My EPIC EMPATH...

Empath children are highly influenced by the energy of the household, including the energy of you as a parent. This means that your child will be perceptive of your moods and will feel everything that you feel, regardless of whether you want them to or not.” ― Mateo Sol

A little while ago, I had a conversation with another mom. She had approached me to ask for a little bit of advice regarding her son. Initially I wasn’t really sure that I would be able to offer much in terms of advice or solution as I am no parenting expert, but I was willing to try nonetheless…

Now, let it be said that I do not know this lady personally - only online... and all that we know of each other is what is shared on one another’s blog feeds… So I was genuinely amazed how, out of the many people that she could have chosen to approach, she very intuitively chose me (whether she realised that or not).
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I say this because as she began to express her specific concerns about her little boy, I realised that he is incredibly similar to mine. We are both mothers to only children and both are little boys. My son, Jude – is eight years old and hers is four. She began to explain to me that her little boy is displaying signs of being an empath and she voiced her worries that this may affect him in a negative manner socially.

​I really was blown away by what she described to me and then knew exactly why she had headed in my direction. Reading the things she described, was like taking me back in time to when Jude was younger… so I felt that I could definitely offer a little bit of reassurance and advice, considering that Jude is four years older than her little boy. We didn’t talk too much about it and I left wondering if I had given her the reassurance she as after… so I thought perhaps I would write this post instead and then share it with her.
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I am an empath and so is Jude, but being one myself has not always helped me along the journey of parenting one. From a tiny little boy, Jude has always been very unique and his social behaviour used to concern me greatly too. I was never sure whether to leave it as is or to try and enforce what are considered social norms. I am ever grateful that I chose the former and allowed my son to blossom into whoever was mean to be.

​To everyone else reading this, if you are unsure about what an empath is, this article HERE gives fantastic insight into the traits of such individuals. But as a brief overview, an empath is a person who is energetically and emotionally influenced by other people and/or circumstance. They have a heightened intuitive sense and are exceptionally receptive to energies and emotions…. They literally FEEL everything!
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Whilst I consider this a gift as I have learnt to understand it, it has not always been this way for me, and sometimes it can be very difficult walking around with a rock in your stomach, having no idea where it came from, who it belongs to or why it is there. Being so highly connected to other people’s energies and emotional states has great advantages, but also presents several challenges.

Jude is an incredibly perceptive little boy and has always displayed traits which really do set him apart from other boys and girls his age… and anybody that knows him will testify to this, I am not just being bias because I am his mother haha! He is wise beyond his years and so emotionally and mentally advanced it is insane. Carrying this gift however, makes a person “different” and sometimes, being different isn’t always very well received by others.

When we would go out, Jude would never want to play with other children. He would always stay with us at the table (or wherever we were) and would play quietly by himself with his toys. He would watch the other children, but would never join them. In fact the only time he would ever go and enjoy the play gym’s etc. was if there were absolutely NO other kids there, which as you can imagine, didn’t happen very often. And if he was playing and another child arrived, he would study them for a moment and would then leave and come back to us.

​As a mother, this used to concern me greatly because I wanted him to socially engage with other children – and for quite some time, I did try and persist with the issue, but it used to upset him greatly, so I eventually decided to leave it alone and trust that he knew what was best for him in that situation.
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I can recall, how as little as he was, if he watched something on television that made him unhappy, uncomfortable or uneasy, he would always immediately tell me ”mommy, I don’t want to watch this anymore, it is making my heart sore.” Coming from such a tiny little tot, I always loved how he had the maturity to identify what was good soul food for him and what wasn’t.

As a mother, this used to concern me greatly because I wanted him to socially engage with other children – and for quite some time, I did try and persist with the issue, but it used to upset him greatly, so I eventually decided to leave it alone and trust that he knew what was best for him in that situation.
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I can recall, how as little as he was, if he watched something on television that made him unhappy, uncomfortable or uneasy, he would always immediately tell me ”mommy, I don’t want to watch this anymore, it is making my heart sore.” Coming from such a tiny little tot, I always loved how he had the maturity to identify what was good soul food for him and what wasn’t.

​Once, when having trouble with him eating his food, he got a lecture from me about all the starving children in this world. I got a little carried away and actually showed him photos of what starving children looked like. Well, the tactic may have worked in terms of eating issues, but let me tell you – I felt like the worst mother on planet earth, as he completely broke down into tears when he saw those photos. It literally broke his little heart to see that and it has affected him to this day. If anyone mentions starving children, or street children he gets highly emotional and upset about it.
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I can remember how hard it was for me to understand such overwhelming emotion as a child, so I can imagine how challenging it is for their little minds and hearts to process it too…

​But my point in writing this article was to offer peace of mind to other moms that may be sitting in similar situations with their children and are concerned about it.

Yes, Jude is definitely different to other children – that is his GIFT! I have allowed him to grow into his OWN person and now he is absolutely flourishing. As I said in the conversation I had… where he used to avoid playing with other children… nowadays, when he is finished his homework, he cannot get out of the door fast enough to go and play with whoever he can find!

​As he has gotten older, he is learning to process emotions better and is also better equipped to handle them. I know that I can say for myself… I would never want to lose the gift I have been granted of being an empath. It has made my journey so far in life an incredibly interesting rollercoaster ride haha – but one that has taught me so many valuable lessons.
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Being in the position of heightened perception grants you so many truly unique and wonderfully valuable attributes as an individual and as my little boy grows older and I see what an absolutely precious and beautiful soul he has, I am reminded of how lucky he is to have such a gift and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to hold his hand as he walks the journey of life.

​He is an absolutely phenomenal little man and I know he will do great things with his life… he already is! Any fears and worries that I had about him back then, have all evaporated into thin air! I am blessed with a truly magnificent little boy and I am very thankful that he is able to connect to people and things in such a heightened and intuitive manner. It is precisely that which makes him so precious.