A SIMPLE GUIDE TO

  UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN

                         By Galen

CLOSET PUBLISHING

El Dorado Hills, CA. 95762

Copyright 1996 by Galen

All rights reserved

Author; Galen

Contributing Editor; Margie

Printed in the United States of America

Library Of Congress

This book is dedicated to every living child, including those yet to be born.  Special appreciations are extended to Kenzie for her illustrations (as seen through the eyes of a 4 year old), to Margie for all the editing assistance and organizing efforts, and to Jared, Jesica, and ‘Kenzie for providing me with invaluable input before, as well as during the time that “Simple Guide” was being created.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I offer my sincerest thanks to you for taking the time to examine this book. It is with much thought and concern that I present the following information to all who are seeking different “avenues” regarding the subject of parenting and interacting with children. It is my intention to provide useful information in an understandable format with the hope that adults, specifically parents, will join me on the path of discovery while having some fun along the way.  

Much has been said about the importance of children and the significant roles they’ll play in determining the future outcome of this planet.   There’s no better time than now to begin helping them prepare for those roles. I believe that fear is mankind’s greatest detriment, and the “unknown” continues to be one of our most abundant sources of fear.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that many parents, when interacting with their children, nurture from a position of fear (fear of loss of control, fear of change, fear of not having enough-of-whatever-is-considered-important, etc.). There’s a very good possibility that these parents were nurtured in a similar manner when they were children by adults who were unaware of the numerous alternatives that I’ve included in my book.    

More than any other time in our recorded history, we are at a place where the strength of the family unit will play an increasingly significant role in the outcome of our physical, mental, and emotional survival.   Better-understanding the people who are most important and closest to us should have a considerably positive affect on determining the level and quality of strength within our family structure.     

“A Simple Guide” contains information that might be unfamiliar to the “first-time“ reader, so for the sake of clarity and comprehension, it’ll make more sense if it is initially read from the beginning to the end. There is somewhat of a sequential logic involved in explaining how this system works and I’ve found that many of the questions and concerns voiced by friends who have reviewed the book are covered in the early chapters.        

A quote from one of my favorite TV shows (“X-Files”), “The truth is out there”, applies readily to the journey of discovery that you’re about to begin.   Good luck with your adventure, and by all means, have some fun while traveling down this unusual “information pathway”.

                                          UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”……….(both) a quote from the novel “Tale of Two Cities”, as well as the frequent thoughts of frustrated parents.      

For many of us who are in daily contact with children (teachers, counselors, daycare providers), especially those of us who are parents, sharing prolonged time and space with the younger population can often be fraught with confusion and misunderstandings. There’s also a strong probability that we’ll end up relating to our children in the manner that we were related to as children in spite of our efforts to do otherwise.

Overall, nurturing appears to be a nearly inescapable process of behavioral pattern recycling that’s passed from parents to offspring within almost every level of species extant upon this planet.

Imagine traveling around North America with only a map of California as a source of direction, then, perhaps the broader picture can be seen of how the complex challenge of interacting with children has been approached for thousands of years. Just as a map of California falls short of displaying the numerous pathways that comprise this diversified and colorful nation, many of us have been operating under the assumption that nurturing is all about protecting, disciplining, and providing for our children (hopefully) more than we had when we were children.   We may be unintentionally overlooking our children’s subtly developing attributes and potential until after it’s too late for us to be a consciously participating part of a fascinating process.

Children are unique human barometers capable of sensing our thoughts and feelings, always providing us with reflections of our current selves, while occasionally revealing glimpses (to us) of our own childhoods.  Often, they are the magical keys needed to unlock the illusionary prisons of guilt, resentment, and low self-esteem that many of us were sentenced to as children by well-meaning, yet misinformed adults.    

Professionals involved in the field of child-development concur that behavioral and learning patterns are established (imprinted) before children enter pre-school. If there is any credence to this theory, then adults, especially parents, have a greater responsibility than could ever have been imagined. 

In an effort to create an understandable overview of this complex developmental process, imagine the physical body as a vehicle with three passengers.  In the front seat the intellect and emotion function as the controllers of the direction and speed of the vehicle, while the Spirit (soul) rides in the back seat, unobtrusively observing the activity generated by the “chauffeuring” team. During the initial stages of development, the two highly receptive intellectual and emotional “drivers” are influenced by even the most seemingly insignificant outer stimuli.  If what the child absorbs from its external environment is in conflict with the original intended path of its’ physical vehicle (determined by Spirit), the end result will invariably manifest confusion, misdirection, and future collisions on our “societal highways”.

With that thought in mind, perhaps our focus should be directed to understanding the nature of the spirits, hearts and minds of our children.   There is a way of knowing and I will share it with you.

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