It has become clear to me since I had my son that the parent and child relationship is not quite the hierarchy I thought it was and I don’t think I have been alone in that thinking. Naturally I appreciate that it is important that our children have boundaries and understand the importance of listening to their parents/teachers/people in authority… but I have also come to realize that our children are here to teach us too. I have experienced various situations in my life, had many opportunities to grow and understand myself and my world, but it has probably been over the past five years, since the arrival of my son, that I have learnt the most.

I have come to understand more about myself, my habits and routines, my fears and anxieties, my strengths and weaknesses, my tolerance levels, my relationships, the patterns in my life, what works and what doesn’t (although that’s not to say I don’t do what doesn’t work on occasion just to end up frustrated!). I have also come to understand more about life, the world in which I live, the challenges I have come up against and those I am currently facing. I would go so far to say that my children are actually my greatest teachers, because after all why are we here if its not to experience, accept, learn, grow and evolve into our highest selves…they certainly do this for me on a daily basis.

So with the idea that our children are in fact here as much for our growth as we are for theirs, really changes how we see them and how we treat them. Our relationships are not really one way interactions, but instead they are based upon receiving from them as well as giving to them. We would be wise to appreciate our children’s individuality, their uniqueness, their wisdom, their opinions, and their views on life as well as their innate gifts and show them as much respect as we would any adult, for they are as much our teachers as anyone or anything else we experience. It is important for us to know that in each moment after they come into our lives there is something for us to learn, should we choose to see it, hear it or even feel it… I often find myself saying something to my children and hearing this voice in my head saying quite clearly ‘that goes for you too’…in fact, even as I write this blog I am aware that what I write is as much for my own contemplation as it is for all of you who read this. Life it would seem is not without a sense of irony :)