Growing up, I struggled a lot with focusing, whether it was in school or with interactions I had with others. In fact, I still struggle with it to this day. And I’m sure plenty of you out there have children who struggle with the same thing. Well, Parent Co. recently published an article suggesting five ways to help kids with focusing, or to help improve their mindfulness.
The first tip is that parents should encourage their children to be mindful while they’re eating their meals. They say you ask your kids questions about how their food tastes, smells and feels. This will apparently help them understand more about their own senses. And this all definitely sounds like something that could potentially be helpful. I mean, what could be a better way to help kids be more mindful than by encouraging them to focus on something so basic that they do multiple times a day?
Another tips is for parents to turn their walk with their kids to school into a “walking meditation.” Like with the eating exercise, this involves getting kids to focus on their five senses while walking to school. You can ask them about the things they hear, see and smell during the walk. You can get them to think about how it feels when they lift their foot in the air compared to when it’s on the ground. And once again, it sounds like another really good way to get them to be mindful about something that they do all the time but probably never really think about.
Lastly ask your kids a unique question at dinner such as “what color was your day?” meaning, when they think about their day, what color do they associate with it? I like the idea of trying to get kids to think about things in a different way. It definitely sounds like the kind of thing that could help expand their mind in general and in turn possibly help with their mindfulness.
Links:http://www.parent.co/5-ways-to-incorporate-mindfulness-into-your-childs-daily-routine/
