Recently I was laying on my couch cuddling with my son and jokingly said, “Let’s just stay home tomorrow.  I’ll stay home from work and you’ll stay home from school.  We can cuddle like this all day!”  Not missing a beat my son starts laughing and says, “No Mom!  You need to go teach kids Mindfulness!”  Still giving him a hard time, I responded, “Why?”  His response? “Mindfulness helps them with their feelings!”  Well said my son, well said.

Mindfulness DOES help children with their emotions.  But what does mindfulness mean?  And when should we start teaching this mindfulness stuff?

What is Mindfulness?

There are many definitions of Mindfulness out there, but I like to keep things simple when I’m working with children.  I tell kiddos that Mindfulness means paying attention to what you choose to focus on in a nice way.  For adults, I often use the (still somewhat simplified) definition of mindfulness as paying attention to the present moment in a non judgmental way. You can find more information about Mindfulness here.

Why Teach Mindfulness to Children?

In preparing to teach a training to Social Workers throughout Missouri on this subject, I recently looked a bunch of peer reviewed journal articles to look for the cold hard facts about how mindfulness helps kiddos.  Here are some of the benefits I found in the research:

• Mindfulness can reduce anxiety and depression in children and teens

• Mindfulness increases a child’s focus

• Mindfulness practice reduced the risk of self harm and suicide ideation

• Mindfulness increased a child’s relaxation

• Mindfulness had a positive impact on children’s academic achievement and grades in school

• Mindfulness practice increased children’s social skills

• Mindfulness had a positive impact on children’s emotional state and behaviors

• Mindfulness was associated with better physical health.

From my own experience, I’ve seen:

• An easily upset child learn to describe their emotions in a calm way

• An anxious child cope with anxiety through breathing techniques

• An angry teenager learn to ask an adult to lead him through a meditation instead of being aggressive

• A preschooler calm down mid tantrum to participate in a guided visualization

• A child with ADHD gain confidence that he could learn to focus

• A pre teen who was “angry” and “acting out” begin to identify how she was feeling and cope with negative emotions calmly

What age should we start teaching Mindfulness?

When my son was two years old he said to me one night, “Can I show you what I learned in school?”  He then proceeded to show me several deep breathing techniques his preschool had taught him.  First I was impressed!  Then I was a little shocked.  He was only two years old!  I realized right then that the younger we start teaching kids mindfulness and meditation the better!  I had already been teaching it to children as young as Kindergarten at work, but that was the first time it dawned on me that we should be teaching mindfulness from day one.  Have you heard of the Mommy and Baby yoga classes?  They are a great example of instilling the idea that these purposeful, focused activities can be excellent coping skills through modeling our own behavior for our children at any age.

Reach Out for Help Today

If your child’s emotions feel too big to manage or you want your child to have more one on one help learning Mindfulness skills, contact Aspire Counseling today. As a Columbia, MO counseling clinic we strive to help families achieve a sense of peace through working with both parents and children.  Each of our therapist has a slightly different specialty and a unique personality, so we will work with you to find the therapist who will be the best fit for you or your child.

Jessica Tappana, LCSW is the founder, director and a therapist at Aspire Counseling in Columbia, MO.  She began Aspire Counseling in May 2017 to provide quality, evidence based mental health services to individuals in the Mid Missouri area looking for healing from trauma, grief, anxiety and overwhelming stress.  The practice now has 4 therapists and serves all ages from early childhood through retirement. Aspire Counseling is LGBTQ friendly and welcoming to people from all walks of life.  Jessica is proud of the care that is taken at Aspire to match each client with a therapist who is uniquely suited to meet that client’s needs based on personality, training, specialty and experience. If you’re interested in beginning your healing journey, you will find a safe space at Aspire Counseling.