Conscious parenting

Conscious parenting means being thoughtful and aware of how our thoughts, words, and actions influence our children. It involves having a vision for our children as confident, passionate, curious, empathetic, intelligent, and capable individuals and then providing them with the opportunities, experience, and environment to foster their development of those traits. Conscious parenting is most closely tied to Authoritative Parenting. Authoritative parents are both responsive and have expectations; they are firm, but they discipline with love and affection, rather than power, and they are likely to explain rules and expectations to their children instead of simply asserting them. Beyond authoritative parenting, conscious parenting involves attention to the innate potential of children.

Conscious parenting is founded in the following ideas: that every child is born with an innate curiosity and love of learning; that every child is unique and his or her individuality is valuable to the family and to the world; that every child can have high self-esteem, be self-motivated and respectful of self and others if given the appropriate tools and experiences; that how we treat our toddlers and children today has a direct influence on their self-opinion and the choices they will make as teenagers and young adults of the future, and that parents/guardians have the single most important influence on children’s lives.

Laurence Steinberg Ph.D. has studied parenting styles extensively. Throughout his research, he discusses the benefit of authoritative parenting, which is a component of conscious parenting.

Principles of conscious parenting:
# Attention
# Emotional support
# Responsible choices
# Boundaries
# Independence and community
# Good communication
# Encourage curiosity

See also

Waldorf education
Sudbury school
Nonviolent communication
Theory of multiple intelligences

References

* Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Bruner, J. (1973). Going Beyond the Information Given. New York: Norton.
* Bruner, J. (1983). Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language. New York: Norton.
* Bruner, J. (1986). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Bruner, J. (1996). The Culture of Education, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Bruner, J., Goodnow, J., & Austin, A. (1956). A Study of Thinking. New York: Wiley.
* Garrido, W. (2007). "Principles of conscious parenting" [http://www.northstarfamilymatters.com North Star Family Matters]