Meeting Your Child in Meditation Part I

When I first received instruction on the true nature of mind in the Tibetan meditative tradition, that space felt familiar to me. I recalled being in a similar state when, as a young child, I sat in our garden and watched the ants make their way through the grass. The grass, the sunshine, and the ants completely absorbed me. I felt no separation between myself and my world—I belonged there as an integral part of this world.

People often ask me about how to help children connect with meditation and I’ve pondered this myself a lot since my son Oliver was born. I recall my own experience and how children have a remarkably innate capacity to simply be with and pay attention to what is the heart of meditation practice—especially when in nature. A child can spend many minutes staring at an insect or unearthing a stone. At these times, the child is focused, is in deep relationship with their world, and is fully immersed in the world’s mystery and wonder.

One way to encourage meditation in the lives of our children is, by recognizing the meditation they are already doing. By following them into these moments, we encourage their natural meditation. We follow them by neither interfering and creating too much noise around what they are doing, nor completely disengaging. We simply sit with them in stillness and reverence.

It may feel like nothing much is happening when we simply sit there with our children. But when we ignore these moments by tapping away on our phone, or by rushing them onto the next activity, we communicate to them that their experience is not important, that this present moment and being with what is are not important. By being there with them, we honor that moment, that space, our naturally sacred world, and our naturally sacred child.

We certainly don’t have to follow every insect with them, ! We look for balance, and see how we might dance with them in their experience. This is hard work—it takes attention, slowing down, and care. But it is deeply worthwhile to recognize the value of honoring their moment, because if we are someone who values meditation, this is a wonderful way to parent in alignment with our values.

I will be sharing more about our family’s meditation journey in future Journal entries (sign-up to our email list and you’ll be notified when new entries are posted) and I’m working on a book on this topic. So, if you have any feedback, or stories you would like to share, I’d love to hear from you.

Warm best wishes,

Rose