La rivoluzione della tenerezza

Gentle guidance is not about always being perfect, nor is it about always being compliant: it is about presenting ourselves to our children with honesty and respect for their integrity, it is about choosing to know how to be rather than how to do, about venturing into the stormy sea of emotions and crossing it, together with them, with empathy, and using these emotions as a guide to understand and reconcile the needs of all. Confirming the child in his feelings and sensations, accepting his perception even when it does not match ours, helping him to broaden his view of things and include the broader view of society, is the way to grow up whole individuals, capable of critically evaluating what life offers them, and therefore able to express their full potential. Beyond the false choice between authoritarianism and laxity, in the education of children there is a third way, that of kindness, which Antonella Sagone presents in her book La rivoluzione della tenerezza. Through affectionate presence, listening to their feelings and needs, and honest and respectful dialogue, adults can, without renouncing their role of guide, accompany children to become whole individuals capable of empathy, with a secure emotional base and the ability to connect with others and with the environment around them, changing the world for the better.