Children, especially toddlers, love to imitate their parents. They want to wear what their parents wear, they want to talk the way their parents talk, they admire their parents so much so that, they think whatever their parents do is the best (until they become teenagers, at which point their parents become the least knowledgeable source for them for a long while).

That’s exactly why it’s the best time to benefit from their admiration by practicing meditation yourself and presenting a role model for them to imitate to learn something that would help them all their lives.

If you want your kids to do something, you should do it yourself first, and do it consistently. Making them realize that this is something good. Making them say; “This makes my parents happy and healthy, then I should do it too.” This is the golden rule for anything you want them to do regularly, such as; reading, exercising, eating healthy, and meditating. If you do them yourself regularly, they will want to do them regularly too. This is exactly how I got the habit of reading every night before sleep from my father.

So, if you want your kids to meditate, first you should start to meditate yourself. Preferably both parents. And then also including your child and making it a family activity.

There are quite a few resources for the subject when you go to the Internet of course. For example, Headspace, one of the most well-known meditation apps, provides several kinds of guided meditations for kids. Also, there are other websites offering meditation options for children with paid memberships, such as this one from Australia; My Peaceful Universe.

There are plenty of resources free of charge that you can get meditation materials for your toddlers and school-age children. When you read a little and see the benefits of meditating for your little ones, it is kind of hard not to introduce your children to meditation.

The World is getting hotter literally and figuratively, and we need to arm our children with protective gear. And meditating provides exactly that for them to get stronger cognitively, socially and emotionally.

Regularly meditating helps them with the feelings of anxiety, depression, lack of self-esteem, poor performance and social interaction issues. It gives them optimism, positive attitude, happiness, calmness and well-being.

We all love our children and we want the best for them, always. What if introducing them to meditating might be one of the best things we might ever do for them?

This is my two cents. I leave it with you dear parents. I am sure you will look into it attentively. If you want to influence your kids positively, I would say, give it a try. There is nothing to lose for you or your children.