How to Help Your Child Become More Mindful

Children make up our future generations. The way they think, feel, interact, and communicate can be shaped and guided by thoughtful and nurturing hearts and minds. To cultivate a future society of more conscious, creative, and successful adults, you must start working now to help your child become more mindful. Keep reading to find out more about what mindfulness is and how you can help your child grow into a mentally and emotionally healthier adult. It’s easier than you might think!

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness can encompass a lot of things, and you’re likely to find several different explanations of it. However, when it comes to ways to help your child become more mindful, it’s a little more straightforward. It’s all about teaching your children to be aware of their surroundings, themselves, and their emotions. They should understand there is no right or wrong way to think or feel. If they are angry about something, for example, it’s okay that they feel that way. Nevertheless, they have to think through their actions before they proceed.

While this might sound too complicated for a child to understand, it’s a lot easier than you think. You can help your child become aware of how they are thinking or feeling by merely asking them about it. “What are you thinking about?” or “How does that make you feel?” are some great questions to ask. Once your children are old enough to start writing and processing their emotions, encouraging them to keep a journal or diary can be a great idea.

How to Help Your Child Become More Mindful

There are many excellent guides, courses, and resources out there to help your child become more mindful. Just learning to be more mindful yourself can be a wonderful way to pass it on to your children. Read below for some helpful tips you can start using now.

• Take a moment to talk about your surroundings. Are you waiting in line somewhere or at the doctor’s office? Talk about the things around you. Notice a colorful stand of fruit or a piece of art on the wall. Think about what you see, what you smell, and what you hear.

• Clue your child into how their body is feeling. Being able to recognize the feelings of happiness, nervousness, and sadness is essential in learning to express how we feel. When your child feels nervous, for example, ask how their body is feeling. Are their feet tapping? Are their hands sweating? Do they feel butterflies in their stomach? Assure them that this is normal. Talking about these physical manifestations can also help ease them.

   

• Give them a creative space to explore. This can be any space at all. It can be in their room, a separate room, or a little fort in the living room. Allow them space where they can just “be.” You can include books, coloring books, puzzles, crafts, and more.

Teaching Our Future Generations to Be Mindful

When you help your child become more mindful, it will allow them to develop and grow into a healthy, happy, and more consciously creative adult. Teaching our future generations to be more mindful can create a society that is more cooperative, communicative, empathetic, and one that practices creative problem solving rather than destructive impulses. By learning how to become more mindful yourself, you can pass it on to your children and benefit future generations. And with the help of CreatableMe and our Creativity Courses, it will be easier and more powerful than ever.