Trusting our children can seem insurmountable. How can we trust children? They are small and make mistakes all the time. They cannot be trusted.
The trusting is in the intention. We trust that our children have good intentions. We trust that their mistakes are actual mistakes and not deliberate. We refrain from shame and anger so that our children are free from fear of trying.
We trust that they will learn from the choices that they make. We trust that their experiences will provide them with information that they can draw on when they make similar decisions in the future.
We become valuable allies. We become someone that they see as trustworthy and whose opinion is valued. Mutual respect and secure relationships are the result of a million interactions where by we have enabled and empowered our children.
Trust children. Nothing could be more simple or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted
John Holt
Read more:
Trusting our children
Listening to my children say ‘no’
What if I trusted my child?
Saying ‘yes’ to our children
Live. Play. Learn 