Now that we've got the preliminaries out of the way, here are some suggestions for how you can begin to introduce mindfulness to your children:
1. Listen to the bell. An easy way for children to practice mindfulness is to focus on paying attention to what they can hear. You can use a singing bowl, a bell, a set of chimes or a phone app that has sounds on it. Tell your children that you will make the sound, and they should listen carefully until they can no longer hear the sound (which is usually 30 seconds to a minute).
2. Practice with a breathing buddy. For young children, an instruction to simply "pay attention to the breath" can be hard to follow. In this Edutopia video, Daniel Goleman describes a 2nd-grade classroom that does a "breathing buddy" exercise: Each student grabs a stuffed animal, and then lies down on their back with their buddy on their belly. They focus their attention on the rise and fall of the stuffed animal as they breathe in and out.
3. Make your walks mindful. One of my children's favorite things to do in the summer is a "noticing walk." We stroll through our neighborhood and notice things we haven't seen before. We'll designate one minute of the walk where we are completely silent and simply pay attention to all the sounds we can hear -- frogs, woodpeckers, a lawnmower. We don't even call it "mindfulness," but that's what it is.
4. Establish a gratitude practice. I believe gratitude is a fundamental component of mindfulness, teaching our children to appreciate the abundance in their lives, as opposed to focusing on all the toys and goodies that they crave. My family does this at dinner when we each share one thing we are thankful for. It is one of my favorite parts of the day.
5. Try the SpiderMan meditation! My 5-year-old son is in to all things superheroes, and this SpiderMan meditation is right up his alley. This meditation teaches children to activate their "spidey-senses" and their ability to focus on all they can smell, taste, and hear in the present moment. Such a clever idea!
6. Check your personal weather report. In Sitting Still Like a Frog, Eline Snel encourages children to "summon the weather report that best describes [their] feelings at the moment." Sunny, rainy, stormy, calm, windy, tsunami? This activity allows children to observe their present state without overly identifying with their emotions. They can't change the weather outside, and we can't change our emotions or feelings either. All we can change is how we relate to them. As Snel describes it, children can recognize, "I am not the downpour, but I notice that it is raining; I am not a scaredy-cat, but I realize that sometimes I have this big scared feeling somewhere near my throat."
7. Make a Mind Jar. A mind jar is a bit like a snow globe - shake it up and watch the storm! But soon, if we sit and breathe and simply watch the disturbance, it settles. As do our minds.
8. Practice mindful eating. The exercise of mindfully eating a raisin or a piece of chocolate is a staple of mindfulness education, and is a great activity for kids. You can find a script for a seven-minute mindful eating exercise for children here.
Above all, remember to have fun and keep it simple. You can provide your children with many opportunities to add helpful practices to their toolkit -- some of them will work for them and some won't. But it's fun to experiment!
A version of this post first appeared on Sarah's blog Left Brain Buddha. You can follow Sarah on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Tina Payne Bryson!!10 Brain-Based Strategies for Helping Children Handle their Emotions: Bridging the Gap Between What Experts Know and What Happens at Home & School
Dr. Bryson discusses how to reduce the backwards steps taken when a child leaves the therapy office or classroom. Therapists and teachers often feel they make good progress with a child, only to have that progress undermined when the child goes home to parents who mean well but sometimes don’t understand foundational parenting principles. Using stories, case examples, and plenty of humor, Dr. Bryson explains ten simple, scientifically grounded strategies that will help children handle their emotions better and make better decisions—even in high-stress moments.
Attendees will be exposed to the most important and frequent lessons Dr. Bryson teaches parents in her own office. As a result they will learn to:
- Understand why emotional responsiveness is an essential intervention strategy for developing the brain and creating long-term mental health and resilience;
- Identify when parents need to make shifts at home, versus when a child actually needs therapy;
- Comprehend the connection between reactivity and the threat-detection system in the brain;
- Reinterpret seemingly maladaptive behavior as purposeful, adaptive behavior with a meaning, and how to shift it.
- Learn to communicate these basic concepts to parents;
- Understand the importance of emotional responsiveness
- Develop creative questions that reveal more about a child’s temperament, the parenting style, and family life;
- Use a sensorimotor lens to decrease emotional reactivity;
- Understand the importance of emotional responsiveness, regardless of the context or situation;
- Wait for the teachable moment, and know when to avoid talking about feelings and problems;
- Understand when to uncover and challenge a parent’s theory about a child’s reactivity;
- Distinguish between a child’s “can’t” and a child’s “won’t”;
- Allow development to happen, even if it’s not on our preferred schedule.
No-Drama Discipline and the Teenager
Based on the ideas from Dr. Bryson’s book No-Drama Discipline (with Dan Siegel), this workshop focuses on how to nurture your child’s academic and emotional health. Dr. Bryson highlights the fascinating link between a teenager’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehavior, providing an effective, compassionate roadmap for dealing with the inevitable difficulties and conflict that arise during this crucial time of life. Complete with candid parenting stories and a great deal of compassion and humor, this presentation shows you how to work with your child’s developing mind, peacefully resolve conflicts, and inspire happiness and strengthen resilience for everyone in the family.
The Whole-Brain Teen: A Conversation with Teenagers
Stressed. Disappointed. Conflicted. Confused. When teenagers get stuck in negative emotions like these, a little brain science can help.
Dr. Bryson will introduce teens to a few key basics about their brains, including
- how their brain is changing
- how emotion affects their choices
- how they can access their power to choose how they respond to both their internal world and their external circumstances
- how they can make decisions that help sculpt their adult brain.
Students will walk away with practical ways to apply their new understanding of the brain to help them balance their emotions, make good choices, and enjoy better relationships.
Parenting with the Brain in Mind
''''''''''''
No comments:
Post a Comment