Kiddipedia

Kiddipedia

The Dalia Lama is quoted as saying, “If every eight-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”

As a teacher and student of the healing art of meditation for over thirty-three years, I agree with His Holiness. Not only has ‘going within’ transformed my life on every level, but scientific research also has proven the enormous health benefits of meditation when our brain switches to gamma waves during deep practice.

To have every child learn meditation would drastically reduce mental health issues, emotional toxicity such as loneliness, anxiety, bullying and unworthiness, lack of self-esteem and a myriad of other negative behaviours and conditions. Most of humanity wants peace on earth, as do most families. We want our home to be one of peaceful cohabitation with less stress, fighting, yelling, and tension.

As parents, we have the responsibility to be the presence of peace in our family. We must individually value our peace above all else and instill that value in our children. With peace, challenges become opportunities rather than problems. With peace, our reality becomes our responsibility and not someone else’s fault. With peace, we can develop faith in ourselves and our future.

Though finding time to meditate may seem a herculean task, every parent can find fifteen minutes a day to sit in solitude and practice mindfulness or meditation. If we can’t find that small window of time, then we don’t have a life. And with the numerous guided meditations and visualizations apps available, there is no excuse not to stop and become still. Even if we can’t rid ourselves of those nuisance thoughts, we must persist. For it is in our commitment to the practice, that progress is made, and peace is found.

If we want to give our children the best start in life, it is our responsibility to be the presence of peace so they can learn the important lessons of self-responsibility, self-determination, and self-actualization. We can start meditating with our children from whenever they can sit still quietly for a few minutes. They can be as young as three or four. Though they mightn’t close their eyes, they will enjoy the peaceful energy, and over time, they will learn to sit still longer, close their eyes, and tap into the power of the practice.

In the meantime, here are a few ways to shift our family dynamic and instill more peace into our homes today.

  1. Teaching our children to be grateful for their blessings and how to be of service to those less fortunate helps connect them to their peace. Begin the morning as a family with a gratitude meditation, prayer, or conversation. It need be only a few minutes, but the energy will set a calmer tone for the day. Then brainstorm how you can help those less fortunate. Perhaps buy a couple of extra groceries as a care package and give it to the lady next door living by herself or call older relatives more regularly. This peaceful energy empowers everyone to approach their day with more hope, optimism, appreciation, and peace.
  2. As a family, limit time spent on phones and electronic devices. Not just for the children, but for the adults as well. Turn them off and have face-to-face discussions on the bigger issues of life—values, beliefs, money, future focus. Even if we have young ones, being part of these ‘big picture’ conversations teaches them essential life mastery skills. If we approach our children expecting them to be more, they will become more. These deeper discussions shift the family dynamic and will add more connection, trust, and peace to our homes.
  3. Ban all negative language and actions in the house. Tough call, but if the disruptive energy of stress, fear, blame, and judgement continually infiltrate our homes, our children will mirror that in their behaviours and speech. As parents, we must be the presence of peace through example and encourage and reward our children’s positive language and action.

Parenting by being the presence of peace reminds us of our love for our children.

It reminds our children of the greatness that lies within them.

And that’s the greatest gift we can give as a parent.