At Aarohi, parents meet weekly to discuss certain topics related to parenting. One of the weeks the topic was Empowerment. The agenda was to discuss Empowerment in the space of Parenting. The discussion started off with these questions
- What does Empowerment mean to us individually?
- Where have you all felt Empowered?
- What criterias or needs were satisfied when you felt empowered?
Then the discussion moved on to how to Empower our children? After the session, one of the parent shared this reflection with the community.
In yesterday’s session we had a good discussion on Empowerment. Especially in terms of parenting. It is the dance of power that we play with the child that creates a whole dynamic of future conversations.
The specific words/phrases that stood out for me are
- Taking Responsibility of our own emotions and thoughts
- Acceptance
- Creating the Inner Peace /Calm space
Despite all these there will be many times that I have failed to feel empowered or have the feeling of maybe I did not empower my child.
My requirement is to dig deeper into this, if it seems interesting to others also. Questions that I am putting out here are( at this point these are on top of my mind) .
- What does taking responsibility for emotions and thoughts look like?
- How does someone create that calm space for one self?
- How not to play the power dynamics especially in the areas where we both disagree?
- How to recognise that I am playing this power game?
As a reader, what are your thoughts about Empowerment? If you are a parent, do you have any questions to add to this or do you have some thoughts to share?