I met an eight-year old girl named Robin.  She could see spirits, talk to animals, notice medical issues within other beings bodies and had an all around sensitivity to the other world.  Her mother brought her to me because she felt like it would be good for Robin to meet someone grown who has the same sensitivities or gifts (give or take a few) as Robin.  What I expected on our meeting was much different then what actually unfolded.  I expected to spend an hour talking to my animals and laughing about what they had to say.  But instead Robin talked about a girl spirit her own age that pretended to be her friend and then turned out to be a scary bother.  This happens to many gifted children.  I have experienced something similar in my adult years.  I know it can be tiresome and stressful trying to convey to the spirit that you want to be left alone.  Robin talked about seeing illnesses in animals’ and humans’ bodies and easily picked out where Stormy, my Aussies, hips are hurting him.  She instinctually placed her hand on his hips as if she unknowingly was trying to heal him.

I asked Robin to look at a picture of my grandpa’s dog who is missing to see if she could pick something up on where Darby is located.  This I regret whole-heartedly.  It is not age appropriate.  Robin looked at the picture and expressed that Darby, the dog, was in a pickup truck at a gas station with a man with a gun. The man was telling Darby to stop yapping or he would kill her. This did not ring true on many levels.  Darby is lost in a wealthy suburb of NY City. She is also debarked and is not one to make a sound when stressed.  On the way to my house Robin and her mother saw an accident where a pickup truck had just been victim to a fire.  Robin’s psyche could have been picking up something from that accident or she could just be a child with a very active imagination who, as most children are, exposed to way too much violence.  Robin also talked about wondering if a bad spirit is tricking her because she is hearing her stuff animals talk and that she sees a black dog spirit with white paws that she is not sure is a friend or not.

Robin’s mother is doing her best to nurture Robin’s gifts, to expose her to grownups that have the same abilities as Robin, and to psychically protect Robin from the darkness that can pray on ones with psychic abilities.  She is trying her best to be a good supportive mom.  She has expressed that Robin is feeling separate from the other children like she perhaps is out-growing them.

When they left I felt a bit disturbed and frightened for Robin.  I thought about my childhood and how I had many of the same abilities. I feel ignorance was bliss.  When I saw a bad spirit I had no one to dissect the experience with therefore I was forced to let it go.  I thought my stuffed animals talked too.  This was wonderful playtime for me.  Maybe it was spirits, fairies or just my imagination. I believe talking to dolls and stuffed animals is normal for eight years olds and can be an important tool for children to work out internal issues.  My mother is psychoanalysis.  I know she would say that the black dog with white paws is a part of Robin’s psyche.  There is a part that is fun that she can play with and then there is the other part that she feels might be tricking her.

In my opinion, Robin is way to young to be exploring her gifts in the way that her mother would like her too.  She doesn’t have enough experiences to know herself well enough to distinguish what is coming from her imagination and what are real psychic facts.  That comes with years of experiences and self-growth.  Her exploration, in my opinion, is teenage activity.  I once saw a program on genius kids.  The experts where saying to the parents not to push the kids too hard. Be patient and watch.  The child will instinctually gravitate to their most profound abilities.  I feel it is the same with psychic children.  Yes, I believe Robin is gifted but I also think that it is mistake for both Robin and her mother to think that she is different than most children her age.  There are many psychic children out there.  The difference is Robin’s mom notices and wants to nurture it.  Trying to do so intensely, I believe and I am not a child psychologist, could lead to mental illness, Robin believing she is a freak of nature (which I believe most psychics think at some point) and therefore separating herself from her peers.

I feel Robin is scared to have an imagination.  She is beginning to wonder if every thing she imagines is a bad spirit trying to trick her.  My advice to Robin’s mom is to back off on the psychic exploration a little bit.  Send Robin to art class so she can explore her imagination and take her to horseback riding lessons so she can be around other kids who love animals and have similar gifts as Robin.  Think about what is age appropriate.  Know that if Robin talks about a scary spirit it could just be her imagination.  My bunny Bean told Robin that Robin has a rainbow around her and an angel with her at all times.  Robin is going to be just fine and in my opinion will remember her gifts, if she wants to, when she much older.