How to Teach Kids to Feel Energy: Spiritual Parenting Tips for Empaths and Neurodiverse Children

Have you ever noticed your child suddenly reflecting emotions you've been quietly harboring? There's a profound energetic connection between parents and children that goes beyond words—one that can teach us as much as we teach them.

In this eye-opening episode, I share a recent experience with my son who expressed heartache about attending a concert because he missed his old friends. This moment revealed the fascinating way children can sometimes mirror our unspoken feelings, while other times they're processing their own authentic emotions. The challenge for spiritual parents lies in helping our children discern between the two.

I introduce a powerful tool I use with my kids: teaching them to ask, "Is this your energy or someone else's?" By placing a hand on their hearts and tuning inward, children can develop the extraordinary skill of energetic discernment—something many of us didn't learn until adulthood, if at all. This practice has transformed how my family communicates about emotions and helps my children build healthy energetic boundaries.

The episode explores how energy works in our interactions with others, from the magnetic pull we feel toward certain people to the way others are drawn to us when our hearts are open. I share practical activities, like intuitive watercolor painting, that parents can use to help children recognize their mind-body-spirit connection in playful, accessible ways. Imagine where our children will be at 41 if they're learning these spiritual tools at 7 and 10!

Ready to bring more spiritual awareness into your parenting journey? Visit hearttoheartlife.com to take our new Woo quiz and connect with our community of conscious parents. Share your experiences or questions by emailing [e-mail]—I'd love to hear how you're helping your children navigate their energetic awareness.

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**Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is educational in nature and does not constitute licensed mental health advice. If you need such advice, you should speak with a licensed professional about your unique situation. Thanks so much happy listeners.

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Lingenfelter (00:00):
But we can teach our kids these pieces
right.
We can teach our kids to findthe tools for knowing
energetically where we're at.
We can teach our kids the toolsfor understanding.
When we have enough capacity toconnect with people, when we
have enough heart, when ourenergy is full and we are ready

(00:23):
to connect with other people, wecan teach our kids we model
everything as energy we model.
Learn to feel our own energy,learn to flow with our energy.
Okay, that's a huge piece ofspiritual parenting and a huge
piece of raising a spiritualfamily.
Hi, conscious Parents, it'sKeri here and I am here with a

(00:44):
little info about raising ourspiritual family.
Hi, conscious Parents, it'sKeri here, and I am here with a
little info about raising ourmindful kids.
I've got some tips and tricksabout breaking free of the box
and becoming who you are andteaching your kids how to do
that along the way.
Join us.
Hi Spiritual Parents, welcomeback.
I'm so excited you're heretoday.
We're going to have a littlemini episode and we're going to
be talking about kids feelingenergy before they can even name

(01:07):
it or understand it with words.
I'm going to start right offwith a story about what happened
to us recently.
Yesterday my kiddos and I wewere going to go to a concert a
little outdoor band with ourwhole family and as we were
getting ready to go my son waslike I can't go to this.
My heart really hurts.

(01:27):
I remember going to these inthe past with my friends and I
don't have those same group offriends since we changed schools
and now everything feelsdifferent and I just don't feel
good about this and it breaks myheart because I miss what we
used to have.
And it was interesting becauseI had a moment where I pulled my
husband aside and I said I havethese exact emotions Like he is

(01:49):
.
Is he reflecting exactly whatI'm feeling in my heart right
now?
And I was pushing myself to gobecause I thought the kids were
happy and doing good with it andit was so interesting.
My husband was like no, thistime he's actually feeling it
himself because he's describedspecific scenarios.
He's named specific pieces andfriends and things in that

(02:10):
scenario.
But there have been other timeswhere he has picked up and
reflected my direct emotions.
So it's really interesting inthose moments to really tune in
and say is this my emotion he'sfeeling?
Is he reflecting me, carrie, oris he my son saying his own
energy and his own emotions,because they can pick up that

(02:31):
energy and they may notunderstand it.
They may not know that it's nottheir emotions, it's somebody
else's emotions.
So, when we're looking at this,one thing that somebody
recently taught me and I lovethis for my kids and I do it for
myself now too, it's reallypowerful is I am teaching my
kids is that your energy orsomeone else's?

(02:52):
Are those your feelings orsomeone else's?
So there'll be a moment likeyesterday I could have said to
my son is that your energy?
Is that your feelings, or doesit feel like this is coming from
mom?
Because I'm having those samefeelings right now.
Dude, who do you think?
Where do you think that'scoming from?
Let's feel in our heart.
Let's sit with our hand on ourheart for a minute, close our

(03:16):
eyes and think inside.
Does this feel like me or isthis somebody else's emotions?
It sounds a little wonky, right, but I will tell you.
I once was in a setting and Iwas doing a presentation and it
was really interesting because Iopened the door and I asked for
reflection back from the groupand somebody said something that

(03:38):
did not feel positive.
And it was really interestingbecause in that moment I felt in
my heart, okay, the thing thatperson said.
It really hit me at first right, because I'm a highly sensitive
person.
And then, later on, when it wasquiet and everybody was gone
and I was reflecting back oneverything, I sat there and I
said this isn't my energy.
I feel it in my heart.

(04:00):
This person that said thisthing it's something that
they're feeling in their lifeand they brought in here.
Maybe they felt a little bitabout it with me and the
scenario and everything but theenergy that I felt that I got
hit with this wave of energy asa really sensitive person.
That wasn't.
That wasn't how that feeling,how that person was feeling

(04:21):
about me as I took it on oh myGod, she hates me.
Oh my God, she feels like mywhole situation was enough.
Really, it was that that personwas feeling like they were not
enough in that moment and I tookthat on as I'm not enough.
I suddenly picked up theirexact emotions I am not enough.
And then I sent that personlove, because anytime somebody

(04:42):
is feeling like not enough, Iwant to send you all the love
because you are enough, you wereborn enough and the universe
isn't going to send you thingsthat you can't handle.
It's sending you what you canhandle.
So back to what we're talkingabout, with kids feeling energy
and not being able to express itin words.
One thing I would love for youguys to think about is I have

(05:07):
always been told by peopleyou're magical.
People are drawn to you and youguys it's really nuts because I
was telling my husband lately Igo to different things and all
of a sudden I feel like peopleare popping out from the corners
like hey, carrie, carrie,you're here.
Oh, carrie, I wanted to talk toyou about this one thing, and
there was a point in my lifewhere I had a large group of

(05:30):
friends and it all just implodedand everything changed.
And I changed to the spiritualperson.
I changed my conscious level,everything changed in my life
and I changed my kids' schools,everything went nuts in our
lives and I just kind of liketook a break.
I wasn't looking to gainfriendships, I was just looking
to heal myself, heal my kids,heal my partner and we.

(05:54):
We turned within for us, weturned into our family, we
turned into our spirituality, weturned into our self-growth.
And then, all of a sudden, Istarted to go back into the
world and I opened my heartagain.
I'm ready to start talking topeople, I'm ready to start
meeting people.
And it was nuts because as soonas I put that energy into the

(06:16):
world, like, okay, maybe I'llstart to talk to people, maybe
I'll start going for walks withother moms, maybe I'll start to
go to the spiritual group, maybeI'll do these things.
It just went bonkers and theywere like coming out of the
woodwork, you guys like peekingaround the corners like hey,

(06:37):
carrie, I'm like whoa, ok, sothink about that energy.
Huh, if I had this closed offenergy during my transitions and
during all these spiritualawakening pieces that I was
going through in my heart, whereeverything that was cut and I
was like, nope, I had this Xacross my heart.
I don't have energy foranything else.
I'm looking inward right nowand then, all of a sudden,
everything healed and I startedto blossom into myself again.

(06:58):
Think of that energy that I'mputting out, that people are now
feeling like they're drawn toit and yet also, I'm putting out
this healing energy of I wantto connect with other parents, I
want to help other parentsgoing through this raising
neurodiverse kids and having allthese labels and all these
things that everybody tells uswe need to do.
Okay, sorry, that's anothersoapbox, right?

(07:18):
But as I'm putting out thisenergy of I want to connect with
other people, they're pickingit up, they cannot name it, but
they are feeling it and they'recoming in like magnets.
So then also, I'm gonna watchmy energy.
I'm gonna have to learn to drawboundaries here and there as
people are flooding in thefloodgates like okay, yes, yes,
I do want to help you, I do wantto connect, but I have to do it

(07:40):
in my own time.
I have to do it when I amenergetically capable, when my
bucket is not completely full ofdemands.
I'm going to do it when I amenergetically capable when my
bucket is not completely full ofdemands.
I'm going to do it in a healthyversion, which I did not learn
until I was 41 years old.
Guys doing this in a healthyversion.
But we can teach our kids thesepieces right.
We can teach our kids to findthe tools for knowing

(08:04):
energetically where we're at.
We can teach our kids the toolsfor understanding when we have
enough capacity to connect withpeople, when we have enough
heart, when our energy is fulland we are ready to connect with
other people.
We can teach our kids.
We model everything as energy.

(08:25):
We model, learn to feel our ownenergy, learn to flow with our
energy.
Okay, that's a huge piece ofspiritual parenting and a huge
piece of raising a spiritualfamily.
So also, it's interesting.
I love to teach my kids.
Sometimes you feel like there'sa connection with somebody in

(08:45):
your life and you don't know whyyou're just connected to them.
That's how I was when I firstmet my husband.
We were like this magnetic pulltoward each other and I was
like, whoa, that's too intense,and so my brain would shut it
off and then my heart would pullit back in.
It's really crazy.
So I love to teach my kidsabout feeling these things in
our hearts.
I feel like I'm going to have afriendship with this person and

(09:06):
here's why.
Well, maybe I don't know why,maybe I just feel like I'm meant
to have a friendship with thatperson.
So teaching them about thatconnection and what they can
look like is teaching our kidsabout mind-body-spirit
connection, right, Teaching ourkids how to tune in.
And there's so much learningfor us as adults.
Even when we're 41 years old,we're still learning all these

(09:26):
things.
So an activity that you could dowith your kids would be when
you're painting.
You could do like a watercolor.
I love watercolor because Ifeel like all the colors flow
and blend and it's not asstructured as finger paints or
such or other types of medias.
So what I would do is, if I waspainting with my kids, I would
say let's close our eyes, let'syou could even put your hand

(09:50):
over the paints and say whatcolor does my hand feel drawn
toward, what color does my heartwant me to use?
And your hand is drawn towardthe purple.
So I would model it for my kids.
Mom's gonna paint too.
Get in there, paint with them.
Guys, I'm gonna paint too.
I'm drawn toward the purple, oh, but you know what?
My heart doesn't want darkpurple.

(10:10):
My heart wants light purple.
I'm gonna get some water'mgoing to get some water.
I'm going to get some water inthere.
I'm going to make a lightviolet color.
Ooh, I'm spreading it around.
Light violet makes me feellight and airy and flowy.
I feel bright and patient rightnow in my heart and really
talking about what you're drawnto with your heart, connecting

(10:34):
with your mind and your body andyour spirit.
That is so important.
Can you imagine where theseguys are going to be when
they're 41 if we're teachingthem this right now at 7 and 10?
I'm doing it with my 7 and 10year olds guys and you can do it
in any activity.
If you're outside doing chalk,you can do it.
If you're outside playing waterballoons, you could do it.
Which balloon color am I drawnto?

(10:55):
Ooh, I want the big one,because my heart is feeling full
of water.
You can model all of thesepieces.
So let's give our kids the toolsto name it right, to name that
energy, to name that mind, body,spirit connection.
As always, I love anaffirmation and a prayer to help
us through any challenges thatwe're going through, because

(11:17):
maybe you're like overwhelmed inall of this, carrie, this is a
lot.
I'm working on this, but geez,louise, you gave me 85 stories
and a tool and I'm feelingoverwhelmed.
So let's end with a affirmationand prayer.
So I'm gonna put my hand overmy heart and I'm going to say
thank you, universe, for helpingme to connect to myself, to

(11:40):
understand my energy levels, tounderstand my energy capacities.
Thank you for helping me toconnect with the universe so
that I can understand my mind,body, spirit connection.
Thank you for helping me tohave the tools to feel energy,
understand energy and to name it.
Thank you for helping me tounderstand how to feel and flow

(12:04):
with energy, because energy iseverything and so it is, as
always.
Thanks so much for tuning in anddon't forget to check out our
new Woo quiz.
It's really fun.
Thanks so much, happy listeners.
Well, that's a wrap.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Changemakers.
This is Keri, and if youhaven't done a review for us
five stars and a little fewwords about what you've enjoyed

(12:26):
in our podcast episodes we wouldreally appreciate it.
If you guys would like to evermessage me, I would love any
questions you have or anyfeedback at info at
hearttoheartlifecom.
We also have a brand newwebsite which we're super
excited to share.
It's hearttoheartlifecom.
Thanks so much for tuning inand happy life, happy times,

(12:48):
changemaker families.
Bye.