Mindfulness is another area your child can explore with you at any time they feel. It is a rewarding activity where you can both discover what it means to maintain a good mental health cycle each week. It also gives your child the opportunity to explore new habits as well, both healthy and rewarding.
In this guide we take a look at ways you can help your child explore mindfulness, and what it can help your child with as they get older and further through school life.
Take time to talk through your child’s thoughts
Mindfulness isn’t just about the everyday actions you can do to help a child manage, while it is a portion of it, it’s also an opportunity for children to identify their feelings and learn to overcome problems they might be facing.
This is when you should give your child the freedom to speak their mind. They won’t have all the knowledge at a young age, yet, but giving them the space to think about things openly will give them a lot more confidence. From here, you can help your child learn more about their emotions, how they can handle conflicts, what they can do to improve their mood in difficult situations, and more.
Ask your child three things they loved about their day
To keep your child thinking positively about each day then it’s worth asking them what they do enjoy about each day when they head to school, or when they pick up a new hobby or activity outside of school.
There are also small things that can help your child feel positive. Ask your child what they felt they enjoyed about their day and get them to list three things they found important about their day. Did they make a new friend? Did they learn a new skill? Get them really excited about what they could have learned about so that they feel more encouraged to tell you about the best parts of their day.
This girl’s Sixth Form employs this to help their students feel encouraged about the next day in their studies, especially at this level when they will be on their way to University and life can feel stressful at times.
Practice mindful eating
When eating food it shouldn’t just be pushed down your mouth to be forgotten about! This is a time to take a moment to appreciate what you are eating and how the different flavours feel to them. This is when you can ask your child how they feel when they eat certain foods, as they are known to increase serotonin in all of us when we eat our favourite food. This is a good time to give your child new foods to try as well – they can gradually become a lot more accepting of trying new things.
Work on methods to help your child feel calm
Deep breaths, removing yourself from a situation, and other methods can reduce calm, but sometimes these issues happen in places where these aren’t possible. Teaching your child to remain calm and know the signs of stress and anxiety can help them feel a lot more comfortable and aware of what makes them feel happy. Mindfulness is very important to this; by helping your child understand themselves better, they are going to feel more comfortable when it comes to handling conflict.
Being calm in these situations will allow your child to be mindful of how they react and what they say, which is important for their development in terms of overcoming adversity and having improved mental health.
Try exploring mindfulness with your child to see how much it can improve their mood, their sense of direction and other areas that will aid their improvements. You may be surprised with how much they will impact their development over time, especially when they get older and begin to take on more responsibilities.
