Children are a joy and an incredible gift. If you teach with respect and love they will act in kind. See the beauty and the gentleness of children and go out of your way to engage a child or to take a few minutes to play with them and encourage them. Children are hungry to please you; hungry to be nurtured and to have someone genuinely like them. Respond to children and try to see things from their perspectives. It makes a huge difference for them. They want to feel special, more importantly by you. For the child it's a hug world out there.

Take the time with each one to let her/him know that somehow things will work out, and that you can relate to what they are going through. With each encounter, they know that you love them and care greatly for them. Let them see their own beauty. Encourage their self-esteem, their own imagination, ideas, and thoughts about something. If the ideas that they have are erroneous, gently guide with simple images and visuals for them to understand, to the correct information. If their thoughts are fearful lead them to a place that is not frightening for them.

You can teach by example with patience, kindness and gentleness. A child responds to this type of interaction more so than violence, and aggression. Yet so many parents cannot understand their child. Children do understand a lot, but more than that they feel gentleness and love, just the same way that they feel a parent or adult's rejection, and disappointment for them. Suppressed and isolated young children become lonely and depressed teenagers.

An unruly teenager is just a young child acting out. They have built up some massive walls around themselves for protection. Walls don't come down with aggression but with love, and patience. You have to find what their interests are, you have to teach them and interact with them with respect, kindness, and sometimes you have to modify your language to reach them. If they are very tough you have to be firm. You can't lose their respect. It's a game of great proportion.

Young children and teenagers need tools; to cope with situations that they find themselves in, with their emotions, to learn how to interact, and to grow spiritually and emotionally. If they don't trust you or can't relate to you, they won't receive anything from you. copyright 2006 Yoga Kat