Perhaps you've noticed this special new "breed" of children rapidly populating our planet. They are happy, delightful, and forgiving. This generation of new lightworkers, roughly ages 0 through 7, are like no previous generation. Ideal in many ways, they are the pointers for where humanity is headed . . . and it's a good direction!

The older children (approximately age 7 through 25), called "Indigo Children," share some characteristics with The Crystal Children. Both generations are highly sensitive and psychic, and have important life purposes. The main difference is their temperament. Indigos have a warrior spirit, because their collective purpose is to mash down old systems that no longer serve us. They are here to quash government, educational, and legal systems that lack integrity. To accomplish this end, they need tempers and firey determination.

Those adults who resist change and who value conformity may misunderstand the Indigos. They are often mislabeled with the psychiatric diagnoses of Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Sadly, when they are medicated, The Indigos often lose their beautiful sensitivity, spiritual gifts, and warrior energy. I wrote about the Indigos at length in my book, The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children and in The Indigo Children, written by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober (both published by Hay House).

In contrast, The Crystal Children are blissful and even-tempered. Sure, they may have tantrums occasionally, but these children are largely forgiving and easy-going. The Crystals are the generation who benefit from the Indigos' trailblazing. First, The Indigo Children lead with a machete, cutting down anything that lacks integrity. Then The Crystal Children follow the cleared path, into a safer and more secure world.

The terms, "Indigo" and "Crystal" were given to these two generations, because they most accurately describe their aura colors and energy patterns. Indigo Children have a lot of indigo blue in their auras. This is the color of the "third eye chakra," which is an energy center inside the head located between the two eyebrows. This chakra regulates clairvoyance, or the ability to see energy, visions, and spirits.

Many of the Indigo Children are clairvoyant The Crystal Children have opalescent auras, with beautiful multi-colors in pastel hues. This generation also shows a fascination for crystals and rocks, as you'll read in this book.

Indigo Children can sense dishonesty, like a dog can sense fear. Indigos know when they're being lied to, patronized, or manipulated. And since their collective purpose is to usher us into a new world of integrity, the Indigos' inner lie-detectors are integral. As mentioned before, this warrior spirit is threatening to some adults. And the Indigos are unable to conform to dysfunctional situations at home, work, or school. They don't have the ability to dissociate from their feelings and pretend like everything's okay . . . unless they are medicated or sedated.

Crystal Children's innate spiritual gifts are also misunderstood. Specifically, their telepathic abilities which lead them to talk later in life.

In the new world which the Indigos are ushering in, we will all be much more aware of our intuitive thoughts and feelings. We won't rely so much upon the spoken or written word. Communication will be faster, more direct, and more honest, because it will be mind-to-mind. Already, increasing numbers of us are getting in touch with our psychic abilities. Our interest in the paranormal is at an all-time high, accompanied by books, television shows, and movies on the topic.

So, it's not surprising that the generation following the Indigos are incredibly telepathic. Many of the Crystal Children have delayed speech patterns, and it's not uncommon for them to wait until they're 3 or 4 years old to begin speaking. But parents tell me they have no trouble communicating with their silent children. Far from it! The parents engage in mind-to-mind communication with their Crystal Children. And the Crystals use a combination of telepathy, self-fashioned sign language, and sounds (including song) to get their point across.

The trouble comes about when the Crystals are judged by medical and educational personnel as having "abnormal" speaking patterns. It's no coincidence that as the number of Crystals are born, that the number of diagnoses for autism is at a record high.

It's true that the Crystal Children are different from other generations. But why do we need to pathologize these differences? If the children are successfully communicating at home, and the parents aren't reporting any problems . . . then why try to make a problem?

The diagnostic criteria for autism is quite clear. It states that the autistic person lives in his or her own world, and is disconnected from other people. The autistic person doesn't talk because of an indifference to communicating with others.

Crystal Children are quite the opposite. They are among the most connected, communicative, caring, and cuddly of any generation. They are also quite philosophical and spiritually gifted. And they display an unprecedented level of kindness and sensitivity to this world. Crystal Children spontaneously hug and care for people in need. An autistic person wouldn't do that!

In my book, The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children, I wrote that ADHD should stand for Attention Dialed into a Higher Dimension. This would more accurately describe that generation. In the same vein, Crystal Children don't warrant a label of autism! They aren't autistic they're AWE-tistic!

These children are worthy of awe, not labels of dysfunction. If anyone is dysfunctional, it's the systems that aren't accommodating the continuing evolution of the human species. If we shame the children with labels, or medicate them into submission, we will have undermined a heaven-sent gift. We will crush a civilization before it has time to take roots. Fortunately, there are many positive solutions and alternatives. And the same heaven that sent us the Crystal Children can assist those of us who are advocates for the children.

I first began noticing the Crystal Children during my travels around the world, giving workshops about the angels. I noticed their eyes and magnetic personalities. I held mental conversations with the children, and could clearly hear them answer my questions in mind. I would watch them smile in response to my mentally sent compliments. These kids hear my thoughts! I realized.

Over the next few years, I interviewed children and parents for my book, The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children. I've always been fascinated with finding patterns among human behavior. Although we're all as unique as snowflakes, the snowflakes share commonalities. With the Indigo Children, I found the traits described earlier. With the Crystal Children, my research took even more interesting twists and turns.

I found myself falling in love with each young Crystal Child that I met. Their hearts were as open and loving as any angel with whom I'd interacted. I found them unguarded and unpretentious. I'd go to sleep thinking about the children, and wake up with volumes of information given to me by the spirit world perhaps by the Crystal Children themselves? while I slept.

Each morning, I'd wake up knowing more about the Crystal Children than I'd previously known the evening before! I began lecturing about the Crystal Children and found my audiences very receptive. Many of them were parents, grandparents, or teachers of these special youngsters. They instantly recognized their child's characteristics as I described them.

I asked audience members and subscribers of my newsletter to complete a questionnaire about their Crystal Children. Within one day of my putting out that request, I received hundreds of replies. For this book, I reviewed hundreds of pages of stories submitted to me by people who are raising and teaching these remarkable children.

As I reviewed the survey results, two things happened. First, I felt my heart swell with love and gratitude. Just reading the stories felt like being in the presence of mighty angels! I felt ecstatically high, and reassured by these amazing youngsters' presence on our planet. I also felt reassured about our collective future. God wouldn't have sent this special breed of humans to earth, were we on our last leg as a civilization or planet. Just like humans have evolved from ape-like postures, the Crystal Children are concrete evidence that we're progressing in evolution.

Secondly, I found clear might I say crystal clear? patterns among each survey respondent. I read dozens of similar stories about the Crystals and their relationships to animals, plants, rocks, and the elderly, for instance. I poured over many stories with eerily similar accounts about children telepathically communicating with their parents . . . while eschewing verbal communication.

Many parents told me, "I never could relate to the descriptions of Indigo Children. My youngster seemed different. But the Crystal Child description that was one that perfectly described my child!"

Most parents reported a happy relationship with their Crystal Child, marked with very few problems. I heard from parents and grandparents around the globe, as they described their Crystal as "an angel," "the love of my life," "a true joy," and so on.

I noticed that not only were the Crystal Children highly spiritually sensitive, but so were their parents. The souls of Crystal Children were obviously selecting parents who could raise them in a spiritually nurturing environment. Occasionally, I met children who came through parents who were spiritually unaware. In these cases, their grandparents were highly evolved lightworkers who helped to protect and hone the child's spiritual knowledge and gifts. Most people told me that their Crystal Child was a profound spiritual teacher, who taught parents a great deal about being an exceptionally loving and kind person. One day, I was lecturing about Crystal Children in Sydney, Australia. At the break, my publisher (who was there selling my books) said to me, "What is this book that everyone's asking me about? They're all asking to buy a Crystal Children book!"

I laughed and told him that there was no such book. I was simply reporting the data I'd gathered from interviews and my own channelings. My publisher said, "Well, they obviously want the book. Will you write it?" Without hesitating, I heard myself reply, "Yes, of course I will." My book, "The Crystal Children" will be published by Hay House very soon!

This month, we'll also launch a new website by the same name of the book: www.TheCrystalChildren.com (Note the "The" before the term, "Crystal Children"). We'll have articles and a special message board for parents, grandparents, teachers, and crystal children to support one another. If you'd like to be notified about this website, please sign up for our free monthly newsletter.