How to Nurture a Child Who Has an Old Soul

Children with old soul often struggle with understanding their uniqueness. Learn how to help young old souls.

Only a handful of old souls are aware of their unique gifts — of naturally abundant empathy, curiosity, mature and philosophical thought process, and the ability to move to higher states of their consciousness.

Many consciously realize that they are different later in life and, at times, only through or during introspective self-reflection.

This is because their inner voice was inadvertently suppressed by people around them, who have failed to recognize their uniqueness and, consequently, failed to help them nurture and enhance their gifts.

If someone is an old soul, or close to becoming an old soul, then their transformation is mostly reflected during their childhood years when they are one with their inner child, and easily listen, converse with, and respond to their intuition.

As a result, their actions are mostly guided by their heart’s voice.

As a guardian and parent, you have to be careful to assist your child in remaining true to their inner child, and not suppress their inner voice.

How Can You Know If Your Child is an Old Soul?

Children who are old souls demonstrate various abilities of mature old souls. However, because they may lack the ability to rationalize or communicate why they are feeling, reacting, and behaving the way they are, they often become confused and may struggle.

Below are two common habits/behavior patterns they demonstrate, and how you can aid them overcome them.

#1 Making friends may be difficult to some

If your child is having trouble making friends because he/she is “too serious and boring”, then it is a signal that he/she might be mature beyond their age group.

Talk to their friends to understand why they think your child may be boring. If you find that your child avoids meanness, rude jokes, hurting animals, and enjoys spending idle time with friends (which includes simply sitting with them) then these are signs that your child is likely an old soul.

Spend time with your children, let them talk, listen to them, and try to understand their thought process. Ask them about their friends, looking for expressions that they might be hurt, confused, or don’t “get” other children.

Inform them that they are mature (avoid the word “different”), and that its nothing to be worried about. Link it to how being active and playful actually helps their spirit so that your child does not isolate him/herself to deal with the pressure.

Follow this by finding things they enjoy and which they can do combined with other children (e.g. games where they can easily contribute, such as storytelling or various plays). If they are comfortable talking to adults/elders, spend more time with them and create room and introduce them during family get together.

#2 You find them alone often

Sitting idle, in quite places or taking a stroll or long walks are universally liked to old souls because it gives them room to be with themselves.

If you have found your child happily wandering on his/her own, or spending time with themselves, and avoiding extended time with crowds and people, then it is a sign that he/she is an old soul.

Additionally:

• If you find that your child wants to be in popular circles of their peers but finds that they “don’t fit in” or “didn’t like what they found/felt over there”
• Furthermore, if their “loneliness” is a result of their curiosity — young old souls are prone to consistently asking a lot of questions and hence spend time alone with themselves and their thoughts — then it is also a sign that they are old souls.

HOWEVER, there is another side that you must remain aware of: children old souls often feel lonely because they think people find it hard to understand them.

After all, they’re only children struggling to understand something that is making them stand out, and away from others their age.

This normally happens because they try to communicate, talk about, or want to talk about things that come intuitively to them. This includes hard questions about life and actions/behaviors of people around them (especially elders).

You can overcome this by giving them more space to express themselves. If they are doing well in class, you can also consult their school to see if they can prepare for tests and be moved to higher levels.