Parenting is tough and it gets tougher with ages and stages. With years passing, you may feel like having a pause or you may search of some new tricks to try on when parenting gets rough.
Mindfulness on the other hand is more than just parenting. It is a way to live life and it teaches kids to behave positively in every aspect of life.
Meaning of Mindfulness
Mindfulness may be understood as a practice to live in the moment. The focus is on the thoughts and the feelings you are experiencing in that moment without thinking about anything else.It is another form of meditation that may be used to lessen stress and relax.
Introducing mindfulness to kids helps them to conquer their negative and worrisome thoughts of the past or the future. They can practice the habit of connecting with what’s going on in their world at the present moment. Mindfulness empowers them to accept their current thoughts and feelings and enables them to cope up with their emotions.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the best practice that helps with anxiety, insomnia and depression. Let us now have a look at some of the benefits of minfulness on kids.
Reduces Stress
Mindfulness is helpful in reducing stress in kids and adults alike. It is a therapy to deak with anxious kids and cope up with stressful events.
It helps kids to shift their focus from negative thoughts of past or future to the moments of present. Kids learn to react effectively in difficult situations and handle them positively.
Controls Emotions
Mindfulness techniques have the power to increase focus, control emotions and reduce anxiety issues. With mindfulness, kids learn hownto control their emotions of sadness and anger and live in that moment.
Increases Focus
Mindfulness helps kids to be more focussed and handle their emotions. It allows them to do things like focus on tasks, follow directions and practice skill management. With mindfulness, kids understand their own thought process and act accordingly.
Techniques to introduce mindfulness to kids
Kids are tough to handle and asking them to meditate is a punishment in itself. They are all about testing limits and gaining independence. Mindfulness strategies for toddlers involve getting them to recognize what they are feeling before acting out.
Model Mindfulness
The best technique to start his journey is to practice mindfulness yourself. Kids learn from their environment and parents. Model awareness and non-judgement to have a big impact on your child.
Teach them language
Kids can’t express their emotions verbally. Teaching them language helps them to share their feelings and emotions and you can understand them easily. This helps them to pay attention to their feelings that they are experiencing internally. This enables your child to recognize and cope up with their emotions.
Focus on the senses
Try focussing on their senses. Young children cannot understand mindfulness as a learning process, so teach them to focus on their senses. You may take them outside to listen the ocean waves and tell them how soothing they are.Focusing on the surroundings helps your child connect to their environment. It brings their attention to the here and now.
Incorporating mindfulness techniques into everyday life may have powerful effects on your child and on your overall family culture. If one technique doesn’t speak to your little one, try something else.
