Believe in Your Child!

Our beliefs can support (or impede) our children’s progress

In my work, I see magic everyday. Yes, I said it. Magic. Let me explain.

The changes in the children I work with are tremendous and sometimes miraculous, ofttimes without either the child or me trying too hard to make them happen. In fact, the less I try to push for results, the more positive the outcomes that present themselves.

Unfortunately, a lot of parents feel they need to see a big change before they can recognize any progress. With well-intended efforts, and often without being aware of it, a lot of misguided parents inadvertently slow down their child’s progress.

Often times that happens as a result of putting too many demands on their child through ‘drilling’ and repetitive exercise routines. Some examples include keeping infants on their tummy before they have developed the necessary head control, or training children to sit independently before they have developed the strength and co-ordination in their trunk muscles to maintain upright balance.

As a parent, shifting your beliefs is fundamental to how you can better support your child’s progress. Being a parent myself, this is something I constantly remind myself of. When you believe in the innate intelligence of your child and support them in a way that works for them, you are providing your child with an optimal environment to learn to problem solve, both in their movement and thinking. In the process, you are supporting your child to actually ‘learn how to learn’.

When you support a safe and stimulating learning environment for your child, you are providing your child with the opportunity to figure out for themselves what they want, and experience how it feels to achieve what they want. This is very different from a mind set of helping special needs children to achieve what we believe they should be capable of doing at any given point in their development.

When you believe in magic, magic happens! It’s that simple. I see it everyday in the children I work with. If our beliefs can change our genes (Bruce Lipton wrote about this in his book, ‘The Biology of Belief’), so will your beliefs affect the outcome of your child’s therapy and thus their potential for continued and sustainable improvement.

3 PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR YOU TO EXPLORE

Be in the moment

In every moment, there is an opportunity for you to support your special needs child’s progress. Paying attention to what your child needs (especially in terms of support with movement) at any given moment helps to enrich their experience and provide their brain with information that would otherwise be missing.

Fake it till you make it

Success is absolutely pertinent to learning. The brain inhibits any activity that is associated with failure. Provide the help your child needs to allow them to be successful with their intended actions. Celebrate success even if it is somewhat off the mark! After all, life is more about how you feel than what actually happens. So feeling happy with your child’s accomplishments, even if it is less than perfect, will reinforce your child’s sense of achievement, fuel their future successes and most importantly put a smile on their face.

Believe in your child!

When you believe in your child, you are in a positive mindset. You will be better poised to support your child with their efforts and less likely to be frustrated. You are more likely to notice even the most subtle, positive changes your child is making, be excited by them and ready to support these changes even further. As a result, your child will benefit from the added information you provide in the process.

When as parents, we are able to change any limiting beliefs we might have about our children with special challenges, we can and will change the course of their lives.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO PONDER:

• What daily practices could help me stay in the moment?
• How has my perception affected my actions?
• When was the last time I believe in something so strongly that there is no room for doubt? What happened?

Now it’s up to you to engage yourself in this process.