A Guide to Parenting While You Sleep -Sleeping Angels

I have spent weeks creating my site and thinking of things to write. So many ideas, but which to do first? Then I had a revelation...
I was sitting down after dinner to watch the news when this lady from Queensland came on. She is the mother of four children, and she was having some problems with her youngest daughter's behaviour and attitude. She came up with an idea to record some positive comments, and combine them with some pleasant music onto a CD to play to her daughter while she slept.

I was inspired! What a great idea. I just had to find out more about this, and it would make a great post for the site. I use several programs and techniques very similar to this, and I can tell you that I have had great success with them.

So Kim got her CD, and while her daughter was drifting off to sleep she played it for her telling her that she had "..made a list of some nice things that I wished for her life."

Being a budding neuroscientist I could write REAMS about the science and evidence that explains how and why these techniques work. Most of you would probably be bored by that so I won't go into it here. I will tell you a little about WHY it works though.

You see, our brain is not a static entity. What I mean by this is that the brain is constantly evolving, changing, making and breaking new connections. Everything that we experience, be it positive or not so positive, creates a new connection, a memory, an emotion in our minds. Its these experiences that make us US. This is especially true for children.

Children are born with a "clean slate", a blank canvas so to speak. They have no memories, no experiences stored in their minds. Everything they experience from the day they are born creates a permanent impression and goes towards creating their own unique "map of reality", of how the world works and how to deal with it. This then affects their entire life

On her website Kim explains "When we are under 7 years of age we find it hard to differentiate between fact and fantasy. That's just the way kids are.", and ".. unless you have done everything perfectly up until 8 years of age, you are starting to lose your opportunity to influence your child, unless of course, they are asleep."

As I said earlier, there is HEAPS of evidence and research to support these techniques. Kim has combined many elements from several types of self improvement techniques, hypnosis, sleep programming, even NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) into her CDs. She has even created one for frazzled parents!

Anyway, Kim tells us that when her daughter woke after her first listening, she bounded into the kitchen carrying her portable CD player and said "Mum, I'm going to listen to my compliments CD while I am getting ready for school" -WOW!! She said the improvements in her daughters behaviour and attitude in the following weeks were incredible.
While I was researching this article and thinking of things to write, I remembered a favourite song of mine. Its called "Perfect" by Alannis Morrisette, off her album Jagged Little Pill. The song is basically a listing of all the horrible things her parents used to say to her as a growing child, and a lament for all the pain it caused her (most of her songs are pretty angsty).

The first time I heard that song I bawled my eyes out. To this day I STILL cant listen to it without crying. It reminds me of my own childhood and the things that my mother used to say to me (and in fact still does!). The song finishes with the line "We'll love you just the way you are if you're Perfect".

Now think about this. How many times in a normal day do you tell your child that they are special? That you feel so blessed to have them in your life? That you love them unconditionally? And how many times in the day do you find yourself yelling at them? Telling them how annoyed your are with them, how they are so badly behaved you wish you could send them back. My mum used to threaten us with sending us to boarding school when we misbehaved.

As the famous Dr Phil would say, it takes a thousand "attaboys" to undo one hurtful comment. Remember its the combination of all our experiences that makes us what we are today. So as parents you really need to start focusing on making as many positive nurturing experiences as you can for your children.

With Kim's CDs it is like giving your child those thousand "attaboys" every night, and the best thing is it will have an even bigger effect because they are asleep!!

I truly believe that you owe it to your kids and to yourself to Check out Kim's site. If you aren't already a parent, Im sure you know people who do have kids, and I believe that they would love to find out more about Kim's program, so send them a link to this article, Tweet it or add it to your Facebook page. Your children and your friends will thank you.

For more information check out http://www.mindstorming.com.au/index.php?view=entry&id=7&option=com_lyftenbloggie&Itemid=56