“Mom, I just don’t want to do it” he said through tears.

“Baby, you don’t have to do it” I responded.

“I don’t even want to be there. If I go, then I either need to tell everyone why I am not doing it or I need to lie and I don’t want to lie and I am too embarrassed to tell everyone why I don’t want to do it” he said trying to control his sobs. 

“Baby, you do not have to go. You can stay right here with me.”

An important part of parenting for me is to teach my children how to listen to their inner voice rather than listening to what society and other people want from/of them. In this situation, we had already told the person who we needed to tell that he would not be attending and why, and then she had gently pressured him into saying yes again despite the fact that he desperately didn’t want to and his inner voice was screaming no. It was an opportunity to demonstrate what listening to his inner voice looked like. Unfortunately, our culture has taught us to override our inner voice and as such we have many people who don’t know how to respect other people's boundaries and respect their inner voice. 

We went on to have multiple conversations over the next couple of days about the importance of listening to your inner voice and how impressed I was that he was able to listen to his inner voice, even when it put him in an uncomfortable position. We spoke about how our inner voice guides us on our path and that when we override the inner voice it means that we are not listening to the deepest part of us talking and guiding us. 

I have a business that is largely built on teaching people how to listen to their authenticity, uniqueness, and inner voice and allow it to guide them. Teaching my children to listen to themselves over what society and others are pressuring them to do/be is one of my largest priorities.