Life happens for those who show up. Unknown author
Most people would not intentionally have a parent café on Halloween for obvious reasons. (When I scheduled it, I did not realize the date). However, I proceeded on, and was pleasantly surprised. Truly, folks, life happens for those who show up. First, I have to acknowledge Panera. The manager allowed me to announce the group over the loud speaker. This brought a middle-aged and an older couple together, who were not planning on attending this, or any event tonight.
THE SCENE: Quite organically, the theme of connection began to emerge. The one coupled talked about it occurring naturally by spending quality time with your children doing activities of their choice, instead of burdening them with an overwhelming amount of adult-like stress. The other duo also spoke about connection, but their focus was on first being self-accepting, so you could accept another; especially your children. This banter produced amazing conversation. We, then explored action steps in service of getting connected to your children, and the request was to actually role play what it would actually be like with a participant’s son/daughter.
Parent to kid role play: “Do you think I like the person you are?” (Make sure that your child knows that he or she can safely share, and do not expect a quick answer). Then say, “or do you think that I will only accept you if you are who I want you to be?”
We also spoke about parents’ wisdom being compared to a fountain that can be accessed, instead of reverting to fear: false, evidence, appearing, real.