Parenting Advice From a Mindfulness Educator: Teach Kids to Focus on the Experience, Not the Outcome Kids

Teaching our children to experience the experience instead of focusing on the outcome adds more meaning to their lives. Here are some steps you can take to help them do it successfully:

• Positive Experiences: We need to teach our kids that the experience of getting there is just as worthy as the trophy. In order to help them do this, ask your child these questions: How did winning make you feel? Were the steps you took easy or hard? Did you have fun doing it? What did you learn from this?

• Negative Experiences: What happens when the outcome doesn’t match the goal? We should always start by validating their emotions and then ask these questions: How does not winning make you feel? Do you think you tried your best? Did you have fun playing? What did you learn from this?

When we allow our children to work through their own emotions, they will learn how to self-manage those negative feelings. The ocean of life is navigated through the waves of experiences – positive, negative and neutral. Riding these waves is the life lesson. Guiding our children to focus on the experience is what will put meaning into the pages of the story of their lives.

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