How Mindful Parenting Can Help You Communicate Better with Your Children
For many, the words — mindful parenting — may seem intimidating. The immediate image that comes up when you think of a mindful parent is someone who is in control of their emotions all the time and does not lose their cool. However, mindful parenting is so much more than that.
Let’s take a look at the importance of mindful parenting and how it can help you manage your relationship with your children better.
What is Mindful Parenting?
Practicing mindful parenting does not mean that you will not be critical of your child, or that you will never have any dreams or expectations for them. No, that’s very much a part of being human and a parent.
Mindful parenting is a practice where you train yourself to be a witness to what is happening, to be able to pause and ask yourself, “What is the best and kindest way to respond to this situation?”.
Mindfulness parenting pioneers Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn, who have authored ‘ Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting ‘, say that the practice involves focusing attention on the child-parent relationship and not just on oneself.
Mindful Parenting Can Help You Communicate Better with Your Children
More often than not, we work in a reactive mode driven by our subconscious beliefs and past patterns. As a result, we keep re-creating the past as if we were on automatic pilot.
Instead, if we become mindful by committing to live in the moment and to be present, then we can completely change the way we react to any situation. It can also help the relationship between you and your child strengthen and become more open-hearted.
Therapists and researchers say that mindful parenting involves the following:
- Listening to the child with attention
- Accepting yourself as well as your child fully, without judgement
- Being emotionally aware of yourself and your child
- Self-regulating your method of parenting
- Self-compassion and compassion for your child
Mindful parenting is about being present moment-to-moment so that you can see your child’s unique nature and talents, appreciate and nurture them. By being mindful, you step away from the traps of placing the burden of your own unmet needs and dreams on your children.
You may also be able to identify dysfunctional family roles that your child may be susceptible to fall into.
It is important in this day and age to master the art of managing the child-parent relationship with mindful parenting techniques. Because every thought, word, and action uttered by the parents in the early years of childhood shapes the child’s development and how they view life in the later years.
You will also get the beautiful gift of seeing that your children become mindful too in their own lives!
Originally published at https://illuminations.ae on February 26, 2021.
