A woman ahead of her time
Dr. Alice Miller was a pioneer in how we think about parenting and the harmful impact of spanking, physical abuse, and aggression perpetrated against children.
Today’s show discusses the ideas in her book The Drama of the Gifted Child.
A gifted child in this teaching doesn’t mean what most of us would define it as. Dr. Miller sees it as the ability to survive a childhood where the child is emotionally neglected and physically abused in a society that purports this as normal behavior.
She challenged the norms of the day, and her work is still doing that even though she has passed on. She saw children as sovereign beings who had thoughts and feelings that must be cared for, not suppressed, to meet the needs of the parents.
For centuries, children have been treated as the property of their parents and meant to obey their every command regardless of the cost to the child. This is finally beginning to change, but we are swinging further in the opposite direction, a topic for another time.
Through her work, I was able to finally accept my inner self and feelings for all that they were. All the hurt, pain, and anger I’ve been internalizing for years was brought to the surface and allowed to heal. The mere recognition of our feelings and acceptance of their totality is a robust cathartic growth process.
Additional Show Information
Sorry for the mediocre sound quality with background noises and underlying sounds throughout, working on cleaning this up for future episodes.
New episodes will be released weekly at 11 am EST on Thursdays.
Looking for some help? Check out my Transformational Coaching site here - brandonleeward.com.
The podcast cover was designed by Camilla Simoncini - www.camillasimoncini.net.
Please consider sharing, subscribing, and rating on your favorite podcast platform if you enjoyed the show.
Until next time, y’all!
The Drama of the Gifted Child | Ep. 5