Principles for Relationships with Children

For those who spend their time working with kids, something indeed to remember.

I am not all knowing,
Therefore, I will not even attempt to be.

I need to be loved,
Therefore, I will be open to loving children.

I want to be more accepting of the child in me.
Therefore, I will with wonder and awe allow children to illuminate my world.

I know so little about the complex intricacies of childhood.
Therefore, I will allow children to teach me.

I learn best from and am impacted most by my personal struggles.
Therefore, I will join with children in their struggles.

I sometimes need a refuge.
Therefore, I will provide a refuge for children.

I like it when I am fully accepted as the person I am.
Therefore, I will strive to experience and appreciate the person of the child.

I make mistakes. There are a declaration of the way I am - human and fallible.
Therefore, I will be tolerant of the humanness of children.

I react with emotional internalization and expression to my world of reality.
Therefore, I will relinquish the grasp I have on reality and try to enter the world as experienced by the child.

It feels good to be an authority, to provide answers.
Therefore, I will need to work hard to protect children from me!

I am more fully me when I feel safe.
Therefore, I will be consistent in my interactions with children.

I am the only person who can live my life.
Therefore, I will not attempt to rule a child's life.

I have learned most of what I know from experiencing.
Therefore, I will allow children to experience.

The more I experience and the will to live come from within me.
Therefore, I will recognize and affirm the child's will and selfhood.

I cannot make children's hurts and fears and frustrations and disappointments go away.
Therefore, I will soften the blow.

I experience fear when I am vulnerable.
Therefore, I will with kindness, gentleness, and tenderness touch the inner world of the vulnerable child.