Mindfulness comes up a lot these days, and people practice mindfulness in many different ways. There are therapeutic mindfulness strategies and mindful journalling practices. You’ll hear yoga instructors discussing mindfulness, and it will come up in parenting workshops, too.

We have posts about building mindful practices into family life and parenting, but how do you explain mindfulness and being mindful to children? How can they begin to build mindfulness into their lives, and how do they benefit from it?

First, we need a disclaimer: we will not introduce you to larger practices like body scans or therapeutic mindfulness strategies. I am not a therapist. While I have an understanding of trauma-informed mindfulness techniques, I do not possess the expertise or certifications necessary, and it is beyond my scope of practice.

Here we will discuss some of the ways children can enjoy building mindful moments into their lives and begin to be more in tune with their feelings, bodies, and environment - in fact, this is almost exactly how I explain mindfulness to children. I say that doing things like buddy breathing (explained below) helps us notice more about how our bodies feel and move, and over time, helps us become more aware of our feelings, our sense, our environments, and our responses.

So, what kinds of mindful moments can you start with children of all ages? Think about the ones that your child might enjoy, and what might be right at different times. What do you and your child want to work on? Choose mindful moments that feel right for your child.

Here are some mindful moments I recommend:

Buddy Breathing - Your child chooses a stuffed animal to sit on their stomach/lower chest while they lie on their back. They practice taking slow, deep breaths (in through the nose, out through the mouth - if they are at an age to do this) and watch the stuffed animal rise and fall with their breath.

The Taste of Chocolate - You and your child each sit comfortably, eyes open or closed, possibly facing each other. Explain the purpose briefly ahead of time. You each place a chocolate chip on your tongues and let it melt slowly. You are noticing the flavour of the chocolate, how long it takes to melt, how you feel about the taste, whether you just let it melt slowly the whole time or suck it to melt faster.

Pots & Pans - Your child bangs on a pot with a utensil (or different types of utensils!) and then stops, listening closely for the moment when the sound/vibration stops completely.

Go on a Texture Scavenger Hunt - Find some different objects in nature, and take some time to explore them through touch, describing how each feels.

Checking the Weather/Press Pause/Status Update - A few times throughout the day, pause and check in with your child, describing how each of you feels in the moment. (I feel really silly, like my body is jumping and I just want to laugh and move a lot - or it feels like a thunderstorm, I’m angry and my body is tense and I feel very hot).

Daily Gratitude - At the beginning or end of the day, spend a few minutes listing things that you and your child are grateful for. You can choose a number - say, three each - or go back and forth until you run out of things. They can be big or small, important or silly (I’m grateful to be in community, I’m also grateful for rhubarb sauce).

Try some or all of these things, and let us know if you have other mindful moments you do at home. Do you look for shapes in the clouds? Watch ants work? We want to know!

Written by Lara Vlach, RECE, Parent Support Coach

Mindful Moments