Becoming the Parent You Always Needed
Healing begins when we learn to give ourselves the care we didn’t receive. This post explores the foundations of self-reparenting for sensitive adults, offering practical tools to create internal safety, emotional validation, and self-trust.
RE-PARENTING FOR SENSITIVE ADULTS
Jessica Hicks, NP
6/3/2025
Becoming the Parent You Needed: Reclaiming Voice, Choice, and Safety
Your child needs safety—but so do you. It’s not too late to create it.
By Jessica Hicks, Truth Love and Connection
As a sensitive child, you may have learned early that certain parts of you weren’t welcome. Maybe your sensitivity was seen as a weakness, your fear as overreaction, your boundaries as defiance. You learned to keep the peace, be pleasing, and stay small.
Now you’re a parent.
And the patterns are showing up again—not because you’re failing, but because you're ready to break them.
Your child may resist being rushed. They may panic at separation. They may melt down when they feel misunderstood. And while you’re working so hard to meet their needs, something inside you may whisper: No one ever did this for me.
That’s the voice of your inner child—still waiting for someone to notice.
Still waiting to feel safe.
You can become the parent you needed.
Not just for your child, but for yourself.
That might mean:
Setting boundaries you were never taught to set
Speaking gently to yourself after you lose your temper
Allowing yourself to pause, slow down, and not be perfect
When your child asks for safety, ask where you can offer the same to yourself.
When they need freedom to feel, ask where you still shut your own feelings down.
Your healing isn’t separate from your parenting—it’s interwoven.
And the beauty is this: every repair you make in yourself becomes a refuge for your child.
This is the real work. The sacred work.
And you’re not alone in it.
Gentle Reminder:
Becoming a cycle breaker is courageous—but it’s not meant to be done in isolation.
Reach out. Rest. Reparent. Return to connection. Again and again.
What if parenting your child is also an invitation to re-parent yourself?
If you’re on a healing path, our immersion-style guided meditations and self-reflection tools offer powerful support. And our Navigating Sensitivity Program will walk you through the deeper process of reconnecting with your truth, your needs, and your nervous system—all at your own pace.