Page 32 - Tracy Anderson Magazine - Fall 2021
P. 32

Because education is such an important part of parenting,
                                                                                                                                           it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the responsibility. We
                                                                                                                                           end up focusing too much on what to teach our children,
                                                                                                                                           instead of how we’re teaching them. When we abandon the
                                                                                                                                           how, what we want to teach our children gets lost in trans-
                                                                                                                                           lation or worse; they learn the complete opposite of what
                                                                                                                                           we intended. Often, we become too nearsighted and think
                                                                                                                                           education means teaching them to adopt our political, so-
                                                                                                                                           cial, and religious views, but educating children isn’t about
                                                                                                                                           turning them into clones of their parents. It’s about rec-
                                                                                                                                           ognizing them as completely separate, autonomous spirits
                                                                                                                                           who have been born to create their own unique human ex-
                                                                                                                                           perience, to become their own person.

                                                                                                                                           Our job in that process is to provide them with gentle
                                                                                                                                           guidance while getting out of the way as much as possible.
                                                                                                                                           By forcing ideas on them about how they and the world
                                                                                                                                           “should be” based on our beliefs, we may get a child who
                                                                                                                                           can parrot back to us what we want to hear. In the end,
                                                                                                                                           however, it’s the child who pays the price because he lacks
                                                                                                                                           the discernment to make up his own mind about almost
                                                                                                                                           everything.                                    and their children will live in based on the choices we make
                                                                                                                                                                                          as parents today.
                                                                                                                                           Best for Who?
                                   EDUC A TION                                                                                             When parents say, “I only want what’s best for my child,”   What will make that world a better one to live in, a child
                                                                                                                                           while forcing rigid ideas on her or meddling in her life,
                                                                                                                                                                                          that knows her place in all the right political, economic,
                                                                                                                                           what they really mean is that they want her to make the
                                                                                                                                                                                          social, and religious groups? More titles and labels? The
                            WITHOUT  EGO                                                                                                   decisions they would make under the same circumstanc-  world doesn’t need more divisiveness. It needs more uni-
                                                                                                                                                                                          ty. It doesn’t need more forceful opinions. It needs more
                                                                                                                                           es. While most parents want the best for their children, in
                                                                                                                                                                                          open-mindedness. It doesn’t need more materialism. It
                                                                                                                                           this situation, they’re subconsciously reinforcing their own
                                                                                                                                           egos by creating another generation that can affirm back   needs  more  generosity.  It  doesn’t need  more  judgment.
                                                                                                                                           to them what they already believe.             It needs more people who can have a civil dialogue with
                                   A lesson on how we’re teaching our children, by Dr. Sherry Sami.                                                                                       others, knowing they have the opportunity to both teach
                                                                                                                                           Part of conscious parenting is knowing that children are   and learn something, even though their viewpoints might
                                                                                                                                           born into this world to choose their own path, not to re-  differ.
                                                                                                                                           peat ours. Life is built on diversity, with billions of different
                                                                                                                                           people each with their own viewpoint. Things are supposed   By teaching our children these larger concepts of life, we
                                                                                                                                           to be different. That’s why there are thousands of differ-  avoid trapping them in an ego-based us-versus-them men-
                                                                                                                                           ent species of trees, flowers, animals, and just about ev-  tality. There’s no fear of someone else threatening their be-
                                                                                                                                           erything else. The world doesn’t need another you. In fact,   liefs or way of life. They don’t just see themselves as in the
                                                                                                                                           there will only ever be one you in all of time. You couldn’t   world, but part of it and the responsibility that comes with
                                                                                                                                           create another you if you tried. Yet, we still try to force   making it a better place. When we focus on teaching our
                                                                                                                                           sameness on the world through what we call educating our   children these larger, more expansive values, the decisions
                                                                                                                                           children.
                                                                                                                                                                                          they make in the other areas of life, like politics and money,
                                                                                                                                    Kelly Sikkema, courtesy unsplash.com  Labels and Liability  tual tools to do so.
                                                                                                                                                                                          will work for good because we’ll have given them the spiri-
                                                                                                                                           The  impact  of  raising  a  conscious  child  who  can  think
                                                                                                                                                                                          Cultivating Concepts
                                                                                                                                           for herself carries a ripple effect that reaches far beyond
                                                                                                                                           her own life. The child we raise today will go on to touch
                                                                                                                                                                                          When I pick my children up from school each day, I ask
                                                                                                                                                                                          them the same three questions. The idea is to help them
                                                                                                                                           thousands of people in her lifetime, who will then go on to
                                                                                                                                                                                          incorporate these broader essential values into their daily
                                                                                                                                           touch hundreds of thousands of people until the impact
                                                                                                                                                                                          lives and to pay attention to the choices they’re making in
                                                                                                                                           grows exponentially reaching around the world. Literally,
                                                                                                                                                                                          social situations. I want them to see how they can show up
                                                                                                                                           the kind of child we raise changes the world her children

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