Highly Sensitive Children are What the World Needs Right Now
Many of the parents I work with are worried about their highly sensitive children. They see a world that does not honor their child’s sensitivity, a world that is harsh and divided and at war, and they fear for their child’s safety and wellbeing. While it is healthy and normal for parents to feel protective, when you have a highly sensitive child it is downright anxiety-provoking (and sometimes even panic-inducing) to send them out into the world to school, sports and other activities. Their depth of perception, their tendency to sense others’ pain, and their propensity for overwhelm and overstimulation, may make the world “out there” seem even more threatening on a very personal level. We want to keep their tender hearts safe, and we ache to see them face challenges that many kids may just never have to face because they are not as sensitive.
As our children grow, we may try to encourage them to take care of themselves and keep themselves safe and healthy, but they may argue with us, feeling self-judgement that they are too sensitive. They may feel they need to “power through” or engage with the world in ways that aren’t comfortable so that they may be successful or fit in with their peers. We can see them internalizing society’s negative opinions on sensitivity and suffering because of it. Our highly sensitive children, and we as parents, may get stuck in feeling too vulnerable, too fragile and just too much for those around us.
What many highly sensitive children and parents don’t realize is how important these children are for the healing that needs to take place in the world right now. The very things that we fear will harm them, are the evidence that the world needs them now more than ever. Highly sensitive children have the empathy, compassion and consciousness that are necessary to lead us into a new era. We all can see that what has been the norm is no longer working—it isn’t working in schools, in communities, in governments, or for the planet as a whole. Highly sensitive children sense this, they KNOW this, and it is my deeply held belief that they are here to help us find a new way. Their way is loving, it is innovative, it is creative, it is powerful!
When our sensitive children are suffering, it is not because something is wrong with them. It is because they are a mirror for what needs to change in the world around them. But often they are taking in the idea that they are the ones who need to change rather than that it is the world that needs changing. In my work with sensitive children, this is the foundational shift we strive to make. We support the highly sensitive child in truly owning and caring for their sensitivity, in advocating for themselves, in honoring and speaking their truth. When they do this, the world around them must change. It does not necessarily look like activism, but in truth it is a radical transformation in the culture around that child. Every time a teacher takes a new approach to support a sensitive child’s success, every time a parent encourages a sensitive child to express their feelings rather than toughen up, that child is teaching us how to alter what hasn’t been working in their world. One child at a time, school systems are changing, communities are changing, and lives are changing because highly sensitive children are demanding these shifts. As these children grow into healthy and strong young adults, they are spreading this power of transformation, and they are leading us towards a new way. Looking at young people like Greta Thunberg or Amanda Gorman, the power and wisdom of sensitivity expressed, is obvious. Looking at one’s own child assert a healthy boundary or honor their intuition, can be an even more potent and transformational healing for that highly sensitive child’s community of people.
If your highly sensitive child is showing you with their behavior or their fears that something isn’t working for them, I encourage you to see this as a sign that your child is here to transform their world, rather than seeing this as your child being or even having a “problem”. They are bringing their wisdom to a situation that needs healing, even if it doesn’t initially appear that way…Your highly sensitive child is shining a holy light on the systems that need to change, and it is our job as their parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, therapists and guides to join them on their spiritual mission to change the world.
Carolina is an active and proud member of the Sensitive Empowerment Community! Learn more about this wonderful group through Julie Bjelland’s website at https://www.fatfreecartpro.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=342244&c=ib&aff=383793. There are numerous free and paid resources designed to support Highly Sensitive People on this site!
