What If Your Child Chose You — Before They Were Born?
There's a children's book I've been inviting families to read for years. I even read it aloud to other parents and students.
It's called Through the Rainbow: A Waldorf Birthday Story for Children.And every single time I read it aloud — to my own kids, to a room full of parents, to a class of students — the shift that happens in the room is felt.
The story goes like this …
A little soul lives above the clouds, dancing among the stars, friends with the sun and moon. One day, looking down at Earth through the golden light, the soul sees something new — a beautiful land filled with children playing, birds singing, families caring for each other.
May I visit there? the soul asks.
In response, three gifts from a guardian angel are given.
A loving heart from the sun.
A bright inner light from the stars.
A silver ribbon from the moon — so the soul can always find its way back.
And then the guardian angel says, "It's time. But first — leave your wings behind."
The little soul slides over the rainbow bridge. And is welcomed on Earth, with awe and wonder, into loving arms.
Into your arms.
I read this story at the start of every Parenting Astrology School (my signature program, and my life's work) because it sets the foundation for everything we do together in the coming weeks.
Parenting Astrology School is about so much more than astrology — it helps students grasp the whole philosophy underneath it.
Because here's what I believe — and what Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education and someone who spoke widely about the cosmos, karma, planetary influences, and spirituality, wrote about in his work:
Our children chose us.
I know that this is something the ego resists. Especially on the hard days. And especially when you're wondering whether you're doing it right, whether you're messing them up, or whether you should have handled that moment differently.
But stay with me …
Steiner went further. He believed the incarnating child doesn't just choose their family — they actually have a hand in bringing the parents together. That the soul who would become your child was in some way already at work, pulling the threads that would weave your life into the life of their other parent.
I find that stunning. And humbling. And — honestly — kind of a relief.
Because if that's true, it means you weren't chosen by accident. You were chosen specifically. With intention, and with love.
There's another version of this story — an oral tradition, not a picture book — where the child, preparing to come to Earth, takes something with them on the journey down the rainbow bridge.
The child brings seeds to Earth.
Seeds of the things they want to grow in this lifetime.
The moment I heard that, I thought: Those aren't the seeds of plants. Those are planet seeds.
In astrology, the natal chart — the map of the sky at the exact moment of a person's first breath — shows us what a soul came here to work with. What they brought. What they intended to grow.
The natal chart is the soul's curriculum.
And your child's chart? It's their divine assignment. Arrived at the perfect moment — even if that moment was a scheduled C-section, even if labor went differently than planned. There's a rightness to the timing that I've seen over and over in my over twenty years of doing this work.
This matters for how you parent.
When we see the natal chart as a map of who our child already is — rather than a blank slate we're responsible for filling in — it changes everything.
We stop trying to shape them into something they're not, and we stop trying to "fix them" — because they're not broken. We are actually starting to see them more clearly.
We ask different questions.
Not why won't they just _______?
But what are they here to learn?
What does their soul curriculum ask of them — and of me as their parent?
The tension between you and your child? It's not a problem to solve. It could actually just be the exact friction their soul needs to grow.
And yours, too.
In Parenting Astrology School, we spend time with your natal chart and your child's. We look at what each of you brought down the rainbow bridge. We learn to read those seeds — the planets, the signs, the houses — as a love letter from the soul, not a verdict on who you are or who they'll become.
But even before we open a chart, I want you to sit with this …
Your child chose you.
And you — the particular you, with your particular history and your particular wounds and your particular gifts — are exactly the right parent for them.
Not perfect … RIGHT.
There's a difference. And astrology helps us live inside that difference with a lot more grace.
If you're curious about what your child's natal chart might reveal — or your own — I'd love to show you. I teach Parenting Astrology School once every winter. When you subscribe for weekly updates from me, you'll be the first to know when the doors open.
(The course sells out every time, so if this is tugging at your heart, drop your email address below 👇)