What gifts will your children receive during the holidays? If they include insight into their well-being, then Santa Claus has been looking out for them.

But the elusive Saint Nick doesn't hang out with your children every day like you do. It's up to you to nurture your children's abilities and help them make more than their Christmas wishes come true.

As my book Nurture Your Child's Gift states, "Our children's dreams are wrapped like gifts in their unconscious, waiting for parents to open them. Gifts can appear at any age, and we watch for clues in our children's interests, imagination, intuition, temperament, and intelligence."

By nurturing their dreams, you're giving your kids direction, hope, and a purpose to adhere to throughout life's challenges. Children who have dreams become adults with defined values. More than that, they contribute to their communities and learn to cultivate an inner peace.

For children of any age, dreams usually emerge at the level of "knowing" or "feeling." They are not always logical or easily explained. This is why you need to notice your child's behaviors, interests, and communication ... both verbal and nonverbal. These provide clues to such eternal questions as "Who am I?" and "What should I do with my life?"

Sarah's Story

Here's how Sarah's dreams affected her and how her mother supported her through a traumatic time. Sarah's summer visits to her mother's seaside home were normally fun and relaxing. But the year she was 14, Sarah acted sullen and angry. She seemed oblivious to her behavior that alienated her mother and others. Like a swelling stream, something in her unconscious mind was taking over.

Her anger drove Sarah outside one hot, humid night. She screamed at the universe, "Why am I here? Who cares?" After a bout of weeping, she went inside and fell asleep. Sometime in the night, she dreamed her "dolphin dream" that went like this:

"I was just five years old and I was standing on a pier in a grassy setting. I looked down at the water, which was aqua-colored, translucent, and still. I could see movement underneath and recognized dolphins playing. They jumped around and called to me as if to say, 'Come play with us.'"

Sarah's fears came up like a flood. She knew her mom would get mad if she went swimming without an adult nearby. But in her dream, she got into the water and hooked her arm around the dorsal fin of a dolphin that guided her away from the shore. Her fears increased as they kept going deeper toward the ocean.

"I couldn't breathe. I felt lost. Yet there was calmness. An inner voice said, 'Just breathe.' So I did, and then felt everything was all right, that I could trust the dolphin.

"We swam down where the water became darker, then resurfaced in a small pool where the water was thick and gooey like Jell-O. It seemed like a mystical place where my play with the dolphins never ended…a familiar feeling of coming home and feeling safe, peaceful."

Feeling Safe

"Getting to a safe place inside" - a place that feels at home - best sums up the potential dream inside every child. Sarah's dream invited her to set a life direction. As a result, she felt a flood of inspiration and enthusiastically filled sketchpads with dolphin shapes and poetry. She says, "Each journey I took inside myself reinforced a feeling of glee and compelled me to write and draw."

Another parent might have labeled Sarah's fascination with dolphins as "overactive imagination." But this mother recognized her daughter had discovered an inner anchor that generated creativity, artistic expression, and peace. Sarah says, "Through the years, the dolphin connection manifested as a great love for the species. I wanted to help people understand the complexity of their nature. My dream inspired me to join a swim team so I could glide through the water like a dolphin. I also got involved in activism against fisheries that catch dolphins. I felt part of a movement that could make a difference. It empowered me."

Sarah went on to study dolphins in a master's program and found ways to manifest her dream throughout her life.

Dreams Bring Gifts

Perhaps today more than ever, too many children and youth feel alienated and alone. They lack vision and hope, just as Sarah did at age 14. Maybe it's due to societal interdependence taxing their energies, depleting their resources, and defraying their spiritual development. Regardless of the source, their feelings of alienation are real.

But solutions abound. Just as Santa Claus brings gifts to children, so do dreams bring gifts. For some kids, their dreams may hover out of reach, waiting for discovery and encouragement. It's through encouragement that you, a caring parent, can give your greatest gift.

Nurture your child's dream today.

Copyright © 2002 Caron B. Goode. All rights reserved.