Thursday, February 24, 2005

Parenting The Vedic Way

--------------------------------------------------------
Using Doshas To Understand Children

Parenting is an application of love in our daily lives. Our children give us the opportunity to experience, and express love every day. As parents, we have a very unique relationship with each of our children. We interact with them on so many different levels at the same time. We can be a parent, teacher, friend, chauffeur, psychologist, advisor, disciplinarian, coach, referee, or whatever! When you know your child's dominant dosha, you are better able to handle the myriad of things that come up at any given moment. You are better able to parent from a place of love rather than expectation. You know, for example, that your Vata child may have some anxiety about a friend's sleepover. Or that our Kapha child may need two different alarm clocks to get up in the morning.

Mind-body type does have genetic components. But a family doesn't necessarily have to be dominant in one dosha or another. A Kapha mother and father very well could have a Pitta child, for example. You need to look on both sides of the family to see where a dosha may be inherited. For example, a Pitta child could get her blue eyes from her Pitta grandmother, or her athletic ability from her Pitta uncle.

It is interesting to look back at your own childhood and discover the doshas of each of your brothers and sisters. Look at how you interacted with your siblings. What were these relationships like? Remember that your kids look to you for skills to handle each other, too. They learn from your example.

It doesn't matter how many children you have, as a parent you soon learn that you can't parent any two kids the same way. When we look at all the factors involved in a child's individuality and the different ages and stages they all go through, there is no question that parenting is the most difficult job there is! Ayurveda gives us tools to help us relate to our children, and to help our children relate to each other.

This is reprinted from "What's Your Dosha Baby? Discover the Vedic Way for Compatibility in Life and Love" by Lissa Coffey

For more information visit WhatsYourDosha.com

What do you think?
Discuss this article and share your opinion

Want more DailyOM?

No comments: