Good for you, Asa! Your healing will earn your children and yourself a better life and you deserve it.

Dear Petra, I have been in this same bind often. I really understand your dilemma and appreciate that you want to help children and families! But I do not recommend you intervene in situations like this. Parents can become extremely angry if they feel judged by a stranger, no matter how kind and well-intentioned that stranger is. It’s very possible to end up making the situation even worse for the child.

I highly appreciate all of your articles, videos and how you share your experience with us.
I was wondering, if you could help me to share your knowledge with others, who could possibly make use of it. I feel I have understood the concept of CEN pretty well (and have been doing my best to recover from it myself for quite some time with your help and I feel very thankful about how it is going).

I can spot situations around me where a child’s feelings are being completely neglected, ignored or the child being loudly told not to cry with punishment connected to crying.
It breaks my heart to see this so often.
I know that only parents who are ready to develop, will actually be open to such information.

Do you have any phrase in mind, how I could try to approach such a situation, trying to help making life easier for the whole family? Or at least trying to find out, if they are open to such a path of growth or development?

With love, Petra

Dear Katie, it’s never too late so do not fear that. Just keep on trying. Perhaps using more feeling words in general might land better with them. Do not give in to eye-rolls and refusal to talk because most teenagers are experts at those.

Agreed, Angie. That is a good description of good parenting.

I have had similar experiences as Calliope. Unfortunately, I could not turn to my parents for help, as they were abusers as well. Kids should be taught to respect authority, but they should also know that there are bad people in the world who do not have the child’s best interests in mind and should not be followed blindly. I think the most important feature of good parenting is creating a safe space where children can approach the parents to talk about anything that concerns them, while also providing guidance and discipline.

Dear Dave, we have a small child in a classroom of peers with a single teacher in charge. When that small child engages in an activity that endangers himself should he be encouraged to listen to the teacher who is responsible for keeping everyone safe? If teachers must explain all of their rules and limits to each child, each of whom has different thoughts about it, those children are not learning how the world really works, in my opinion. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.