Spiritual Parenting Articles


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

-=- From Mimi Doe and

http://www.SpiritualParenting.com

There is time……it is possible…..

You can add more spirit to your family life.

Welcome to the Spiritual Parenting community.

This newsletter is my gift to you in the hopes of

creating a worldwide chain of people who are

committed to empowering children and teens by honoring

and nourishing their inner lives.

Pass it along to others who would like to join us.

To subscribe or unsubscribe please visit:

http://www.SpiritualParenting.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

IN THIS ISSUE:

-10 Tips for Spiritual Parenting in 2004

-Spiritual Parenting Groups

-In the News

-You Say

~*~ Topic of the Week ~*~

10 Tips for Spiritual Parenting in 2004

The fresh New Year is just the time to dive in

and begin balancing your life and becoming the

parent and the person you want to be. Start by

re-evaluating family priorities and developing

a plan to honor those choices. Consciously making

decisions about how you connect with those you

love is the first and vital step in creating more

harmony in your life. Your relationships at home

sustain and ground you and your children.

To follow are 10 additional tips for creating a

more connected family and a deeper sense of

spiritual parenting:

1. Be original when responding to each of your

children.  Don’t feel you must have a “one size

fits all” method of relating to your kids.

Different children respond to different styles of

parenting. Take some time to jot down ideas

about each of your children and their specific

personality traits and learning styles.  Perhaps

your eldest is super responsible, for instance,

and is reluctant to communicate with you.  You

might need to plan extra time to connect

with this child in the next 12 months.

2. Practice letting go of total control in your

family.  Assume that your kids innately have a

sense of what’s right for them.  Allow them to

develop their own answers from what they think,

feel and know, then support them in this discovery.

“What do you think is the best way to stop the

headaches you’ve been getting?”

“You are in charge of planning what we do on

Saturday. Let me know your ideas.”

Give your kids lots of opportunity to make

choices. Their intuition and decision making

skills grow stronger as a result.

3. Let go of the old definitions you have of your

children and see them as the divine spiritual beings

they are today.  Be open to knowing them in this

New Moment! It’s tough not to judge our children

by what others think or get caught up in our

society’s ideas of greatness. But, when we step

beyond popular opinion and help kids remain connected

to their authentic selves, their dreams and wishes,

we give them hope.  Make an effort to begin fresh

with each of your children. Perhaps you can come

up with a ritual for releasing any negative

associations or limited thinking you might have

picked up around your kids.

4. Pick one day a month as FAMILY DAY.  Mark them

on your calendar and begin planning now for all

twelve magical days. You might even have a family

meeting to launch 2004 and discuss these family

days as well as other logistical arrangements for

the upcoming year.  Don’t forget to give each

family member a chance to contribute, even the

youngest has opinions!

5. Put the TV in a place that takes some effort

to reach instead of allowing it to take center

stage in your home. What a year you will have

without the energy draining dullness that passive

television watching elicits.

6. Write down all the exciting things about the

past year and how you have grown as a parent.

Don’t get caught up in the format or trick yourself

that you don’t have time to make this simple list – just

start writing. Focus on the positive and how you have

overcome challenges or think back to situations

where you did just the right thing. Now, write

what you would like to manifest in this fresh New

Year with each of your children.  Write about how

you would like to grow as a spiritual parent.

7. Take a look at the rules and regulations

you’ve created for your kids.  Are any of them

made out of fear or distrust?  Restricting our

children can curb their creativity, self expression

and freedom to soar. Take some time to revamp

family regulations for 2004.  Make sure to include

your kids in this process.

8. Become inspired by your children.  A child’s

natural impulse is to believe in her own greatness.

Her expansive soul is already “self actualized.”

By respecting this boundless dimension we sustain

children’s inner freedom and creativity. Our only

limitations in life are self imposed. We are filled

with the Divine essence of God — this is who we

truly are.  Young children are a purer channel for

this light because they haven’t picked up the many

filters we have accumulated by living longer.

Filters such as doubt, fear, anger, guilt, and

old programming, that block the pure light

from manifesting as our experiences.  Observe

your child’s sense of unlimited potential and

accept it as the truth for your child and for

yourself.

9. Rather than assuming that each parenting

choice we make is final and unalterable, let’s

lighten up and realize our role

as parents is that of a loving guide.

Try this affirmation:

My decisions are made by following my deepest

intuition. I let go of fear and trust that all

is in Divine Order.

10. Amidst the whirl that is often our lives with

children, we can truly retreat, even for a moment,

to that seed of serenity within.  Come up with

little habits that will connect you with spirit

throughout your day.  Maybe when you awaken in

the morning before hopping out of bed, you pause

for a moment and whisper a prayer affirming patience

for the upcoming day or when you hear the phone

ring, it is your cue to take a deep breath and

drop your shoulders.  We always walk in the light

of God/Spirit/All that is.  Sometimes we just

need a habit of reverence, a breath, to remember.

May 2004 be a year filled with delight for each

of you.  May your spirits soar as you coparent

with God. You are never alone in this journey

of loving and guiding your children – in fact,

there are about 40,000 other parents reading

this newsletter on the same quest.  It can be

tough to find balance in your day to day life but

the power of this Spiritual Parenting community

can lift you up and energize you as you quench

your own hopes and dreams and foster those of

your children.

Consider joining a “real time” Spiritual Parenting

Group so you can extend the messages of these

newsletters, my books, and my weekly Hallmark television

program.  Meeting with other likeminded parents

can be a wonderful support.

I send love and light from my heart directly to

all of yours,

Mimi Doe

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~ SPIRITUAL PARENTING Groups~*~

The New Year is the perfect time to join a

Spiritual Parenting Group so you might have a

touchstone for your parenting journey.

For information on existing groups or how to

begin your own, go to:

http://www.spiritualparenting.com/spiritual_groups/index.html

If your group is listed with us and you no longer

are taking new members, please let us know.

Likewise, if you are looking to add members to

your group, feel free to post information with us.

Remember, these groups are based on the principles in

“10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting” and are

always free of charge.  There is no “religious”

agenda and all are welcome!!!  Groups are started

by interested parents and are self facilitated.

SpiritualParenting.com provides study guides and

other materials to the group leader free of charge.

Email for a listing of those groups currently taking

new members:

editor@SpiritualParenting.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~In the News~*~

We are gathering a wonderful virtual editorial

team for the Spiritual Parenting website and

newsletter. I would like to introduce a new

editor/writer, Renee Sprengeler. Renee is the

Mother of 10-year-old Sam and 8-year-old Zachary.

She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her sons and

husband and has been a Spiritual Parenting

newsletter subscriber for about 3 years.

Renee has been gathering and editing your

children’s wisdom stories. (see below)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~YOU SAY~*~

In the last newsletter we asked you to send in

examples of your children’s wisdom.  They are

indeed huge spirits housed in little bodies.

Here are some of your stories:

All four of my children seem to be wise way

beyond their years and amaze me daily. An

example was with my just-turned 8-year-old

daughter Bailey. I had been stressed about

moving to a new home and all the unexpected

expenses we continued to face. When the water

didn’t turn on and we found out that the well

house was on a separate electric account, I was

frustrated yet again. Bailey looked right into my

face and said, “Mommy, don’t worry. Just let go

and let God.”

–Cindy

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My two older children hold Community Service

Birthday Parties to celebrate their birthdays.

They chose a children’s charity, partner with

them and ask the charity what they need. The

kids invite their entire class, neighbors and

family with simple computer-generated invitations,

and information about the charity. Instead of

bringing a gift, guests are invited to bring a

monetary donation or item off the wish list for

the charity. The children have been very thrilled

to help other kids, but more importantly they

have involved their peers! Some of the charities

that have benefited have been Operation Christmas

Child, The Penn State Milton Hershey Medical

Center- Children’s Hospital, The Todd M. Beamer

Foundation- Heroic Choices Program, Double- H

Hole in the Woods Camps, and Project Red Flag

National Hemophilia Foundation.

–Christine

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The other day as my 4-year-old son Ethan and I

sorted laundry and put jeans into the washer,

I noticed he was struggling to get my husband’s

jeans high enough to fall in.  Without any

prodding from me, he gave them a big shove and

they fell in. He proudly looked at me and said,

“Mom, I might be small, but God helps me do big

things!”  My heart just melted and all I could

say was, “Wow!  You are so right.”

–Treva

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When we have our supper our four-year-old son

Wemar says the prayer. While my wife and I close

our eyes, his eyes are open and whatever he sees,

he thanks the Lord for–the dinner plates, the

table, chairs, walls, birds, food, his mommy and

daddy, his toys, the knives and forks, the glasses,

the wind outside, the trees, the ants (we have a

few of them in our house), the flowers…so you can

imagine what time we end up eventually having

supper.

The prayer takes a long time and I normally have

to end it by saying ‘Amen.’ Then I thought to

myself that the Lord made everything and we

should be thankful for it all. Now I do not

interrupt his prayer, but listen to every word my

son says and do not mind if my food gets cold.

What a blessing he is in my life and he allows me

to see the world as a child again.

–Ryno

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Email us your children’s wisdom:

Editor@SpiritualParenting.com.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spiritual Parenting Thought For the Week (sm) is

written and produced by Mimi Doe.

If you have any questions or comments,

please send them to:

mimi@SpiritualParenting.com.

We’d love to hear from you!

Feel free to forward your copy to anyone you think

might enjoy participating! We’d like to double our

subscription rate to reach even more families.

We request that you keep the broadcast intact,

including our contact and copyright information.

Copyright 2003, Mimi Doe. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Any submissions of tips, stories, and other content

to Spiritual Parenting Thought For the Week and

SpiritualParenting.com whether by e-mail, mail or

posted to our web site become the property of Spiritual

Parenting. Please see our terms of use and privacy

policy for more details at:  http://www.SpiritualParenting.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To subscribe and unsubscribe go to:

http://www.SpiritualParenting.com. It’s

easy and automated!!

SpiritualParenting.com

The Spiritual Retreat For Parents on the Web

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter under

the following conditions:

1. Include the attribution listed below.

2. Inform us of how, when, and where you are

using the article.

3. Send a hard copy or a link to the site it is

being published if reproducing it electronically.

4. If reproducing the article electronically,

include a link to our website: www.SpiritualParenting.com.

Mimi Doe is the founder of www.SpiritualParenting.com and the

award winning author of, “Busy but Balanced”

(St. Martin’s Press) and “10 Principles for

Spiritual Parenting” (HarperCollins).  Mimi’s

free newsletter, Spiritual Parenting, has over 40,000

subscribers from around the world.  Sign up on

the website.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mimi Doe

Author of “Busy but Balanced”

“10 Principles For Spiritual Parenting”

and “Drawing Angels Near”

P.O. Box 157

Concord, MA  01742

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spiritual Parenting Thought for the Week (sm)

December 31, 2003

V5 #17

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Blogs & Links

The companion blog to Tumblon, where parenting is serious fun!

http://blog.tumblon.com/

Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children: Becoming a Mindful Parent

Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood