The peaceful parenting philosophy

  

What is Peaceful Parenting?

The peaceful parenting approach gives a broader understanding of the dynamics between the parent / educator and the child. To approach parenting challenges in a more constructive way, it’s important for the parent to be aware of (a) what they’re modelling through their responses to their child, (b) the importance of trying to meet the underlying needs that may be driving the behaviour, (c) the skills that the child needs to develop for future situations and (d) that the connection, care and warmth in the relationship is the biggest contributing factor towards a child’s behaviour and needs to be preserved.

This contrasts with traditional parenting approaches which often focus on the child’s behaviour in isolation, often using punishment as a strategy for modifying behaviour. Although using punishments, rewards or threats may work in the short term, adopting a punishment-free approach is a key factor in establishing relationships that are based on trust and mutual respect, for creating a healthy team spirit in the family. The Peaceful Parenting approach fosters more willing cooperation, integrity and self-discipline in children as opposed to fear based obedience.

Genevieve shifted the focus of her work away from teaching and counselling adults with a wide range of personal and life's challenges (over the previous ten years) to specializing in the field of parenting. Along with her husband Dan, she founded the Peaceful Parent Institute in New Zealand in 2004, and since that time peaceful parenting has been adopted by parents and professionals around the globe who resonate with this much more respectful and even therapeutic model of parenting.

The peaceful parenting philosophy that Genevieve teaches equips parents with the tools to transition to a non-punitive connection based parenting approach. It's based on past and current attachment research and at it's core is the recognition that to bring about long lasting positive change, parents need to gain a better understanding of what their child needs in their growth and development. A parent gaining a greater awareness of their child's attachment and developmental needs (when explained in simple enough terms), leads to a greater motivation to learn the parenting tools which hold the value of the parent child relationship at the core.

Genevieve understands that the necessary change needs to happen at the emotional level, which is why peaceful parenting puts equal focus on helping parents develop the self-awareness and emotional self-regulation skills needed to change. In supporting parents in their learning, growth and change, Genevieve shares her indepth experience and study of the many and varied tools for self-growth, self-healing, mindfulness and meditative practices.

The key principles of the peaceful parenting approach are based on a combination of:

• research findings from attachment science,
• providing a safe environment for children to feel and express strong emotions,
• active listening skills,
• maintaining the heart connection, warmth and open lines of communication,
• facilitating problem-solving and creating agreements,
• using “I” statements for parents to express feelings and requests non-aggressively,
• setting limits with calm clarity while maintaining empathy for any consequent upset,
• parent owns their strong feelings to avoid escalation and to model how to manage emotions, and
• a deeper understanding of the feelings and unmet needs which drive a child’s behaviour

Parenting without punishment

Parenting without punishment is essential when supporting the child to make choices from a place of integrity, self-discipline and self-responsibility rather than fear of disapproval or desire for reward. Creating a culture of mutual respect, empathic and active listening, sensitivity to each person’s feelings and diplomatic problem solving fosters communication in the family that’s based more on integrity, respect and compassion. So, not only is there an alternative to punishment, it’s the only alternative that leads to long term peace and harmony in families and effectively meets children’s needs for emotional safety, security, developing emotional intelligence and fostering unconditional love.

Clear communication, boundaries and limits

Peaceful parenting is based on clear and patient communication and trust in the child’s basic goodness. When a child doesn't respond to their parent, instead of raising your voice or inserting a thread, instead make physical contact, come down to their level, touch them kindly, calmly get their attention, be clear about your expectations and ask them what they've understood. And if it's an ongoing problem, it's likely indicative of needing to invest some quality time together to truly listen, to play, to generally rebuild the warm connection. 

Setting limits are set by the parent with confidence, giving the child a very clear understanding of what the limits are, while remaining a warm connected and supportive relationship with the child. It is an approach that constantly models a much more mature form of communication that fosters connection, confidence, trust, lateral thinking, problem-solving skills, and conflict-resolution skills. Peaceful parenting is a model that aims to meet the needs of both the parent and the child, while teaching and modeling flexibility and adaptability.

Mutual problem-solving

Adopting a democratic, mutual problem-solving approach to parenting lifts both the adult and child out of the power struggle. This approach teaches parents to relate primarily to the feelings beneath the behaviour and to respond primarily to the feelings. When a child's response shows upset, rather than criticizing them, show care of their feelings "hey my boy, you seem upset, tell me about it", which helps children learn to identify their own feelings and increases their emotional literacy greatly. This contrasts with many traditional parenting approaches which focus on changing a child’s behaviour using techniques that involve time-out and creating artificial consequences for the child which tends to cause children to feel stressed, defensive, rejected and rebellious These responses create a tense and emotionally insecure environment for children to live and learn in. This tension causes children to feel stressed, insecure and rejected and greatly increases their tendency to be resistant, rebellious and reactive.

Punishments fail to identify and attend to the underlying needs that drive out of balance behaviour and are no more effective in gaining genuine listening, calm communication and willing cooperation from our children as it would be from another adult.

Role modeling: Do as I do

One of the most profound ways that children learn is by watching our behaviour. When we use manipulation, threats, bribes or punishments of any kind, we are modeling to our children that this is what they should do and how they should be in relationships. Consequently, this will become their default mode in attempting to make others act the way they want them to act. In other words, they will naturally think and feel in terms of manipulating, bribing, threatening and punishing. If a child is then being told by their parents not to manipulate or coerce others, they are receiving two opposing messages: one from their parent’s words; the other from their parent’s actions. And as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

Why children behave ‘badly’

Aggressive or hyperactive behaviour, or speaking with “whining” tones, are generally symptoms of unmet needs, the child may be hungry or exhausted, may be overstimulated or they may have a need to release their pent up stresses and frustrations. It may well be an indication that there's too much chaos and aggressive tones in the family and the child is feeling disconnected, defensive or overwhelmed. From the peaceful parenting perspective, we're always seeking to explore what the underlying needs may be that are driving the behaviour. When we give children the safety and permission to feel and express their feelings, children can return to balance and again live happily in the moment. When children are emotionally settled and calm, they can naturally give their full attention and enthusiasm to their daily play and learning. On the other hand, the child who carries a backlog of invalidated and unreleased tears and fears is less available mentally and emotionally and will be generally frustrated, unsettled or inhibited – which of course manifests in the more chaotic and resistant behaviours.

Parents also have needs

The parent’s need for emotional support and release is just as big and just as valid as the child’s and the first is actually a prerequisite for the second. For this reason, we also offer understanding about how the patterns from the parent’s own childhood influence how we parent as adults. Although most parents endeavor to parent with patience and kindness, all parents understand that putting the principle into practice is no easy task and it’s unfair to “expect” ourselves as parents to just be calm and non-critical without a lot of learning, support and quite a lot of processing of our own emotional hurts. It is important that we have the opportunity and support to process our own emotional hurts so that we can move in a more positive direction with our parenting.

The workshops, seminars, eCourses and parent coaching which Genevieve offers:

On the seminars, workshops and eCourses, Genevieve gives information and examples from her years of working with individuals, children and families. She also shares her in-depth study of the work of Dr. Aletha Solter, psychologist and author of “The Aware Baby”, “Tears and Tantrums” and “Raising Drug-Free Children”, the work of Daniel Siegel, psychiatrist, author of “Parenting from the Inside Out”, John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, Bruce Perry, founder of the Child Trauma Clinic and others in the field of cutting edge research in child development, the work of Robin Grille, author of Parenting for a Peaceful World and Heart to Heart Parenting.

We teach our children through modeling first and foremost. When parents coerce children with punishments, threats and bribes, they condition their child to naturally think and feel in terms of manipulating, bribing, threatening and punishing. If they are then being advised by their parents not to attempt to manipulate others (coercion), the child is receiving two opposing messages; one from their parent's words, the other from their parent’s actions and day to day communication with the child.