International Day of the Rights of the Child
The reason I am thinking about this today is that I think it is important that all children feel valued. I deliberately say not to feel, but to find. Because finding goes one step further. First come thoughts and then emotions. Thoughts determine your emotions.
A child has the right to be themselves and not be measured against a standard.
Appreciated exactly as they are. With the associated trial and error. With all the learning moments and mistakes. With all useful and less useful actions. You can see them. With a soft look, from your heart. This is how they should be seen. By you. By their teacher or tutor. By family. And of course by himself.
Diversity is beautiful and everything is normal. That cannot be otherwise, because the children, your child, is there and does this and that is normal. Even though society may not be set up for him or her, that says nothing about your child. It says something about society. Without condemnation. Perhaps it also says something about the way you view society and the possibilities you see for your child in this society. And what you see, your child sees.
As a parent you have influence on this. Although it may not always feel that way, it starts with remembering your power, your responsibility and your security. Because you have it. I know that and I trust that.
A suitable card from my book "Holistic Parenting - Open to the possibilities of yourself and your child" is the card “Who is this diagnosis for?”.
Instead of making a diagnosis or giving an assessment, you can also give a strength label to a child. If you don't know how to deal with certain behavior of your child, you can choose the approach of adopting an attitude that makes your child feel stronger. Look with the eyes of your heart. See the love in what your child is doing right now. Be curious and ask questions; like the questions on the card.
Children teach themselves something - for example behavior that can be seen as a disorder by our society - which is helpful for him or her at that moment. Over time, the child's situation may change in which that behavior is no longer helpful, but is still present. Fortunately, our brains are flexible and children can change through you. When you change, they change. By looking with soft eyes. By looking at your child's possibilities. By seeing what makes them happy and arranging the environment in such a way that they can become stronger in this.
By strengthening what is already there, children will find themselves valuable and experience a right to exist. That starts with your support and way of looking at things.
Have fun with the map!