Focusing with Children – Back to What You Deeply Know
René Veugelers
Wouldn’t it be 
great to transfer your inner knowledge and life experience to children and provide them with skills that support their unique way of being with themselves and being with their emotions? Working and being with children of any age means experiencing and contacting the vitality in ourselves as we connect with a child’s story and deeper needs.
What draws you to Focusing with children?
René: Anyone living close to the energy of a child knows there are profound life skills that adults can nurture in children that empower them to grow up, more open to the guidance of their felt senses. As more adults come to understand the advantages this can bring to themselves and the children in their lives, this “self-empowerment” of children will spread. We can help children have the intrinsic motivation and support they need to bring something new into the world.
What is the key to this kind of Focusing?
René: In essence, as a guide I am mostly with my own Felt Sensing, checking how and when to respond and when not to intervene. Part of the essence of Children Focusing is that the child can make and hold connections with their implicit knowing, with what can be sensed in the body, and with their Felt Sense of life experiences. Sometimes this is implicit, just waiting for the right moment of attention and sometimes it needs a bit more exploration.
What are the benefits of Children Focusing?
René: Children have a better sense of who they are and manage to communicate better with other children and adults about their feelings, choices and underlying needs. They are better able to protect themselves against the influences of the outside world and also develop a kind of inner radar for what is right/good/supported or wrong/bad for their own development. They are calmer and more able to stay in contact with their boundaries. They can develop greater inner safety and a strengthened identity, giving them a grounded presence in many different situations.