Parenting Blog
Parenting After COVID
How parents can ease back into mindfulness after many months of intense pandemic anxiety. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested all of us — from the young to the old, to the sick and the healthy — no one has been un-impacted by the implications of our current global health crisis. And while we have all learned to cope and deal with the lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, travel restrictions, workplace changes, and new responsibilities, it has — to put it lightly — not been easy. One cohort that has been specifically impacted by COVID-19 is new parents. Under normal life circumstances, parenting is difficult enough. After all, caring for newborns and [...]
Mindful Dads
Fathers can also greatly benefit from mindful communication with their children. Being present and practicing mindfulness with children is easier said than done. While new mothers are traditionally expected to be mindful, fathers are often understudied and overlooked when it comes to the relationships they form and nurture. While there is little research that specifically assesses the impact of mindfulness on father-child relationships, a multitude of twin-parent studies shows that there are immensely beneficial aspects of open communication between fathers and their children. The following benefits of mindfulness are directly correlated with an enhanced relationship between dads and their families. As such, mindful communication among fathers should be studied, practiced, and [...]
Benefits of a Mindful Mom
Learn how practicing mindfulness can help with some of the stresses of motherhood. Nothing in the world can fully describe the emotional roller-coaster that is motherhood. Motherhood marks a new chapter in a woman’s story and brings with it a new sense of purpose and meaning to life. Mothers experience a myriad of new emotions and a fierce love for their children, as they have never felt before. Nonetheless, motherhood can get overwhelming and exhausting. Some days you may feel like you are being pulled in a thousand different directions, making you feel drained and in desperate need of some peace and quiet. This is where the art of mindfulness comes [...]
A Special Kind of Stress
Calming techniques for the chaos and anxiety of special needs life. Raising a child with special needs is a challenging task that can drain parents, especially when effective coping methods are absent. Brain development in children is a complex process that depends on several factors, including nutrition, social interaction, and engaging in numerous activities. This multifactorial process is primarily reliant on the parents’ commitment. Parents can make a big difference in raising their children, and consequently, how well their cognitive abilities develop. The Role of Mindfulness Over the past few years, researchers have inspected hundreds of clinical trials to comprehend the effects of mindfulness. Published studies have found that mindfulness benefits [...]
Interpersonal Mindful Parenting
Two new studies offer insights on how mindfulness techniques may impact parenting. Mindfulness starts with awareness. With the following questions having no correct answers, reflect on them as you read this article. By being mindful of our behaviors, we can be less reactive and more resourceful in our choices. Never True Rarely True Sometimes True Often True Always True I find myself listening to my child with one ear because I am busy doing or thinking about something else at the same time. When I’m upset with my child, I notice how I am feeling before I take action. I notice how changes in my child’s mood affect my mood. [...]
A Campfire Story
A tale of “The Two Wolves” is a helpful allegory to help guide our pursuit of mindfulness. An old Cherokee Indian is huddled around a campfire with his grandson, with only the shine of the moon and hum of the turning world for company. “A fight is going on inside me,” the Cherokee said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight; it is between two wolves. One is angry. It has envy, greed, arrogance, guilt, resentment, inferiority, and superiority. The other is good. Joyful, peaceful, loving, hopeful, humble, kind, benevolent, have empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and is faithful.” “The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other [...]
New Year Mindfulness
Start the new year off in a more mindful state with these meditation tips. As we all know, the turn of a New Year can bring with it a whole wave of emotions. Many people look ahead to the next 12 months and make resolutions, vowing to make positive changes in their lives that they did not quite manage the previous year. However, some also reflect on past guilt and regrets from time now passed, disappointed at some of the decisions they made or things they experienced. This mixture of emotions is completely normal! However, it is important that you take the time to learn from these feelings, preparing yourself for [...]
A Mindfulness Refresher
It’s a good time for going back to some mindfulness basics. Mindfulness is far more than being aware of an experience — it is also understanding why we are aware of it. Mindfulness is the human capacity to process a situation and approach it with kindness and warmth. By having a firm grasp over where your focus lies, you can gain a far greater insight into the meaning behind the experience. This idea of open interest within the experience is called “simple knowing.” As experienced teachers of mindfulness, we have seen so many different people from different walks of life come to us for different reasons. Mindfulness knows no boundaries, stereotypes [...]
Tips for Working Moms
As a working mother, life can often feel like a balancing act. You have to stay on top of your career and your work responsibilities, and you also need to support your kids and spend quality time with them. They won’t be little forever! If you’ve been struggling to wear “mom” and “employee” hats at the same time lately, these tips should help. Keep a Running To-Do List Many working moms struggle with a constant list of tasks running through their heads. This makes it really difficult to focus on whatever you are doing in the moment. It limits your productivity and keeps you from actually enjoying the time you spend [...]
Expressing Empathy
Knowing the right ways to show empathy and compassion can serve as useful emotional tools for parents. The definition of empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, while compassion is described as sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. Just because you are not going through something or feeling a certain way does not mean that you cannot empathize and show compassion toward others. Being open-minded to a pain you have never experienced first-hand is one of the most difficult things to do as you cannot draw on your own emotions or anecdotes. Instead, you have to listen attentively to what the [...]
Tricks and Treats of Parenting
Happy Halloween! This holiday is sure to be filled with fun tricks and tasty treats, along with lots of pumpkins, witches, and black cats. From trick-or-treating to bobbing for apples, there are so many fun ways to celebrate. Here’s a really unique approach: Take a little time to reflect on the tricks and treats of parenting! Here are some parenting “tricks” that will save you a few headaches, along with some of the treats only parents can fully enjoy. Parenting Tricks Good parents always have good tricks up their sleeves Read Familiar Stories at Bedtime Reading is often touted as a way to encourage children to fall asleep. But what if [...]
Learning Better and Faster
The key to learning is first learning how. When we talk about education — whether our own, our children’s or other people’s — we talk a lot about the importance of learning. We talk surprisingly little, though, about how to learn. We fail to address the reasons why learning is hard or wonder if there are things we can do to make learning easier or even more effective. Training your brain to help the learning process along rather than hindering it is a kind of superpower. It is like possessing a magical key to a secret treasure. It can make life richer, more satisfying and more productive. What Is Learning? Learning is the process by which the [...]