Teaching kids mindfulness can be a very important skill they carry throughout their lives. While it’s important, not everyone realizes exactly how much of an impact it can make.
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing that you’re interested in implementing this in your home.
But where do you even start? It can be overwhelming to even imagine starting.
In this post, I’ll be going over what it is, the benefits, and how to get started. My hope is that you have some good tools under your belt upon reading.
Let’s get to it now, shall we?
How to Teach Kids Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
Before we can dive into it, I find it very important to understand what mindfulness even is. It’s a word that gets thrown around quite a bit, but not everyone understands it.
In short, it’s a mental state in which you are not only aware of yourself and surroundings, but you are not influenced by them.
More specifically, it means:
- Being fully present in the current moment
- Being fully aware of your thoughts, feelings, and actions
- Being in complete control of how you think, act, and feel
There is a lot more to it than this, but it gives you an idea. It also includes being in a non-judgemental state to create a sense of calm.
Mindfulness Benefits for Kids
Now that you know what it is, why does it matter for kids? Isn’t this something that more adults utilize? While yes, that is true… teaching children this skill will serve as a huge asset throughout their lives.
You will see a huge difference in them not only as children, but as they grown into functioning adults in the coming years too.
Emotion Regulation
The first major benefit to mindfulness is that it will teach them to regulate their emotions. They will be able to pinpoint what emotion they’re feeling, how it manifests in their body, and how to find their center to control it.
This happens by:
- Practicing breathing techniques to calm them
- Gaining self-awareness to pinpoint what’s happening
There is much more to this but it can help with regulating anxiety, stress, and give them the ability to focus on what’s in front of them. (Which is why you might see this popping up in school a lot lately!)
Decision Making
Part of mindfulness is the ability to focus on yourself and limit influence from your environment. While this is something that is learned over time, kids can certainly learn to trust themselves to make a choice.
It is important to note that this is more of a long-term skill that is built, much like a muscle.
Positive Mindset
With enough practice, kids will train the way their brains work. They’ll see the world in a different light and gain a more positive outlook. They will have more patience with peers, gain self confidence within themselves, and honestly become a lot happier.
This happens by:
- Reciting affirmations to build confidence
- Practicing gratitude to gain a grateful outlook
- Breathing techniques to help gain patience for siblings
Establishing a Mindful Routine
Once you understand mindfulness and the benefits, you can start establishing a routine! Having a routine is KEY if you want to make this a long-term practice.
Start with yourself, first
You absolutely need to start with yourself to set the example. You wouldn’t teach your child a new language without first knowing it yourself and it applies here too.
That said – you absolutely can learn it alongside your child to make it a family affair.
The main thing here is that you don’t want to implement it on your child without doing it yourself. You won’t be as infested in it as you won’t truly understand every aspect of it if you don’t experience it yourself.
Plus – helping yourself become more mindful is a gift too!
Let go of any expectations
After listing out the benefits, it’s easy to have an expectation of what will happen. The best thing you can do is let go of those. Do not see this as making life easier with any particular result.
Instead, approach it as a long term game that helps them in their day to day life.
Part of mindfulness is letting go of any and all expectations to cultivate a state of peace. You’ll find yourself stressed out if you try to uphold expectations.
Take it slow
Don’t try to do everything at once – it will only stress everyone out. Instead, choose 1 habit to focus on at a time and once that’s mastered, move onto the next one.
Also pay attention to your child and adjust as needed. If they truly hate a certain aspect, stop doing it. If they’re struggling, step in to help. Tweak it as needed.
Mindfulness Habits to Implement
Once you have a routine figured out, it’s time to choose what you’re going to implement first! There are a number of skills that will benefit your child, but here’s a few to get started.
Meditation
Meditation will help your child not only calm their emotions, but gain a large sense of self-discipline. This is best started as young as possible to avoid resistance as it is hard to do when you’re not used to it!
Have your child close their eyes, and take deep breaths. Once they’ve got that down, have them practice visualization as they meditate.
Some visualization ideas include:
- Picturing your thoughts leaving through the top of your head
- Imagining a ray of white light passing through your body that “spits out” rays of love to the world around you
- Picturing a bright green handle that gets brighter as you take deep breaths
For younger children, consider coming up with more creative ways to help them enjoy the experience. You can also look up guided meditations for children – there are lots of great ones out there! The insight app is a great one for kids to listen to.
Gratitude
Another practice to start is gratitude. Take a few minutes everyday to express what you’re grateful for. You can start with simple phrases such as, “I’m grateful for my sister.”
As they get this down, have them get more descriptive. What specifically happened today that made you feel grateful? What did you appreciate about that moment?
This practice helps kids learn to appreciate the world around them much more. It’s hard to be miserable when you see the world through the eyes of appreciation.
Self-Awareness
Becoming self-aware is much like a muscle – it has to be built over time and at first, you’ll have no idea how to work it.
Start helping your child notice how they feel throughout the day. You can try saying things such as, “I can see you’re really angry right now, how does that feel in your body?” Encourage them to identify not only the emotion, but how their body feels too.
Over time, they will be able to identify this on their own.
Affirmations
Affirmations are AWESOME – they help kids get really confident. It’s a great morning routine idea, too. Make it a family habit to recite affirmation together.
Tip: Brainstorm a list of 3-5 different ones to focus on for 30 days, then start a new set. This helps your brain really solidify what you’re telling it.
You can start with these types of affirmations:
- I am smart
- I am strong
- I am capable
- I am loved
- I am enough
- I am learning
Feel free to tweak them as needed to make them more suitable for your child.
Final Thoughts
Mindfulness is such an important skill to teach kids, no matter what age they are. Mindfulness helps you to become fully aware of yourself and also your environment without being heavily influenced by it.
This skill helps kids to regulate emotions, make better decisions, cultivate a positive mindset, limit stress and anxiety, and so much more.
When you get started, take it slow and make sure you’re doing it too in order to set the example! Let go of any expectations and just go with the flow and experience it.
Start by building the habits of meditation, gratitude, affirmations, and gaining self-awareness. There are lots of habits you can implement, but these are a great start.
Do you teach your kids mindfulness? Tell us about it in the comments!
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