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Monday, August 19, 2013

What does it mean to be a mindful parent?

Ever come home from work dog tired only to have your 2 year old spill an entire box of Cheerios on the floor?  Welcome to parenthood!  On the weekend, I am super flexible with my son in his curiosity and exploration of our home and all it has to offer.  On the weekdays ... not sure much.  Usually after I do any kind of harsh scolding, I immediately regret it and think there was probably a learning moment there for both of us, but often - as parents - we get so caught up in everything that's going on (work, dishes, laundry, dinner, where's the husband?, what's the toddle into now?, etc etc etc) that our patience wears thin and our temper appears.

There's a great new article (and workshop!) available on Huffington Post titled Mindful Parenting: Introducing Our New Stress-Less Parenting Workshop with Carla Naumburg.  I went ahead and signed up for her "Stress-Less Parenting" workshop and am looking forward to Carla's weekly email.

The main takeaways I got out of this article were:

  • The problem is not your child - your child is exhibiting perfectly natural behavior, the problem is you and how you choose to respond to your child's behavior.
  • Mindful parenting is about doing things purposefully, rather than letting our emotions (and stress, anxiety, or frustration) dictate our responses to challenges that arise.
  • Be aware of your feelings and your child's perspective.
  • Mindful parenting is about tuning into how you feel so you can make a thoughtful choice about how to respond to your children, rather than mindlessly reacting to them.
What are your thoughts on mindful parenting?


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