As increasing numbers of individuals embrace mindfulness in their daily routines, many of us have begun to explore how this practice can become part of our wider family life. In many ways, mindfulness is an intensely personal practice – something we experience and feel the benefits of entirely within ourselves. However, it can also be a social practice too – something we use to connect with others and develop our emotional skill set.

Many of us look back fondly on family holidays, remembering how the mood was happy, expansive and relaxed, and how away from normal pressures everyone gets on that little bit better and laughs that little bit more. Mindfulness, by reducing our stress and cultivating our compassion, helps to bring these positive feelings into our daily lives – benefitting not only ourselves, but also the people we are closest to.

By practising mindfulness as a family unit, we can amplify this effect still further, and give children a fantastic tool that supports their wellbeing on their journey to adulthood.

Mindfulness and children

It can be easy to assume that children will either find mindfulness too difficult, or that they simply don’t need it as much as adults because they appear to live in the moment anyway. However, mindfulness is a fantastic habit to cultivate even from an early age. Mindfulness helps children to build their resilience, increase present moment awareness and develop emotional intelligence.

Mindfulness for parents

Parenthood is rewarding, life-affirming and full of fun – but it is also undeniably hard work. Whether it’s sleepless nights with a newborn or staying calm with a rude teenager, in order to navigate the demands of parenthood people with children need to practice self-care – ensuring they have the emotional tools to protect both their own and their children’s emotional wellbeing.

Mindfulness, with its associated benefits of less stress and anxiety, is a great way for parents to look after themselves and enjoy everything that’s wonderful about having kids, while coping more easily with the aspects of parenting that represent more of a challenge.

4 Tips for bringing mindfulness into family life

There are many age-appropriate ways to introduce children to mindfulness which can be incorporated into daily family life, such as:

1) Suggest mindfulness, yoga or “Quiet Time” at your children’s school

In recent years, schools have begun to embrace practices which aim to protect the wellbeing of students, with everything from yoga in PE to Quiet Time between classes rolling out across schools in many parts of the world. If your children’s school is yet to take up a scheme like this, you can suggest doing so with their head teacher and see if they are interested in the idea.

While not a formal form of meditation, Quiet Time gives children a chance to pause and reflect in their day, while yoga can promote mindfulness as well as giving children a non-competitive way to move and stretch. The use of mindfulness in schools is associated with various benefits, and you may even find that by encouraging it’s inclusion to the school day, your childs focus and grades get a boost.

2) Encourage listening

When you are out for walks in nature, sitting in the garden or enjoying a day at the beach, you can bring children into the moment by encouraging anything from 30 seconds to a few minutes of listening – where you all become silent to take in the noises around you. Ask them afterwards what they’ve noticed and if they can name some of the sounds they heard, from leaves rustling to seagulls crying overhead, and you may be surprised at just how involved they become in tuning in to the world around them.

3) Create mindful games

To engage children in mindfulness, you may find it easiest to capture their imagination by turning it into a game or by incorporating it into something that they already enjoy. For example, you may give them one “mindful snack” each day, where you both eat and attempt to focus on the smell, texture and flavour or that food. There is also the senses game, where you ask your children to identify something they can smell, see, hear and feel (for instance, if they were in their room, they might see a blue wall, smell the clean duvet, hear quiet traffic outside and feel their feet on the floor).

You can also suggest belly breathing – seeing if they can take three long breaths right to their belly – and breathing hugs, where you have a cuddle and try a few breathing exercises together.

4) Allow them to explore at their own pace

Children are especially inquisitive and interested in their surroundings, so instead of insisting on always going at an adults pace, remember to allow them to look and explore when the mood takes them. This encourages their natural mindfulness, while also helping to bring you to the moment they are enjoying too – letting you go through more of day-to-day life in a leisurely and mindful way.