Highly Intuitive Child

"Crawford, a marriage-family therapist and registered art therapist, offers a gentle and insightful approach to parenting children with highly intuitive abilities or sensitivities. Conceding that all people have intuition and sensitivity, she argues that certain children are born with these traits functioning at a higher capacity, and they encounter specific challenges such as feeling responsible for others' emotions or absorbing group stress. She does not seek to lessen their sensitivity but rather to teach acceptance and self-help for their authentic nature, while helping parents understand how best to support them. Crawford identifies ten skills that intuitives should master, including differentiating between fears and intuition and distinguishing one's energy from others'. She is especially strong when discussing the value of art in a child's growing development...There are pearls of wisdom here for parents of children on the high end of the sensitivity spectrum, with or without intuitive abilities. Recommended for comprehensive parenting collections..." --Library Journal, Julianne J. Smith, Ypsilanti Dist. Lib., MI "Crawford, a psychotherapist, approaches her topic from the perspective of a professional who has dealt with many intuitive children during the past 20 years, and also as an intuitive individual herself. Children who are highly intuitive and empathic, she explains, both present and face unique challenges, and parents who are not particularly intuitive themselves may be shocked, perplexed and even frightened by their offspring's unusual gifts. While certain indigenous cultures have long regarded intuitive children in a positive light (such as the Inuit and ancient Mayans), mainstream America--and its parenting books--have avoided the topic, the author claims. Crawford steps up to the plate, dealing with the intuitive child's difficulties at home and at school, and encouraging parents to offer love and acceptance. She explains that empathic children often take on the weight of the world, and may become overly stressed by and sensitive to injustice. In a useful chapter, Crawford outlines 10 important skills that parents can teach intuitive children ranging from learning how to tell the difference between random fears and intuition, to how to turn down the volume on "intuitive antennae." While Crawford's audience may be somewhat limited, she offers sincere support and practical information to parents searching to aid and more deeply understand their highly intuitive child." - Publishers Weekly