Courtney McGrailDear Editor, I have been impressed in recent months with your new ‘Parenting Matters’ series by Dr Colm Humphries, but was especially moved by the most recent column, ‘Children are able to sense conflict without seeing it’ (IC 10/12/2015).
Dr Humphries’ description of how we can instinctively pick up on things being wrong, even when we are children and others are trying to hide their conflicts, chimed with my own experience and stories I have heard from countless others.
His comments too about how our bodies pick up on and even share whatever tension is around us likewise described an all too familiar feeling, and it was especially helpful to be reminded that children experience this feeling every bit as much as adults do.
Saying that parents’ main job is to make their children feel safe was really good advice, I thought, and I think we should all try to remember his advice that children are reassured when they see their parents trying to solve their problems instead of pretending they’re not there.
Yours etc.,
Louise O’Driscoll,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.