MINDFULNESS MONDAY
Happy Memorial Day!
This week’s activity is designed to be performed with your kids. Helping children to recognize and cope with emotions is one of a parent’s richest responsibilities. Emotional intelligence is a necessity for healthy self-esteem, relationships, creativity, empathy and resilience as adults.
In many ways emotions are like the weather, in today’s activity we are going to use the weather as a way to encourage kids to think about and express their emotions. The imaginative labeling process we will use also helps you to see into their world and understand how you can help them.
A suggestion for the week: ‘What’s your weather like today?’ You can read the following script word for word or adjust it to suit your child’s need or personality.
· Have your child sit or lay in a comfortable position. Tell them we are going on an adventure to find your personal weather report. Your weather is made up of the thoughts and feelings you are having right now.
· If you feel calm and happy- maybe it is a sunny day. Or if you are upset maybe you feel like a stormy sea. Let’s explore your weather report together.
· So, close your eyes for a minute and notice any feelings you have. Big ones or small ones or any kind. If you were telling me about the weather inside of you, what would you tell me?
· That sounds neat. Can you be a little curious about that feeling? Tell me more of what it feels like? What kind of weather is it?
· Is it staying the same, or is it changing sometimes?
· Great, do you notice anything else? Is there any other kinds of weather inside you? Sometimes even in the stormiest ocean, or the rainiest days there is a little patch of blue skies somewhere, a little bit of being ok.
· Feelings are like weather because they change. Clouds float away and rain stops. The weather doesn’t stay the same way forever. So you don’t have to fight with it.
· If you are having a bad feeling, it can be just like that. If you just let it be, and be a little curious about it, it will move along and change and you can see the blue sky again.
· And I love to know what you weather is like too. That way I can bring you a raincoat or something to help you or just be there with you.
· Thanks for sharing your weather with me. I really enjoyed it and I hope you did too.
Have a great week!