Parenting differs from child to child and family to family, there is no one fit for all. However, parenting can mould the child’s behaviour and has lifetime implications. Mindful parenting is emotional awareness and acceptance of the child. It helps children to develop trust, and safety, and they like the freedom to be themselves.
What is mindful parenting?
In simple words, Mindful parenting is a positive parenting method where parents practice moment-to-moment awareness in parent-child relationships. It consists of creating habits to listen to children with complete attention without any judgment from past experiences. It fosters self-regulation in parents and creates compassion for kids.
Benefits of mindful parenting:
Alleviate stress and anxiety in children: In mindfulness, parents acknowledge Child’s emotions and help them calm down in stressful situations. Gradually children will learn to take time and solve problems in difficult situations.
Improve decision-making ability: Children learn emotional regulation from caregivers. A positive parent-child interaction can develop social decision-making skills in kids while in a complex emotional situation.
Better adaptation to modern lifestyle: Apart from academic learning, children need to acquire multiple skill sets to fit into the modern lifestyle. A constructive parent-child relationship prepares the child for real-world challenges by teaching self-regulation, adaptation and making informed choices in day-to-day life.
Develop healthy self-esteem: It helps children love who they are. Kids develop confidence and satisfaction about themself. It prevents them from negative impacts for example – bullying in school.
Reduce child behavioural problems: Parents can help the child exhibit control over situations and emotions through modelling. It will reduce anger, temper tantrums, impulsive reactions, disruptive behaviour etc. Children will develop the habit of stepping back and calming down while dealing with problems.
How bad parenting can affect children?
Bad parenting creates stress and anxiety in children. It leads to a lack of concentration and poor academic performance.
Frequent poor interaction from caregivers, marital disputes, and lack of attention give rise to behavioural problems and impact mental health. Children while the transition to adolescence find it difficult to cope with emotions, and stress and feel depressed.
Negative childhood experiences can hamper a child’s attention, decision-making ability, and learning outcome. It takes a toll on a child’s mental as well as overall well-being.
Therefore, giving happy childhood with mindful parenting is the best approach for every child.
Mindful practices in parenting require practice every day as we know parenting is a lifelong developing process. Simply being emotionally aware and giving attention to your child, make all the difference that you need.
How can we help?
Vigour 360 facilitates parenting workshops where leading experts guide on developing healthy parenting practices.
Meta description: Mindful parenting is being emotionally aware from moment to moment while interacting with children without any judgment.