How Little Minds Work

The other day a couple that I provide Pastoral Counseling to shared a statement their six-year-old daughter made.? She said, “why don’t you and mommy cuddle anymore”.? Naturally, I wanted to explore the context in which the child was referring to.?

Apparently, the wife had recently started a part time job.? This change in the household required both parents to absorb some of the tasks that previously had been accomplished throughout the day by her mother.? This rather small change created an environment where both parents we now busy doing chores when they otherwise were comfortably sitting together as a family.? Both parents admitted that when they sat together TV with their daughter, they sat close together, often entwined with a leg or foot getting massaged or holding hands.?

Now certainly nothing bad happened in this scenario.? It was noted that their daughter has noticed something different.? Some could say their daughter was feeling less secure as a result, and others will claim the daughter was simply inquiring why things had changed.? In either scenario the parents could simply explain the rational behind the change.? They could also adopt a plan to do chores when their daughter was in bed vs., her awake time.?

What is of additional interest is to acknowledge how these little minds of children are absorbing information.? At the age of six, their daughter recognized something was different.? So for six years she has witnessed a status quo of her parents cuddling.? What else has her little mind soaked up?? And, where is all this information stored?

Beginning at birth, the subconscious mind begins its work.? The subconscious mind regulates all of your bodily functions.? It also records and stores every experience seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted even when your consciousness is not paying attention.? Research states that by the age of 21, your subconscious mind has stored more than 100 times the contents of the entire?Encyclopedia Britannica.

Joeseph Murphy PhD claims that your subconscious mind passively accepts your habitual conscious thoughts without question. In other words, it doesn’t judge any of your conscious thoughts (in the same way that your computer doesn’t judge the documents you save onto your hard drive). All the thoughts you think in your conscious mind filter down into your subconscious mind and leave an impression.?The more often you think certain thoughts, the heavier the impression you leave on your subconscious mind.

This is significant for parents to understand.? Everything their child/children hears and sees is forming an imprint in their subconscious.? This later determines their personality traits and how they will respond to later life experiences.?

Parenting For Adulthood provides an insight into how parents can forge positive imprints into their child’s/children’s subconscious better preparing them for adulthood.? Contact your local church to see when Parenting For Adulthood will be providing a class near you.?