Intuitive Intelligence

We have all heard the terms used to describe sensitive children. Everything from indigo, crystal, rainbow, to ADHD, autistic, or children having sensory processing issues. I felt a post on Today's Intuitive Children (a group on facebook) yesterday, was a beautiful interpretation of how we need to stay away from labels, because of the long term impact it has on our children and their self- esteem. In our book- Raising Intuitive Children, we take a different approach to describe our sensitive children by giving them knowledge of their intelligence. Something we term- Intuitive Intelligence.

In the traditional psychological model the child is described as having one of the following attributes (or a combination of such)- physical, mental, emotional, intuitive or spiritual. In our book, we pair the traditional intelligence with an intuitive intelligence. Below in the chart, you will see the description of the natural intelligence when paired with an intuitive intelligence. What this chart does and what this discovery directs us toward, is the natural/ intuitive gifts our children possess. When acknowledged by a parent or caregiver, this can guide children to know what their gifts are and trust the development of them.
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Here I will give a few examples of how you may see the natural intelligence paired together with an intuitive intelligence.

In the chart we pair the natural intelligence of being "physical" with a child's intuitive awareness of their body in relation to their space or activity, and now we give the overactive (or energetic) child who may be referred to as having ADHD, an intuitive intelligence. When we become aware of this as an intuitive gift vs. a problem, we find ways to help the child effectively manage their influx of energy. In the book, I refer to my oldest son as being a physical intuitive. He is a gifted athlete and at an early age, we taught him to channel his energy by becoming involved in sports, Tae Kwon Do, and yoga. You might also see this show up for a child in school by their lack of focus or ability to sit still; this is due to their heightened flow of energy. Encourage your child to hold onto something or give them something to squeeze during the times they need to focus the most. This will help ground them by giving them something to be aware of in relation to their body.

Next we pair the mental with creative and we have the Creative, Inspired intuitive intelligence. These are our children who exhibit strong interest in the arts. Children we might refer to as drama queens or being overly dramatic. They love the arts, music, dance, singing...etc. They often daydream, have trouble staying focused and mostly learn through experimentation. Creative intuitives need firm boundaries put in place or they are likely to run the class or household. Finding the source of their passion is a great way to channel their creative energy. If they love to dance or sing, give them their own radio; find a musical instrument they can drum away on; engage them in watching people who do the things they are interested in. There is a lot of controversy over whether children should watch T.V, but for the creative child, it sometimes gives them the ability to connect or identify with the gifts inside them.

How many times have you seen a celebrity interviewed and the one thing they attribute their success to is seeing that one star who inspired them to become an actor?

My oldest daughter is a creative intuitive. From the age of 7 months she had rhythm; something I had not seen in such a young child. She actually loved Baby Einstein, but for her she identified with the music, the movement, the rhythm. She is an avid singer, dancer, performer; all around musically inclined. Today she loves to sit down with us and watch American Idol and tells us every week- "when I get bigger I am going to be on Idol." Who knows, but what better way for her to discover her passion than to be able to identify with someone else doing it?

The key to understanding our children and their gifts is to acknowledge and become aware of their natural intelligence paired with their intuitive intelligence. As the chart demonstrates, we can pair any one of the five natural intelligences with what we have discovered today are our intuitive intelligences. All children have an intuitive knowing; its up to us as parents to help them trust and develop it. This can also take us out of the mind set of using labels- the ones that seem special like indigo, rainbow and crystal; as well as the ones that follow a child through life like ADHD, autistic and sensory integration, which can make a child feel like there is something wrong with them.


For more detailed information about the intuitive intelligences and how they impact today's sensitive children, you can purchase your copy of Raising Intuitive Children here!