Author: Manish Bhatia
Certified Mindfulness Trainer
I am starting this “Definitive Guide to Mindfulness with Children” series. An attempt to bring about the awareness for the importance of mindfulness is our lives.
Chapter One
It doesn’t matter what goals you have for yourself or your children, practicing mindfulness can support you through your journey of life & relationships.
We shall talk about not only your practice as a parent but will share some of the tools that will help you teach mindfulness to your children as well. ( Read my Article on Mindful Parenting )
There is no hard & fast rule for me to emphasize on your own practice but you must remember that 90/10 rule is working all the time.
Children listen to 10% of what you say but follow 90% of what you do! Hence the emphasis.
You can very well explain the kid how to ride a bicycle and a newbie kid would only fantasize but in real time, he would not understand how to balance the ride without either seeing you do it or he himself riding it.
Child development is the science of understanding their behavior as they grow up & progress in life. Not only their bodies grow, but their minds as well.
The behavioural changes are quite evident when they are growing up. One of the reasons for that is the social relationships they form –
with their teachers, with classmates , the school bus driver, the helping staff in the school & so many others.
Until this time, they only knew their parents & siblings. Now they know of different viewpoints.
Why did the behavior change? What happened suddenly?
Like all the viewpoints coming from the outer world cannot be right, not all the viewpoints from the inner, protective world are true either.
So what does a child go through? How does he handle the difference? Can he do that on his own? – Yes he can, but can he do it right on his own? – Is still a question mark.
Another question or a common concept is often discussed about regarding the child development, the personality traits or the behavior.
A child typically behaves or has a personality similar to the parents or the first family members from both paternal & maternal side.
During the toddler years or pre-school era, it’s the parents behavior that influences the child. We often neglect this by assuming that the kid is too small to understand.
Yes – he may not understand but can surely observe & has the capacity to store it in the subconscious.
The observation & the theory of subconscious is what we mostly neglect, because we don’t go that deep.
When the kid starts going to school and meet others, the same pattern follows with a new set of viewpoints.
The above article is to set the foundation of understanding the importance of mindfulness with children to not only handle the conflicts arising but for the sake of their overall development.
In coming articles, under the “Definitive Guide to Mindfulness with Children” we shall discuss much more details about how to go about practicing mindfulness with children.
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or message me here at www.mindtofocus.com
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