Integral Parenting
Welcome to integral parenting. We have just launched a new web site. On the new site we have gathered together a wide spectrum of information and resources on integral parenting and more. We hope you will enjoy, this more unified experience...
About Integral Parenting
Next Step Integral presents the practice and theory of parenting as a spiritual path; parenting and education for soul and spirit, as well as body and mind. Integral Parenting includes the wisdom and insights from many streams of thought, research and practice, such as: attachment parenting, conscious parenting, developmental psychology, neurological research, and depth psychology.
Integral Parenting seeks to be as fully present as possible to the Whole Child. . It involves considering the individual and collective aspects of the parent-child journey, as well as the interior and exterior modes of experience and reality, termed the four quadrants. An Integral approach to parenting also considers the many developmental lines in a young childcognitive, emotional, social, psychosexual, musical, moral, spiritual, and others. Furthermore the Integral framework understands that consciousness evolves in stages, or levels, that each human being passes through these levels, and that these stages cannot be skipped. We also honor the particular traits and tendencies present in our child – their type – keeping the question alive: who are you? Rather than coming to a conclusion, supporting their emergent capacities and potential to evolve and flourish.
Integral Parenting offers a balance between support and challenge, following the child’s pace of learning and growth, while encouraging, guiding and correcting. Discipline is based on healthy grounded response (instead of reaction) to a child’s behavior, preventative measures, and especially facilitating quality time, healthy attachment, and deep listening.
When we consciously take on and welcome spiritual and psychodynamic work as part of our Integral Parenting practice, we are blessed and challenged with many ingredients that can make the experience one of the most radically transformative ones available to a human being, including shadow work and awareness practices. By committing to parenting within an evolutionary context, we seek to grow into the best parent we can be while not burdening ourselves with added stress or guilt when we miss the mark, which we all undoubtedly will do. So how can we aspire to evolve our parenting, while offering kindness, compassion and forgiveness as we go? When we stumble, we face into it honestly, we learn, we don’t get all tangled up by taking everything personally, and we move on, integrating what we have learnt. We aim to perfect our parenting, understanding that this is an ongoing journey and has nothing to do with reaching a final destination (as in the “perfect parent”). Ultimately this is a path of deep love that embraces and tends to both your and your child’s inner world, his soul and spirit, her thoughts and emotional needs; also her body, physical development, healthy nutrition, exercise; and to his environment, and the culture you are both embedded in.
Next Step Integral :: Parenting :: Education :: Community :: Ecology :: Generation Next