Problems with Inner Child work - resistance, no empathy?

I wasn't sure where to post this as technically this is therapy, but of the self-help kind while I'm on the waiting list.

I started working through a book Called Tame Your Outer Child, which splits the ego into the adult, outer and inner children and to start off with, there was this whole bit where you needed to visualise an abandoned child - cold, injured, hungry, etc. and then you get acquainted with her and tell her you're going to protect her no matter what and officially adopt her - she then represents the inner child.

However, in the exercises that followed, you're supposed to really want to protect the child but I just can't feel it - I can't really connect at all very well with this concept - the outer child is easier for me to identify with, which makes sense as that's the bit most in control. It's like I get that I'm the inner child's guardian and have a moral obligation to look after her, but I can't force myself to love her - I just don't feel any kind of maternal spirit whatsoever (I don't have kids and have never really been that much into the idea). I'd probably find it easier to relate the inner child to an very young kitten I found abandoned and subsequently looked after!

So I moved onto to a program by Don Carter called Thawing Child Abandonment Issues which uses a similar therapy model (but with more states), but this time with audio as thought more guided visualisations might help. Again, when the vulnerable me came out, I didn't really feel that warming towards her.

I guess in many respects it makes sense because if I did love myself, I wouldn't be in the mess I'm in now, but what to do when there's so much resistance? I don't know if the reason I've never been fond of children is because of this, or because I'm not fond of children, I can't get into it.

Can anyone suggest any techniques to help get past this?

Thanks!

I don't know much of anything about inner child work - i've done some work myself but it was work that i personally made up after hearing someone mention the concept - absolutely not based in any proper therapeutic style.
But i did find it somewhat helpful.

What strikes me from your post is that you keep saying ''the child'' and ''her'' - is that because the therapy asks you to do that or is that because you feel disconnected to the child that you once were?

I did the inner child work by going back and imagining myself rather than creating/visualising a random child that's supposed to represent your current ego state. I first imagined her/me as around 4 and hiding underneath a wardrobe thing.. she/I was lonely but she/I liked it under there.
I used a real memory and a real piece of furniture/a real event to do this..
at first i couldn't really connect - i called her she rather than me/I.. over time though i started connecting back and saying ''i was lonely and scared a lot of the time'' and i started visualising the current me giving my small child me a hug. I know that small child me would have really appreciated that.. small child me would have felt safe and warm.
Small child me when i visualise her/me has grown a little now - she's currently around 7 instead of 4.. i feel more connected to her/me.

I don't know if any of this would make sense for you - but it has been helpful for me. I think that what really helped me was to go and sit inside the child me.. feel her feelings.. experience and see things through her eyes (quite literally going back and experiencing that memory again through the eyes of the small me) - it was only when i allowed myself to do that.. to immerse myself in her experience without pulling away and distancing myself as an observer that i was able to connect a bit to my own stuff.
I guess that i separated a bit and had to allow myself to integrate the little me with the current me.

Yep.. i'm probably rambling but hopefully something might help xx