Many of today’s children are intensely conscious beings. They can connect cause and effect at a very early age and they have a unique ability to see through the façade and sleight of hand of words and actions to unmask the truth.

As Conscious Parents I think it is important to be honest with our children, to tell them the truth when they ask us questions and to honor their choices when they come from a place of clear understanding.

It is a mistake to think that they don’t understand because they are little. I find many of today’s children so much more conscious and so much more aware then many of the adults I meet.

Caidin decided at the age of 4 that he wanted to be a vegetarian. Watching him get to this decision was interesting and held a lot of information about who he is and how he processes information.

The summer of Caidin’s 4^th year he went to a summer camp in Red Hook, which is at the base of Brooklyn along the waterfront. We had to walk to the bus stop and then take the city bus to the camp. Each day, I’d drop him off, come back home, do some work and then repeat the trip to pick him up.

I noticed that we were having the same conversation every day too. Caidin would ask me, ‘Mom, where does bacon come from?’ ‘Where does chicken come from?’ ‘How about chicken nuggets?’ ‘What about hot dogs?’ With each question I would answer from pigs, or chickens, or in the case of hot dogs, my answer was a little more uncertain.

Day after day, the same conversation about different types of meats and where they came from, until one day he turned to me and said, ‘Mom, I don’t want to eat meat.’ I asked him why and he explained to me that he loves animals and he did not like the idea of eating them.

I listened to all he had to say and I said, ‘O.K., but you have to promise that you will try everything that I give you to eat, each time I give it to you. I don’t expect you to like everything, but you have to try it.’ I explained to him that our bodies need certain types and amounts of nutrition and we need to make sure we offer it everything it needs.

He agreed to my conditions and from that day forward he has been a committed vegetarian and he has lived up to his agreement to try everything I give him, every time I give it to him. Over time he has developed a like of many things he at first didn’t like, so the strategy has been a good one.

I think about different styles of parenting and how anguishing it would have been for him had I said ‘No, you have to eat meat.’

The main point here is that children, even very young children do have the ability to understand what is going on around them. Choices and decision made on solid information and assessment should be honored. Which again leads me to the importance of strong communication as an essential, and even stronger detective skills if your child isn’t a talker like mine.

Your child may have made their mind up about something and never told you. Next time your child is refusing to do something or asks if they can ‘not do something’ ask them why.

You may discover that your child has made a conscious choice.

© 2012 Christine Agro

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Christine Agro is a clairvoyant, naturopath, Master Herbalist, conscious mom and author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously as well as of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Special Moms’ Edition). Christine is founder of The Conscious Mom’s Guide , a membership site where she helps support you on your own journey of living life consciously and on your journey of being a Conscious parent. You can also join Christine on Facebook. To contact Christine, invite her to speak or to schedule an appointment with her please email her.