editor’s letter
.COM
IMALS
- WUD
IBT TOY
• RAB
: EMMA CROMAN
PHOTO
Welcome I
’m excited to bring you the first edition of The Green Parent in 2022. Welcome to the New Year, gorgeous parent, and thank you for finding this magazine! I’m delighted to share this issue with you. The theme is compassion, this edition is brought to you by the goddess, Kuan Yin, the Chinese deity who encourages us to focus on the love and light within us all. Compassion literally means “to feel with” or “to suffer with” another person. It means seeing something the way they do, experiencing their pain with them, and desiring to make it better. I’ve started a practice of seeing god/ goddess/higher self in others. When I feel annoyed or frustrated, it’s such a helpful practice to seek the light in people in my life. And strangers too. Kuan Yin reminds us that we need to release judgements about ourselves and others. Whilst this is easier said than done, it is certainly helping me to have a constant affirmation, “I see God in you,” running in my mind.
This whole magazine is always about compassionate parenting but it’s been fun and illuminating to dive deeper into this subject and look at how we communicate with our kids, what it means to be a respectful parent and how best to raise conscientious young people in a society that is centred on me, rather than we. Sometimes, in the crazy busy hectic moments of parenting, we respond unskillfully. We don’t understand our children’s perspective. We miss an opportunity for connection. It’s hard right?! I think it’s really important to accept our mistakes. To give thanks and appreciation for the times when we did manage to bring the compassion.
I love one of the key tenets of compassionate parenting to Watch Your Child While They Sleep. You know how everything melts away when you watch the rise and fall of their breath, their sweet open faces? Sarah Rudell Beach talks
“ I think it’s really important to accept our mistakes. To give thanks and appreciation for the times when we did manage to bring the compassion”
about this as a night-time meditation – spending time watching her children in slumber to reconnect to their amazing selves. She explains that it helps her be a more compassionate parent, and helps her sleep better too. I’m all for that. I’d love to hear what resonated for you in this edition, what you want to read more of. Drop me a line letters@ thegreenparent.co.uk or find us on Instagram @thegreenparentmag. Looking forward to connecting with you,
Melissa Corkhill Editor connect with us, we’d love to hear from you Instagram @thegreenparentmag Facebook @greenparentmag
Email letters@thegreenparent.co.uk what I’m doing right now
LOVING the preschool language class I go to with my youngest – I’ve learnt the French for all the animals of the wood this week, and some songs about them too!
BRAVING the elements for sporadic sea swims in the icy cold English channel – it’s more of a quick dip than a swim, but it’s so liberating!
READING Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Yeah, late to the party again! I’ve bought copies as pressies – it’s so good!
TREATING MYSELF
to an in-person group Artist’s Way workshop, ten years after I last did it!
THE GREEN PARENT • 7
