12 Nov Why Mindfulness is Important for Your Kids

A lot has been talked about mindfulness. Now many people know what this term actually means, why should one practice it and what its various benefits are. All the talks about the guided meditation revolve around why adults should practice it. They have work stress, family stress, anger issues, sleeping problems and a variety of other problems and mindfulness helps them curb it. What they forget is kids too have problems of their own. Although grown-ups might be ignorant of their problems, it doesn’t really matter if their problems are big or small, those problems need to be solved because you never know which small problem can affect the life and the growth of a child into a healthier and better human being.

Kids need to learn mindful meditation not just to deal with their problems but also to lead a better life. Mindfulness helps people connect with their true selves which eventually helps them stay calm and think clear when in trouble. Sooner kids learn this technique better it will be for them.

Growing up is not a cake walk. Kids face a lot of challenges while growing up. The highly competitive world gives them stress too. Right from school they have pressure to perform not just in their exams, but in academic and non-academic competitions as well. This stress often forces kids to take some extreme step. Many times it takes a toll on their health too. According to a study, stressful events can affect the well-being of a child almost immediately. It can cause mental as well as physical health problems and also affect their learning abilities. Hence a measure needs to be taken for the better future of your kids and there is no better measure than mindfulness. It does not involve any side effects but only makes a person better each day.

Many kids have a hard time focusing on their studies. Their mind gets distracted every 10 minutes and they forget what they learn. The consequences of this are reflected in their results. Bad grades bring more pressure on the kid which is obviously not good for his mental and physical health. But this can be prevented by introducing mindfulness in your kid’s life. One of the greatest benefits of mindfulness is that it helps in increasing concertation, reducing stress and boosting happiness. This ultimately helps kids to thrive in their studies.

Guided meditation has also been found to strengthen self-control. Smoking and drinking have become quite a common habit these days. They begin with occasional drinking and smoking but with time it often gets transformed into addiction. Mindfulness can help in suppressing the feeling of wanting to have even a glass of hard drink or a cigarette because it helps to manage your thoughts better. Mindfulness helps in building self-control which gives the kid the strength to resist doing things that can harm.

Regular practice of mindful meditation can help kids in controlling their anger and staying calm. It can even teach them patience. Mindfulness can prove to be a very powerful tool for those kids who find it very hard to keep their cool, wait for their turn or do not know how to handle difficult situations that come their way.

Practicing mindful meditation is very easy even for kids. It is a step by step process and if you teach it to your kids with love and patience, it wouldn’t be very hard to adopt. Kids can begin with breathing exercises and learn to pay attention to minute details that happen every day in their lives. Listening exercise is another easy mindful exercise that involves focusing on the different sounds in the surroundings and sharing the experiences. Smell exercise, touch exercises, squeeze exercise are other simple mindful exercises which kids can practice with ease. It requires a lot of practice to master mindfulness but once kids make this as a habit, they will be able to reap its benefits throughout their life.

Purva Jain

Purva is a freelance writer from Udaipur, India. She covers a wide range of topics including health, lifestyle, news, food, and travel. You can reach out to her at [email protected]