Interviewing Formats for Children

Interviewing children provides an exciting opportunity to save the next generation from years of needless pain due to an inability to separate social scripting from who they most centrally are.  By defusing drama and identification with it while building the six core qualities within them, a child creates an internal culture that transcends and includes the cultures of their family and society.

Children naturally grow by taking on the roles around them. Consequently, it is natural and normal for them to take on the roles of dream characters of all types as well as the personifications of life issues. Interviewing children is fun and spontaneous, with little of the blocking that you will find in adolescents and adults. Remember that children are concrete and to keep your language simple and the entire practice fun and exciting.  Encourage children to act out their character; consider having hand puppets, capes, masks and so forth available.  As with adults, the most important consideration for the interviewer is making sure that the child is in role and stays in role.  When in doubt, ask of the character being interviewed, “(Character,) is that you talking right now or is that ____?”  If they answer that it is the child, ask the character, “(Character,) how do you feel about _____ not letting you talk?”  ”Why do you think they won’t be quiet and let you speak?”  This is usually sufficient to provide a return to role, but do not hesitate repeating these questions if you again have doubts as to whom is speaking at any time during the interview.

Generally one interview will get eliminate repetitive nightmares in children.  Chronic anxiety and post-traumatic induced nightmares will require regular interviewing over a period of weeks, as does depression and self-esteem issues.

The free e-book, “Ending Nightmares for Good,” available through this site, provides examples of working with nightmares, night terrors, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

If you interview children, we would love to have you let us know about your experiences so that we can post them anonymously on our blog for the benefit of others.

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To explain the six core qualities to children:

How would your life be different if you:

Confidence:   …were never scared?

Compassion: …always respected and cared about yourself and everyone else?

Wisdom: … always learned from the mistakes of others?

Acceptance:  ….accepted yourself completely for who you are?  …and others too?  (but not excuse injustice or cruel actions)

Inner Peace:  …felt as peaceful as your favorite big tree or the depths of the ocean all the time?

Witnessing:  …looked at your feelings and the upsets of life the way the sky looks at the world?