Want to know who your best NLP training partners will ever be? Your kids!
Ever since my children were born I've been introducing NLP to them. And you know what? They are amazing at it, both at responding and at using it. And they can be an astonishing source of development for your NLP skills. Here are 5 reasons for this:
1. Children are masters at creating and maintaining rapport. And because of the bond and trust that you've already developed with them, it's pretty easy to test out the patterns, especially the hypnotic ones. Also, since children are so transparent, they'll make it very clear when you've lost rapport with them and will focus you to focus even more.
2. As you're introducing NLP to them, your children will take you way beyond your comfort zone and will stretch you as far as you can go. This will stimulate your flexibility far more than if you worked with partners who don't demand as much attention from you. And as you know, one of the axioms NLP imported from cybernetics is that "the element with the greatest flexibility controls the system."
3. Children are incredibly sensory beings, respond amazingly well to commands and display exaggerated or amplified behavior. This is fantastic for the beginning student of NLP because your sensory acuity is still blooming. How will you use this? Work on introducing sub-modalities in your "child workouts" and you'll be able to observe the power of sub-modality shifts much more obviously. The shifts will be in your face.
4. Watch their eye accessing cues. Children think very loosely and integrate and overlap representational systems quickly during their processing. You'll see representational patterns showing up that you wouldn't normally observe in an adult that has processed much of his or her experience. Also, you'll find your kids introducing all sorts of fantasy elements into their visualizations. This will also make you laugh as you'll notice tons of creative patterns that we as adults have locked away and no longer access.
5. It will do them a ton of good. You probably have already figured out that introducing NLP skills into your own life has brought you personal and professional benefits. How about giving those benefits early on to your kids? You'll notice improvements in their academics, emotions, thinking, self-confidence and the way they treat and relate to others. Make NLP a part of their psychological diet.
It's good for them and it's good for you. Plus, it will bond you with your kids even more deeply.
Hi Sid,
Thanks for the comment. First of all, if you haven’t yet, go through the exercises listed in The Number 1 NLP Skill You Must Master. This will truly lay a good foundation for your NLP work.
As far as where to begin in NLP so you can hit the ground running, go through my posts in the “NLP Mindset” and “NLP Framework” categories. The site has only been up for a month so a lot more will be added in the upcoming weeks.
Then, check out my post on the Top 10 NLP Books I Recommend. Of those, you can immediately buy and read Unlimited Power and Frogs Into Princes. The former will give you NLP tools and motivate you to move forward fast. The second will expose you to the technology as it was being conceived by John Grinder and Richard Bandler.
Last but not least, I’m here for you. If you have any questions, holler!
nice pithy way to put it across. Can you suggest the best source to make a headstart in NLP so that I can hit the ground running? I have only done some sketchy reading on the net so far.
Thanks mate
for a comprehensive site
You have a lot of material but where do I start. I want to read it all up but would like to go at it in a structured way.
Does the above give away a lot about me? Do you already have a snapshot of my psyche? I would love to be able to do that someday.
And to do it with one’s kids would be especially nice as one can model complex emotional shenanigans in the comfort of one’s home!! Holy Smokes!!
Sid