The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jan Tober (Author) "What is an Indigo Child?..." (more)
Key Phrases: chronic reversed polarity, old energy, Indigo Children, Smart Start, Doreen Virtue (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you think your child is special? Well, perhaps he or she is! Self-help professionals Lee Carroll and Jan Tober have collected essays by dozens of doctors, counselors, and other childhood experts that seem to document the arrival on earth of a newly evolved species of human kiddie referred to here as an "indigo" child. The 10 most common traits are: 1.) They come into the world with a feeling of royalty. 2.) They have a feeling of deserving to be here. 3.) Self-worth is not a big issue. 4.) They have difficulty with authority by ritual or without explanation. 5.) They simply will not do certain things. 6.) They get frustrated with systems that don't require creative thought. 7.) They often see better ways of doing things. 8.) School is often difficult for them and they can seem antisocial. 9.) They will not respond to guilt-trip discipline. 10.) They are not shy about letting you know what they need.

If your little angel/devil fits this pattern and you are pulling your hair out trying to relate, you may want to read this book before resorting to Ritalin. --P. Randall Cohan

Product Description

An Indigo Child is a child who displays new and unusual psychological attributes that reveal a pattern of behavior generally undocumented before. This pattern has factors that suggest that parents and teachers change their treatment and upbringing of these special kids in order to achieve balance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Hay House; 1 edition (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561706086
• ISBN-13: 978-1561706082
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,305 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Raising Indigo Children, June 27, 2003

By	southpaw68 "southpaw68" (florida) - See all my reviews

The authors Lee Carroll and Jan Tober attempt to prove that children diagnosed with ADD may actually be indigo children who will transform society into a new age of peace and love, from what I gather.

Some examples of children being indigo children made them seem like typical kids: one didn't want to read Mark Twain for school because he wasn't interested; another didn't want to study history because the present was all that mattered to him. The authors want to revamp the schools to accommodate indigo children.

I thought the authors could have spent more time on explaining what indigos are, what their characteristics are, and what their purpose is. I thought they should have spent more time explaining their color theory of people having different colored auras and how these auras affect what type of person they are and what their purpose is. Although the book has a lot of contributors with all kinds of professional credentials, I thought the content was fluffy at times and the reading level and the sophistication of the content lower than it should have been in order for it to be an in-depth study of indigos.

The book is geared toward the parents of ADD "indigo" children and gives advice on how to raise them, mainly saying that one should treat them with same respect as you would give an adult and explain your reasons for having the children do certain things. Some of the suggestions I thought were to complicated and idealistic to be useful. When there is serious discipline problem with a child and you're being tested and rebelled against, most likely you're going to fight fire with fire, not be some sort of wise, angelic, calm being who gently persuades the child to conform to your wishes.

I thought some of the references for new age healing and alternative schools were interesting and of some value. Some of the personal testimony from indigos on being indigo was a highlight also. --But who knows? These special indigo children may just be typical kids behaving badly worsened by the fact that parents may not be parenting as attentively as they used to do in the past with both of them working full time and putting their kids in the care of strangers in day care centers.

Maybe as time passes and this phenomenon proves to be real, someone will write a definitive, in-depth, classic work on indigos. I think it may be too early to do that at this time.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good advice, but a shaky premise, September 24, 2003

By	P. Lozar "plozar" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Carroll and Tober's book describes a real phenomenon: a pattern of traits and behavior in children that is often labeled a "disorder," but in fact represents a divergent (and valuable) way of viewing reality. And I agree that, rather than trying to drug such children into conformity, parents and educators need to respect them for who (and what) they are, communicate with them in terms they understand, and help them to make the most of their extraordinary gifts rather than suppressing them.

On the other hand, these aren't new observations, nor are such traits unique to children born after 1978. Palladino's "Dreamers, Discovers, and Dynamos" (first published as "The Edison Trait") describes the same behavior pattern in children and offers similar advice to their parents. Farther towards the New Age end of the spectrum is Jacobsen's "The Gifted Adult," which rates (among other things) "evolutionary intelligence"; but her description of the "everyday genius" echoes Palladino's "Edison trait" -- the attitudes and behaviors which, as the name implies, have characterized "divergent thinkers" like Edison throughout human history. Finally, many other writers have described the gifted person's absolute confidence in their destiny and the rightness of pursuing it against all odds (see, for example, Hillman's "The Soul's Code").

The facts are that some children's (and adults') minds work differently from the norm, that such individuals are often broadly and unusually gifted, and that the "one size fits all" approach to child-rearing and education simply doesn't work with them. But I don't think you need to postulate a new step in human evolution, or read auras, in order to explain the presence of these people today; they've been with us all along. (Then again, maybe now we're beginning to pay attention to them!)

58 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Congratulations! Someone finally put this into print!, September 20, 1999

By A Customer

As a psychologist, I have observed the Indigo phenomenon for years. I have called it "evolutionary behaviours." This is a must read for anyone who has anything to do with children. The Indigo kids are here and deserve to be understood, not drugged! I have recommended this book to parents, teachers and counsellors for greater insight and tips on how to deal with, motivate and generally enjoy these beings. Thanks to the authors for taking the time to enlighten us.