what they need. The
kids invite their entire class, neighbors and
family with simple computer-generated invitations,
and information about the charity. Instead of
bringing a gift, guests are invited to bring a
monetary donation or item off the wish list for
the charity. The children have been very thrilled
to help other kids, but more importantly they
have involved their peers! Some of the charities
that have benefited have been Operation Christmas
Child, The Penn State Milton Hershey Medical
Center- Children's Hospital, The Todd M. Beamer
Foundation- Heroic Choices Program, Double- H
Hole in the Woods Camps, and Project Red Flag
National Hemophilia Foundation.
--Christine
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The other day as my 4-year-old son Ethan and I
sorted laundry and put jeans into the washer,
I noticed he was struggling to get my husband’s
jeans high enough to fall in. Without any
prodding from me, he gave them a big shove and
they fell in. He proudly looked at me and said,
"Mom, I might be small, but God helps me do big
things!" My heart just melted and all I could
say was, "Wow! You are so right."
--Treva
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When we have our supper our four-year-old son
Wemar says the prayer. While my wife and I close
our eyes, his eyes are open and whatever he sees,
he thanks the Lord for--the dinner plates, the
table, chairs, walls, birds, food, his mommy and
daddy, his toys, the knives and forks, the glasses,
the wind outside, the trees, the ants (we have a
few of them in our house), the flowers…so you can
imagine what time we end up eventually having
supper.
The prayer takes a long time and I normally have
to end it by saying 'Amen.’ Then I thought to
myself that the Lord made everything and we
should be thankful for it all. Now I do not
interrupt his prayer, but listen to every word my
son says and do not mind if my food gets cold.
What a blessing he is in my life and he allows me
to see the world as a child again.
--Ryno
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Email us your children’s wisdom:
Editor@SpiritualParenting.com.
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Spiritual Parenting Thought For the Week (sm) is
written and produced by Mimi Doe.
If you have any questions or comments,
please send them to:
mimi@SpiritualParenting.com.
We'd love to hear from you!
Feel free to forward your copy to anyone you think
might enjoy participating! We’d like to double our
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We request that you keep the broadcast intact,
including our contact and copyright information.
Copyright 2003, Mimi Doe. All rights reserved.
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You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter under
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Mimi Doe is the founder of www.SpiritualParenting.com and the
award winning author of, “Busy but Balanced”
(St. Martin’s Press) and “10 Principles for
Spiritual Parenting” (HarperCollins). Mimi’s
free newsletter, Spiritual Parenting, has over 40,000
subscribers from around the world. Sign up on
the website.
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Mimi Doe
Author of “Busy but Balanced”
"10 Principles For Spiritual Parenting"
and "Drawing Angels Near"
P.O. Box 157
Concord, MA 01742
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Spiritual Parenting Thought for the Week (sm)
December 31, 2003
V5 #17
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