Parenting AlongSide

My youngest son turned seven recently and I am noticing big shifts, not only in him, but in me and our relationship.  In Waldorf philosophy it is thought that your child lives off your etheric energy until they are seven years old, then they differentiate into living off their own sourcing.  I have noticed this shift with my first two sons, but as my third has gone through this shift I have noticed a huge change FOR MYSELF.

The major change is that I am not working so hard to make my kids a safe nest out of my larger self that they need in order to feel good in the world.  It is hard to explain, but it is like there is no need to hold this space/territory for them to incubate and bud open within shielded from the "real world." They have relied on my creating and holding this energetic space for them.  The change is what I have come to call, Parenting AlongSide. It feels like now my kids are next to me and partners in our journey together.

It feels so different. It liberates me to undertake new journeys into my own SelfHood and who I am and what my path is as more than a mother of young children.  My kids have become my allies, my best friends.

It takes letting go on my part to let them individuate and be themselves.  It is a loss of control. But I love it.  I love seeing who they are emerging and who they are in the world.  I love sitting back and watching these powerful mind-blowing humans do something amazing and think, "these human beings came through my body to be here!"

What a miracle.