Mindful Parenting: 3 Steps to Change Your Relationship With Your Kids! by Jill Ceder, LMSW, JD

Mindfulness
6 years ago

Mindful Parenting: 3 Steps to Change Your Relationship With Your Kids!

Mindful parenting means bringing your conscious attention to yourself, instead of being hijacked by emotions. It doesn't mean that you won't get angry or upset or feel negative emotions, but acting on them mindlessly is what hurts our parenting. Here are three key factors to mindful parents:

  • Notice your own feelings. Think about a recent fight. Feeling angry, ashamed, embarrassed? Try to feel your emotion as waves – coming and going. Don’t push it away, judge, reject it. Don’t cling to it, make it bigger. You don’t need to blame yourself or your kid. Try to see the conflict through your kid's eyes – with kindness.
  • Learn to pause before responding in anger. The hardest and most important part is being able to find that calm space in the heat of the moment. We practice by focusing our attention on our body and breath because emotions present as changes in body and breath. When we are calm we can choose to respond and not react.
  • Listen carefully to your child’s viewpoint even when disagreeing with it. Your kid is going to act like a kid! Kids won’t always be able to manage their feelings. They are learning how to regulate and have different priorities than adults.

Self-care is vital for parents. Not selfish. Essential.

Donna John
Such great advice, Jill Ceder, LMSW, JD . Would work in ALL our relationships.
Cynthia Miller
Great piece, and I love the way you've explained what "mindfulness" actually is!
lmosterling
Very good advice, my son is autistic and he loves tracing things on the t.v., I have to be very calm for him to respond to me, I used to just loose my temper.
Stacey Roberts
Well this is timely! I don’t normally make New Year's resolutions, but I did this yr. albeit haphazardly. It’s to be a fun mom, not that grouchy mom I’ve evolved into over the last few yrs as a result of the effect computer games have had on my son. He can’t follow through with even the simplest task and that’s after having been told (I’m past asking) multiple times or just blowing you off completely. And compared to his fellow playmates, we restrict his time playing significantly. Bottom line, I realized I have to change the way I react and your steps to change clearly give me the tools. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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