Intuitive parenting

‘Intuitive parenting’ blog article was written by Pat Jewell, Program Manager, Parenting and Early Years Program at Australian Childhood Foundation.

For generations, parents have used intuition in parenting their children.

Parents have described intuition as trusting their “gut feeling” and “unconscious/instinctive beliefs”. Parents acknowledge that intuition can guide good decisions and support decisions made in relation to their parenting. In contrast, the idea of intuition has been dismissed by academics as a “flight of fantasy” with no scientific basis.  

A study undertaken by The University of NSW School of Psychology in 2016 found intuition to be “an inbuilt function of the brain that can be tested scientifically”.

Professor Joel Pearson has discovered that intuition can be studied and measured. This early study and others that have followed now define intuition as “the learned use of unconscious information to improve decisions or actions”, supporting what parents have known for generations and what continues to guide our work in the Parenting and Early Years program. 

In our work with early childhood educators, who are often in a parenting role as they care for young children affected by trauma, we encourage them to use their intuition and to trust their gut feelings when providing the best support they can for the child.

We refer to using intuitive, supportive and therapeutic responses to a child’s behaviour in the moment. This enables the relationship between the child and educator to stay intact. Lisa Dion described this work as a right brain activity, i.e., using intuition, which is then supported by a check-up from the left side of the brain. 

As a reflective, respectful, and nurturing program, our Bringing Up Great Kids (BUGK) program supports parents and carers in identifying and strengthening their intuition when making parenting decisions.

Through a reflective lens, we ask parents/carers to use their ‘internal perceptions’ and ask: 

• What do you want? 
• What feels right for you? 
• What supports your relationship with your child? 

BUGK supports parents/carers in spending some time in a mindful, reflective practice that allows silence and being present in the moment in an active listening state.

In this state it is easier to be able to hear what their intuition may be telling them.  

Learn more about the Bringing Up Great Kids (BUGK) Program

Bringing Up Great Kids (BUGK) is an integrated suite of activities and tools that are unique and offer all parents and carers a fresh way to understand and enact relationships with their children. It focuses on building positive and nurturing relationships between parents and their children, while also aiming to support parents to review and enhance their patterns of communication with their children to promote more respectful interactions and encourage the development of children’s positive self-identity.