My Orchid Children: How do Highly Sensitive Children Flourish?
Heard of the term ‘orchid children’? It’s a term that relates to many of our highly sensitive children. And the idea of orchid children is fitting imagery for those children who flourish in the right environment, but wilt and suffer in the wrong one.
Quiet – The Power of Introverts
I first stumbled upon the idea of orchid children reading Susan Cain’s bestseller Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking
In Quiet she talks about ‘the orchid hypothesis’ (on page 111), and it’s imagery I loved instantly when it comes to my highly sensitive children.
The Orchid Children Theory
The hypothesis is a theory by David Dobbs that highlights the importance of an environment for highly reactive children. These are children with a sensitive nervous system. Highly reactive children are highly affected by both positive and negative experiences.
Transfer that imagery to school, for example, and likening our highly sensitive children to orchids is a fitting analogy.
Orchid Children Flourish in the Right Environment
I LOVE the reference to orchids. I love thinking of my highly sensitive children as orchids that can flourish in the right conditions.
Orchids are beautiful, and one of my favourite flowers so I think the imagery is wonderful. There are so many times I think the orchids on my window ledge have had it, but then they spring to life. They blossom and bloom. And bring a smile to my face.
The key, I guess, is to figure out the environment that our little orchids best flourish in……..
Over to You
What environment does your highly sensitive child flourish in? Does the orchid theory resonate with you?
I recall a time when our child was really struggling, and we were looking at planning for a transition to a new (and much bigger) school. The Principal told me the story of the dandelion and the orchid and it stuck with me as a beautiful way to illustrate that with the right conditions, we can all thrive. Thanks for this post and the reminder!
David Dobbs is actually writing about Boyce and Ellis’s theory of Biological Sensitivity to Context, which they also explain in the context of Dandelion and Orchids, and yes it is a brilliant analogy – one I use often (and I have Orchids around the house to remind me!).