Raising Intuitive Kids

It's been said that children are the most intuitive because they have not been conditioned to value logic over intuition and feeling. The following article lends credence to that belief. A small child heard the roaring wind outside, got scared and ran out of her room into her mother's bed. Later that night, a tree fell though the house and crushed the bed where the child had been sleeping. Read the article here. What if that mother had ignored her child's fears and pushed her back to her bedroom? The story would have had a tragic ending.

If you have children, or have spent alot of time around them, you might recall a time when a child tensed up around a stranger or you might have noticed a child pull away from some people and not others. I remember a time when my nephew seemed noticeably uncomfortable around a friend of his father's. I pointed it out to my sister, and since she has a lot of respect for the power of gut instinct, she made sure my nephew didn't have to be around this man.

If you'd like to nurture your children's intuition, take heed of the following tips:

--Honor emotional intelligence. Make it a habit to ask your child what he or she is feeling about day-to-day events, even if your child doesn't have a say in the matter. For example, your child may not be able to decide when you're going to head home from the park, but you can ask him what he feels about leaving now as opposed to fifteen minutes later.

--Pay attention to strong reactions. You know your child, and you know when something really pushes his or her buttons. If your childs reacts strongly in a positive or negative manner, consider acting accordingly. For example, my nephew's reaction to his father's friend was unusual and extreme. If this was my nephew's normal reaction to meeting people, my sister might have paid less attention to his discomfort.

--Encourage imagination. If your child starts telling you about an imaginary friend or an unbelievable experience, don't be so quick to shut it down. Some believe that imaginary friends could be ghosts. Even if you don't believe that, imagination is very important to intuition since it gives you permission to have an open mind - something that's needed when your gut goes against everything that you can see logically.