"How can I encourage my child to sit still and be mindful?"

Introducing mindfulness to your child by asking them to sit still and meditate is doomed to failure.

Mindfulness was forced on me as a child….When I was 5 years old I started school and every day after lunch we were expected to sit at our desks silently folding paper or resting our heads on our desks for 30mins.

I still remember how long those 30 minutes seemed and how uncomfortable the hard chair would feel under my legs.

Wriggling would result in your hand being smacked….can you believe that! (things have certainly changed in the last 50 years)

Not surprisingly I hated it!

it’s so important to make your child a willing partner in learning and establishing this tool as a way of strengthening thinking and decision making.

If you can see the benefit of mindfulness for your child and you’d like them to start practicing the best way to introduce it is as part of everyday activities.

You can be mindful washing up, having a bath, walking the dog, brushing your teeth, eating dinner, listening to music, playing a game, drawing. The only limit is your imagination.

Just 2 or 3 minutes daily and only if they want to. Both of you together taking a moment to notice and share with each other.

Oh by the way wriggling is definitely allowed!

Diana