I have been struggling with how to put intuitive parenting into words just because it is hard to analyze and quantify.  The biggest reason is because parenting for each of us can be as unique as each parent and child relationship is.  When it comes to parenting, parents need to learn to trust themselves more and stop always looking for answers outside of themselves.  I know this is hard to do when there are a myriad of books, websites, magazines, family and friends as well as professionals that tell you that you don’t know what you are doing. 

      The simplest way to describe intuitive parenting is to put it into two words – stop and listen!  An intuitive parent doesn’t just listen to what is going on around them but also listens to how it is making them and their children feel and why.  That doesn’t mean that they won’t run over to their injured child or stop their child from doing something dangerous before it happens.  It means that they won’t resort to spanking, yelling or being controlling when something doesn’t go right.  Instead they stop, listen and completely assess a situation before they do anything or say anything.

      I understand this is a hard transition for some people to make.  You are made to feel like you always must DO something if you see something not going the way you want it to go no matter how unrealistic your expectations may have been.  Or worse, you do nothing and just accept bad situations for what they are because you feel like you can’t do anything about it.  Both action and acceptance of “the way things are” are socially rewarded so when it comes to parenting you may feel it hard not to follow one of those routes.  

      Intuitive parenting is the complete antithesis of this.  When a parent is able to parent intuitively, they are not coming from a place of worry or fear.  They are coming from a place of feeling the path of least resistance and least stress.  Most importantly, they are feeling their way to the path that’s most joyful for their child.