Building concentration with your children

I love receiving all my different newsletters and here’s a lovely idea from The Law of Attraction Parenting Website to help develop your child’s concentration.

Meditation Games

Teaching children to be in the now, or stopping and smelling the roses is a great practice to build. Although, the younger the child, the more in the now they already are!

It doesn’t need to be a lengthy 1 hour highly focused meditation. Teaching your children some simple awareness or mindfulness games is a great way to teach them (and yourself!!) to focus on being present.

Listen to Noises:

Lie on the grass (or inside if it is too cold) and listen for all the noises they can hear. Get them to whisper what they hear:

The clock ticking

Birds tweeting

Dogs barking

Cars driving by

Tummy gurgles

Someone hammering in the distance

Waves crashing

Wind in the trees.

You’d be surprised at what we tune out in everyday life. By teaching them mindfulness, you are bringing their attention into the present, and by focusing on what is now you are slowing down the mind chatter. They will probably be better than you at hearing stuff!

Breathing:

Teach them to consciously breathe:
A big breath deep into your tummy, hold it for a few moments and then slowly let it out.

Imagine the breath going right down into the tips of your toes, down your arms and to your fingers, right up to the top of your head.

Do a big sigh when you let the breath out.

Have everyone link hands and pass your breath and love down your right arm to the family member next to you when you breathe out. Then breath in and breathe in the love up through your other arm

Get them to imagine the space in between their breaths. Hold for a moment on the in breath, and again after releasing all the breath.

Don’t worry if the kids get the giggles or wriggles. The important thing is to have fun and make a game out of it, not a serious exercise we have to do correctly. Usually children start out giggling, then relax and enjoy it. Go with the energy, keep it short so it isn’t something they get restless doing. Cuddle up with them and do it together – a great way for you both to just stop and Be.

Cloud watching

Lie down on the back lawn, or at the park or beach and watch the clouds. You can spot the shapes and creatures. You can even try cloud puffing, changing the shapes by focusing your breath and thoughts!
Smell the roses!

This saying has been around for so long, but how often do we do it? Send the kids round the garden to find the sweetest smelling rose or flower. They can cut it and then shut your eyes or put on a blindfold and take turns to pass them around one by one. Have each member describe the smell, and see if they can smell the color!

Guess which flower it is.

Then repeat with eyes open, in silence, just enjoying the vision, the smell, the texture. You can use edible flowers and add a taste sensation! A Variation is to use herbs. By teaching them to use their senses you are heightening their abilities in areas other than sight, which tends to dominate, so much so that we don’t really

See the beauty that surrounds us.

Have a wonder filled week.

Enjoy being present!