[Intro] Hello, and welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm so glad you joined me today. I'm your host, Corinne Powell.

I help people pleasers find happiness, embrace courage, and experience peace of mind through inner child healing. If you're desperate for change and not sure how to make it happen, I'm here to guide you along the way. In this space, you'll find motivation to live a life full of joy and resilience.

We will talk all things inner wellness with spirituality interwoven at times. Being a mom to three, parenting will be a topic of conversation for sure. So happy to have you.

Enjoy today's episode. 

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So today, I would like us to talk about kids and how to relate with kids, whether you have your own kids or you just have kids as a part of your life. Maybe you're a teacher of young children or of older kids.

Maybe you have nieces and nephews. We all are touched by children in some way throughout life, even if it's just at the grocery store. So here's the main thing I wanted to say.

I don't think kids should be treated differently than adults. Now, in case that is freaking you out, let me explain what I mean. When I say to my child, I have three kids, if any of them are disrespecting me or treating me really rudely, I'll say, I'm not OK with that.

I'm not OK with you yelling at me. I don't want to be treated disrespectfully. Let's talk about this in a different way. Take some deep breaths, calm yourself down so you can talk to me in a different tone. 

But this is the big thing that I realized recently. As much as that is what I'm saying to them, it hit me. I'm expecting the same of myself. I do not think it is OK for me to yell at my kids, for me to talk rude and disrespectfully to them. 

So that's where the confidence comes in, because I'm not asking them to do something that I'm not asking of myself.

And kids just grow up to be adults. There is a little kid living inside of all of us. There is an echo of my past and it shows up in my present adult life.

So the things that we absorb in childhood, the mindsets, the belief systems, the words that were spoken over us, they impact us as adults. You better believe it. Interjection, you don't have to believe it, but I am convinced of it.

I'm sure you can think over your life, right? About the things that were said to you, the things that were done to you and how that's still affecting you in a negative way in your adulthood. And that is what I love and that's what I do with the individual I work with. I help them to break out of things that have been hindering them and holding them back that they actually absorbed within childhood.

Those are our most formative years. There's a lot that happens that impacts us for life. And the only way we can change that, and I'm so glad we can change it, is through doing the inner work.

It's through being intentional, living mindfully. These are the ways we can not feel so held back because of whatever happened early on in our life. And for those of you that had trauma and tragedy happen in your life when you were a kid or when you were a teenager, I want you to know that there is hope that it won't have to feel like it's hanging on to you for the rest of your life.

It doesn't need to be like a backpack you always carry. It's able to fall off. You're able to let it go. And I don't mean just, oh, like it never happened, like you never acknowledge it. I mean where you can speak of it, but it doesn't feel like it hurts you when you say it. 

The sting of it is no longer there. You can remember, you can have the memories, but the pain doesn't need to be a part of the memories. And this is not just my experience because it is what I've experienced. I have found that deep of recovery and healing from my past traumas and the tragedies that have been a part of my life.

And trauma and tragedy is individual. So what you've experienced, I'm not going to minimize or belittle or compare it to anyone else's. What I've experienced, I'm not minimizing or comparing to anyone else's.

I'm acknowledging it as my experience and it was difficult for me and it was painful for me and it was traumatic and abusive in some parts of my life. So whatever that looks like for you, whatever that is for you, I just want to send out the message that there is so much hope that it doesn't need to stay a part of your life in a way that is really hindering you. And my clients find these results as well.

They see that they're able to remember things, but not feel the pain of it after we go through some exercises that just really help to bring healing. And you've always lived inside of your body, so the things you experienced as a kid, your body still remembers. So until you can release that negative, toxic energy from your body, it is affecting you.

But going back to what I was saying before, how we relate to kids is so important. It's vital because it's going to affect them as they grow up and it's just healthy for us to be able to look at kids and see them as real people that should be valued and should be given dignity, just like the next person who's an adult. And remember, too, I just wanted to bring this out because sometimes, you know, you'll see kids and they're having a temper tantrum or they're not listening or they're acting out.

Adults do that, too. We call it different things. We look at it, we look down at it or we're OK with it, you know, depending on your mood that day or what you think.

But kids just show things in a less discreet manner. They don't think as much about how will this look? What will other people think of me? So they just expose those things that sometimes adults still feel and still experience and even still vocalize. But they might do it behind closed doors and they might do it in a different sort of way.

Or we just call it something different. Maybe the adults are just numbing out and using something, a substance, to be able to help them disconnect from how they're feeling. And for kids, it's even illegal for them to use substances.

So the things that they're feeling and experiencing, they need to have an outlet and a way to let them the energy out of their body. And so sometimes it looks more explosive than how the adults do it. But we all have these similar feelings.

We all have similar experiences. We actually, if we are willing to acknowledge it, can relate to kids and we can empathize with kids and we can enter their world if we're just willing. If we open our eyes and we look at them as people and we don't change the way we look at kids versus the way we look at other adults.

I think at this point I realize I'm speaking on behalf of a generation that may not be given a voice right now. I'm an adult and I'm able to speak to other adults. But there are kids who need us to be able to look at them and to see them as valuable and to give them the dignity that they are so deserving of.

So the next time you see a child and you think, oh, that behavior, that parent should stop that behavior, would you pause? And would you enter the space that that child is in and let your heart feel? Would you let yourself recognize that that child is feeling something very intensely or maybe was never asked what they wanted and the parent is just telling them what to do. And that child has an opinion, that child has a thought, but nobody asked what it was. And would you allow space in your heart and in your spirit to let love be released from you and understanding and compassion on that child.

[Ending] Obviously, the topic I was speaking on in today's episode moved me deeply.

So I want to close out by thanking you for hearing my heart. I also want to encourage you that the way you view and interact with children makes a difference. I hope that you're able to see them through eyes of love and that you're able to hold compassion in your heart for them.

And together, I am excited to make a difference in culture, in the way that we interact and the way that we view these little people, valuable, valuable people. Until next week, I'm wishing you the best.