Dr Maxine Thérèse
Every child enters the world whole, carrying within them innate wisdom, resilience and potential. They are not empty vessels to be filled, but living beings to be met – seen, honoured and nurtured for who they already are.
Yet, meeting our children in this way can feel profoundly challenging. Many of us carry the echoes of our own childhood – moments of pain, disconnection or unmet needs. These old stories often resurface in our parenting, subtly shaping our responses in times of stress, joy or tenderness. As Llyod deMause noted, parents naturally regress as the child grows, revisiting developmental stages and past wounds, often without realising it.
In today’s world, this challenge is amplified by information overload. Social media, blogs and parenting ‘experts’ bombard us with advice. There’s no shortage of guidance on what not to do – don’t yell, don’t overreact, don’t project your fears – but far less guidance on what to do. How do we truly meet our child with presence when our own inner child is whispering for attention, reassurance and healing?
Over more than 25 years, my work has been guided by a single, living question – who is the child as a soul? Through this inquiry, the Childosophy® model was born: a map of the child that reminds us that every act of parenting begins within. Soul-led parenting is, at its heart, self-awareness in action. When we pause, breathe and tend to the stories that live within us, we make space to see our children not through the filter of our wounds, but through the clarity of their true being.
Childosophy offers a way to meet both our own and our children’s foundational needs: safety, emotional understanding, autonomy, connection, recognition and creative expression. When we consciously attune to these needs, we begin to move beyond reaction. We learn to respond rather than control, to guide rather than fix, to nurture without overlaying our own unhealed patterns upon the child before us.
Parenting then becomes a sacred partnership in growth:
- For the child, it offers the steady ground from which to explore the world – to take risks, to wonder, to become – while knowing they are deeply seen and valued.
- For the parent, it becomes a mirror for self-discovery – illuminating the hidden corners of our own inner child, and revealing pathways for healing and evolution.
Our children are souls with their own journeys that may look different to ours, yet always interwoven in love. Our role is not to mould them, but to meet them: to honour their individuality while nurturing the threads that connect us.
- Parenting is not about perfection – it’s about presence.
- It’s not about control – it’s about connection.
- It’s not about fixing our children – it’s about remembering, together, who we truly are.
When we meet the child within, both theirs and ours, we open a doorway to something profoundly human and deeply sacred. It is here, in this shared space of awareness and love, that the journey of parenting transforms into a path of healing, freedom and authentic becoming.
Dr. Maxine Thèrèse, the founder of Childosophy, is a leading expert in children’s wellbeing, renowned for her holistic approach to childhood development that integrates psychology, family systems theory, chakra theory, neuroscience and epigenetics. With a degree in psychology, an honours degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. introducing a groundbreaking developmental model based on the Indian chakra system, Maxine brings a revolutionary perspective to understanding the inner world of the child. You can follow Childosophy on Facebook and Instagram.
