Spread the Love!
Help your child to control their thoughts by making Mindful Minutes a routine. Your step-by-step guide on why, how and when to take a Mindful Minute with your child.
Learn
Picture this – A child’s brain is like a monkey swinging from vine to vine; their thoughts jump around constantly. A child thinks between 12,000 and 50,000 thoughts a day! That’s exhausting.
Giving them a Mindful Minute – to focus on something other than their thoughts – gives their brains time to rest and recharge. Teaching a child to calm their mind (and body) through mindfulness:
- Improves self-regulation.
- Improves focus, one of the mental skills for which executive function is responsible.
- Empowers them to control their thoughts, instead of letting their thoughts control them.
The more frequently your child practices Mindful Minutes (not necessarily for longer durations), the more your child will learn to control their thoughts. Frequent, short practices are most effective.
Do
How to Take a Mindful Minute with Your Child
- Ask your child to sit comfortably (in a chair, on the floor or on a cushion). Guide your child so that they can focus on your voice.
- Tell them to close their eyes or look down at their lap.
- Tell your child to imagine a zipper is being pulled up their back to keep their backs strong and tall.
- Start the timer for one minute.
- You can start with one minute and gradually build up to five minutes or more over time.
- Ask your child to inhale deeply through their nose and exhale slowly through their mouth.
- Ask them to notice how their breath feels as it leaves their body.
- Ask them to tune in to what their breath ‘sounds’ like.
- Talk them through different body parts and ask them to notice how each one feels. For example:
- “Lift your shoulders to your ears and then drop them down and relax them.”
- “Wiggle your fingers in your lap, then relax them.”
- “Wiggle your toes in your shoes, then relax them.”
- “Feel your belly button dip down low, and then fill up like a balloon.”
- When the minute is over, ask your child to open their eyes or look up. Ask them how they felt during that minute and listen openly and intentionally to their answers. You may very well be surprised by what you hear!
When to Take Mindful Minutes?
Some like to take Mindful Minutes after breakfast, some before bedtime, others before bath time. Others do it weekly but at a routine time (e.g., every Friday after lunch or every Sunday before dinner). You know your child best, and you’re the best person to decide. The most important things are to:
- Be consistent
- Be quick (but intentional)
- Avoid making it a chore or punishment
Lani Rosen-Gallagher, TEACHER + EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONAL + PARENT
Lani is the Founder and Head Yogi of Full of Joy Yoga, a yoga studio for young children and families. Lani has a Master’s in early childhood education from Lesley University and holds numerous yoga certificates. As a former elementary school teacher with a deep passion for yoga, Lani has taught children in Boston, Brooklyn, Nairobi, San Francisco and Connecticut. She is also the creator of Mindful Yoga Breaks, which offers tools and techniques for teachers.
The benefits of mindfulness and how it can help your child thrive. How to naturally and authentically infuse mindfulness into...
A breathing exercise to help your child move through the rocky moments in their day. Easy to do and remember....
“Gratitude is not just a feeling outside your control that arrives willy-nilly. It’s more like a radio channel: you can...
Learn at what age you should expect that your child can practice skills without prompting and strategies for encouraging your...
Including your child in their own learning process about how to self-regulate is empowering and long-lasting. Here’s how everyday tools...
Here’s a practical tool and script to support your child’s self-regulation and emotional awareness – it provides a shared language to signal...
Make a Cozy Corner or Helper Green Basket to help your child recover from an emotional meltdown – proven techniques...
Empower your child to manage their emotions and regain control in heated situations with *STOP!*
It may feel like a number of impulsive behaviors are seemingly normal for children. But what is ‘normal’? In this...
Brain differences make it hard for a child to control their behavior. Understanding your child’s impulsive behaviors can help you...
‘Executive functioning’ is a phrase often cited when talking about child development. But what does it really mean and how...
Nuts + bolts; let’s get tactical. Now that we’ve baselined the three primary processes of executive functioning, let’s look at...
“The way we talk to children becomes their inner voice.” -Peggy O’Mara
In the heat of an emotional meltdown, it’s hard to remember what to do. So we use *SKOR* for quick recall....
Empower your child with a valuable life skill – teach them how to express their emotions and desires during conflict.
Teach your child to *THINK* before they speak – to consider the impact of their words (vs. their intent). A helpful...
‘Sensory processing development’ is vital to understanding how children learn. It is deeply studied among early childhood experts, but not...
“It’s not about how smart you are, it’s about how you are smart.” -Howard Gardner
“What is a good resource to understand milestones for my child? At what age should they learn colors? Learn numbers?...
How do you know if your child is experiencing a developmental “bump”? How do you know if it is time...
Acknowledge and promote positive behavior….*Plinkit* with a Marble Jar! You’ll be amazed at the twinkle in your child’s eye each...
A simple tip sheet for how to praise your child. Something more than “Good job” or just commenting on process and...
“Empathy is when you’re able to understand and care about how someone else is feeling.” -Mark Ruffalo, Sesame Street
A classroom favorite for cultivating empathy, kindness, community membership and awareness of others. What’s a real superhero? Someone who helps...
Children experience emotions just like adults, but they need support and guidance to: 1) Understand their emotions; and 2) Make...
Tantrums are hard to manage – for everyone. Here’s our checklist for what to do…in the first 5 minutes.
The reality is we have no control over when our child calms down. Parenting and teaching is not quick and...
It takes work and repetition, but indeed, there are things that can be done to pre-empt a tantrum and ways...
Your go-to schedule and plan for balancing play, learning and structure for large amounts of time with your child (i.e.,...
Our Awesome Allowance System gives children practice in setting financial goals, making hard choices, and developing a sense for the...
Let’s double-down on how to translate *growth mindset* into something tangible with your child. We’re focusing on how to teach...
*Yet* – Three letters that may change your child’s outlook on life, even among the youngest learners. Learn how the...