4 Family Techniques for Practicing Mindfulness

There’s no time like the present to start an open dialogue about why mental health is important and how your children can care for their own mental health. Parents have many responsibilities that can cause stress on a daily basis, but it is important to realize that children also feel stress from school, social relationships, and the pressures of growing up. As a parent, you can help identify the daily stressors in your child’s life and work with them to cope with their stress. The earlier your child gains coping skills and techniques to help them handle stressful situations, the better they will be at self-soothing and problem solving in the future.One great way to deal with daily stress is to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you maintain a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. There are many ways to include mindfulness into your family’s everyday routine. Here is a list of our four favorite mindful practices to do with your child every day.Write it Down—Writing is one of the best ways for adults and children to articulate thoughts and make sense of their world. Journaling allows younger children to work on writing letters, words, and sentences, and then encourages them to create stories or memories. Regardless of their writing or grammar skills, your children have a story to tell and writing it down will help them process and understand their emotions. By naming and writing their emotions down, their feelings are validated and their emotions have more meaning.Take A Moment of Silence—Daily life as a parent can be challenging, there are often few moments to relax. Although there may not be a physical location for you to get away and take a break, spending just a few quality moments in silence can sometimes do the trick. Look for opportunities during the day to sit in silence, such as the car ride home from work or school, ten minutes before getting into or out of bed, or while eating a meal. The more comfortable you get with using quiet time as a soothing exercise rather than a reason to turn on the radio or TV, the easier it will be to teach your child to do the same.Have A Mini Dance Party—Exercise is a popular de-stressor in adults, and it works just as well for children. Exercise reduces stress hormone levels and stimulates hormones that relax the body and elevate your mood. Exercise can take many forms, and the best exercises for children do not require any expensive equipment. The only requirement is that it is an activity that you are comfortable with and have fun doing! Taking ten minutes to dance in the living room with your child or walk your favorite furry friend can be enough to relax those stress hormones and allow you and your child to unwind after a busy day.Take Time to Smell the Roses—Mindfulness focuses on gaining a greater awareness of your surroundings. More awareness can simply mean taking time out of your day to focus on details that you normally do not notice. An example of this could be counting how many petals are on a flower in your garden or listening for how many different birds you hear during a fifteen minute walk. Children are naturally curious and taking a walk together outdoors can be the perfect opportunity to foster that curiosity and help them develop a greater awareness of their environment.Mindfulness practices can take many forms and may look different depending on what is comfortable to you. Practicing mindfulness may seem intimidating or awkward at first, but the key to success is to have an open mind and a willingness to practice being mindful every day. As a parent teaching mindfulness to your child, you should be comfortable with your own mindfulness techniques so that you can lead by example and authentically share them with your child. The most important thing to remember is that all mindfulness techniques and skills take practice, but they ultimately can help improve and maintain your family’s mental health.This article and associated materials were adapted from information provided by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness.