Sure you wouldn’t have stayed unaffected by all the talks around mindfulness, seize the day or carpe diem, consciousness, and their importance. But if you think these are only the adult concepts, you are wrong. Or if you think kids are already born with mindfulness and don’t need to be taught more of it, you are only slightly right.

Here is how teaching mindfulness will help your kids.

Imagine if you wouldn’t have to distract your kids with TV or YouTube videos while they are having their meals.

Or spend lesser time in making them understand their classroom lessons and homework.

Have comparatively lesser intensity of their moody reactions.

Or make them easily willing to share their toys with other kids.

Plus it is all the more good if you have your kids develop good habits from the beginning of their life itself. It will help them throughout their life in many ways. Here are few unique ways in which you can teach your kids mindfulness and practice with them too.

1.      Ask them to taste any edible thing, and ask them to describe its taste or how it makes them feel. Do the same exercise with their eyes closed and then ask them to guess what they have tasted. While having a particular piece of food, ask them to guess its ingredients through the taste.

2.      Do you know at what time of the day you get to hear the most different varieties of sounds? It is just after the sunset, if you are living in a city. Spend that time with your kid near a window and help them to list down every single kind of sound they can hear.

3.      Go to a park or a beach with your kid and walk barefoot on the earth. Ask them to feel the touch of grass, sand, water, and even observe how the sunlight feels on the feet. Tell them that it is a blessing to be able to set foot on earth. There have been humans who have set foot on moon. But while you are on the Earth, every step should count.

4.      Sit with them and observe any other living creature. You can together observe the behaviour of a dog, a cat, birds, ants, or lizard. Choose whatever is there in your vicinity. Guess what these creatures might be feeling while going about doing whatever they are doing, see how these creatures interact with their surroundings, how their body language changes, how they move, when they move, how they look like, etc.

5.      Practice still life drawing with them. You or your kid doesn’t have to be good at it. But just sit along, and maybe draw each other, or a bottle, a toy, a vase, or anything simple around. Notice the lines, patterns, creases, wrinkles, light, shadow, and curves. This will help in building patience, stillness, concentration, and accepting the mundane realities as well as finding them worth an observation.

6.      Teach your kid to do yoga and meditation. Include this practice in their everyday life. It will bring inner peace, health, flexibility, strength, and perseverance in them.

These practices will bring health, strength, awareness, consciousness, and gratitude in you and your kid and will also make your bond with them much stronger. You’ll be able to create a much better impact on your child and their life.