Sometimes a child tells you something and you immediately understand what they mean.
Other times, you have no idea what to make of it.
Your child may describe seeing someone who wasn’t there. They might tell you they dreamed about an event before it happened. Perhaps they suddenly know something they seemingly could not have known, describe a strong feeling about a particular person, or talk about an experience that doesn’t fit comfortably into anything you understand.
You listen, but internally you’re thinking:
What am I supposed to do with this?
For parents of perceptive children, that uncertainty can be uncomfortable. You may want to believe your child while also wondering whether imagination, dreams, memory, anxiety, observation, or something else could be involved.
You may even worry that responding the wrong way could make matters worse.
There is another option.
You don’t have to understand an experience in order to listen well.
Your Child May Not Be Asking You to Explain It
Adults are problem-solvers.
When a child brings us something confusing, our instinct is often to find an explanation.
But listen carefully to what your child is actually asking for.
Sometimes they aren’t asking:
“What happened to me?”
They’re saying:
“This happened to me.”
Those are different conversations.
A child may simply want someone they trust to hear what they experienced.
A response as simple as:
“That sounds like it really stood out to you.”
can be enough to keep the conversation open.
Dr. Athena Drewes’ work with children and Exceptional Experiences has long emphasized the importance of listening to children’s reports without automatically dismissing them or rushing to conclusions. Parents can learn more about her approach through Perceptive Children.
You Don’t Have to Choose Between Belief and Disbelief
Parents sometimes feel trapped between two responses.
Either:
“I completely believe that’s exactly what happened.”
Or:
“There’s no way that happened.”
Neither response may be necessary.
Consider a child who wakes up and says they saw their deceased grandmother standing beside the bed.
You may have no idea what occurred.
Perhaps it was a vivid dream. Perhaps the child experienced something during the transition between sleeping and waking. Perhaps they understand the experience differently.
You don’t need to settle that question before responding to your child.
You can say:
“That sounds like it was very vivid. How did you feel when you saw her?”
Now the conversation is about something you can understand: your child’s experience of the event.
Were they frightened?
Comforted?
Confused?
Curious?
Those details may be much more important to their well-being than deciding immediately what happened.
Resist the Urge to Supply the Story
Children are highly influenced by adult language.
That’s especially important when discussing experiences that are difficult to explain.
Imagine a child says:
“I thought I saw someone in the hallway.”
An adult immediately asks:
“Was it a ghost?”
Now an interpretation has entered the conversation that wasn’t originally there.
A more neutral question would be:
“What did you notice?”
That leaves the child’s account in their own words.
This doesn’t mean parents should act cold or clinical. It simply means giving the child room to describe the experience before adults decide what it was.
The Frequently Asked Questions offer additional guidance for families trying to approach perceptive and psychic experiences thoughtfully.
Pay Attention to What Happened Around the Experience
An unusual experience doesn’t happen in isolation from the rest of a child’s life.
Context matters.
Was your child falling asleep?
Had something stressful happened that day?
Were they grieving someone?
Were they sick or exhausted?
Had they been talking about the person or subject recently?
Has something similar happened before?
Context does not necessarily explain an experience away. It simply helps parents understand the fuller picture.
Dr. Drewes’ background as a licensed child psychologist is especially valuable here. Children’s emotional development, attachment, stress, trauma, imagination, perception, and Exceptional Experiences shouldn’t automatically be treated as completely separate worlds.
A thoughtful response leaves room to consider the whole child.
What If the Story Changes?
Parents sometimes become concerned when details change.
Yesterday the person was standing near the door. Today the child remembers them beside the window.
Adults may interpret changing details as evidence that a child isn’t telling the truth.
But children’s memories and storytelling abilities are still developing. Their descriptions can change for many reasons, particularly with younger children.
Instead of conducting repeated interviews to establish exactly what happened, focus on whether there is a reason you need more information.
If your child is safe, calm, and functioning normally, you may not need to reconstruct every detail.
What If You Don’t Share Your Child’s Beliefs?
This can be one of the harder situations for families.
A child may interpret an experience spiritually or psychically while a parent sees it differently. The reverse can also happen.
A healthy relationship doesn’t require identical beliefs.
You can respect what an experience means to your child without pretending to have certainty you don’t possess.
You might say:
“I can understand why you see it that way.”
Or:
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I believe that you experienced something important.”
That distinction gives both parent and child room to think.
It also teaches an important lesson: people who love and respect one another do not have to interpret every experience in exactly the same way.
Look for Patterns, Not Proof
When unusual experiences happen repeatedly, parents understandably become curious.
Rather than trying to prove or disprove each event, it may be more useful to notice patterns.
When do experiences happen?
How does your child feel beforehand and afterward?
Are they pleasant, neutral, or frightening?
Do they interfere with sleep, school, friendships, or daily activities?
The parent intake survey gives parents a structured way to consider a child’s history and experiences more broadly.
The purpose isn’t to turn family life into an investigation. It is to understand the child in context.
When the Experience Is Frightening
Not understanding something becomes much harder when your child is afraid.
In that moment, the priority doesn’t need to be deciding whether the source of the fear is psychic, psychological, environmental, or something else.
Your child needs to feel safe.
You can acknowledge the fear without confirming a frightening interpretation:
“I can see that scared you. You’re here with me, and we can talk about it.”
Later, when everyone is calm, you can consider what additional information or support might be useful.
If experiences are causing persistent distress, interfering with daily life, or creating significant changes in a child’s behavior, professional guidance may be appropriate.
Families who want to learn more about Dr. Drewes’ work can reach out through the Contact page.
“I Don’t Know” Can Be a Healthy Answer
Parents often underestimate the value of those three words.
“I don’t know.”
They don’t communicate indifference when they’re followed by genuine interest.
They communicate intellectual honesty.
You can say:
“I don’t know exactly what happened. But I’m interested in hearing about it.”
That response accomplishes something important. It demonstrates that uncertainty is safe.
Your child doesn’t have to invent an explanation.
You don’t have to manufacture one.
And the two of you can remain curious together.
Parents who want to explore Dr. Drewes’ perspective further can find Psychic Children: A Sign of Our Expanding Awareness through the Perceptive Children book shop.
Your Child Needs Your Presence More Than Your Explanation
There may be experiences your child describes that you never completely understand.
That’s okay.
Good parenting does not require solving every mystery of childhood.
What matters is that your child learns:
“I can tell my parent something unusual without being laughed at.”
“I can be confused without being frightened.”
“I don’t have to prove what happened.”
“My parent will listen.”
Those lessons create emotional safety.
And when a child knows they can bring confusing, surprising, or deeply personal experiences to a parent without immediately being judged or interpreted, you’ve created something more valuable than an answer.
You’ve created trust.
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