Meditating With Small Kids by Isabelle Nougier-Gallen

Bedtime routine has always been a cherished and precious moment for my family.

Since my sons have been infant, there has always been stories and songs. Then I’ve introduced to them a rhyme where we trace all their body to feel it and name it. It is a powerful exercise to calm them and make them aware of all the part and feeling of their body.

Then there has been the witch’s cauldron

Shortly after my eldest went to school at 2 and half years old, he begun to talk. And he needed something more powerful to help him calm down at night and calm his anxiety. That’s why we’ve created the witch’s cauldron.

We used to imagine a witch with 2 cauldrons. My son decided to throw in the first one anything he didn’t like or felt during the day. He made the gesture to throw the ideas or the words in the cauldron and then turn an imaginary wooden spoon saying “bouilli bouilla good riddance!” Then he thought about everything nice and positive and threw them in the other cauldron. This time he said “bouilli bouilla I keep all that!” and took the imaginary ladle to drink the positive magic potion.

This game was fun for him and the way to express things he didn’t know how to tell. Sometimes he didn’t know the word or the name of the emotion but the only fact to think of it and to put it in the cauldron helped him to feel more peaceful. The movement was another way to focus on the moment and be more present in the action. The fact to end this “meditation” of his day by only the positive facts and feeling was another way to introduce gratitude and lower his anxiety and fear level.

When he got older he got tired of it and we began something else.

It was the time of the light ball

Since he asked for more, I’ve tried the excellent book “Sitting Still like a frog” from Eline Snel. It is a wonderful book full of tips and funny exercise to introduce respiration and meditation notion. There is CD to listen the guided meditations according to the child’s age.

But it didn’t work with my son. As I was doing some meditation exercises myself, I decided to introduce them to him, in a simpler way. Sometimes, as we want to make things simpler for our kids, we make things more difficult they need to be. 

He perfectly understood the deep respirations, or the fact to imagine a ball of light healing every part of his body to help him feel better and sleep well. Even the positive affirmations were easy for him to voice out since as a kid, he spends his time to repeat songs and poem at school.

What I’ve come to realize is kids can do anything. Since their world is bigger than ours and their imagination has no limit, some difficult concepts around our body or our feelings aren’t that difficult for them.

So, meditating with small kids is easy, intuitive. You don’t have to explain them too much. Doing, breathing and feeling is sometimes enough. 

I can only encourage you to try meditation with your children, no matter their young age. It is good for them and good for you since you are sharing the meditation benefits with them. 

No matter the way or the methods, with or without cauldron, you’ll find a way to connect with them even better in the moment.

Isabelle Nougier-Gallen is a French mum of two special boys on a journey to live in mindfulness and kindness with every living soul, while respecting our planet. She blogs about kindness here and she is an eco-friendly digital storyteller for positive impact small businesses. She also has an interest in self-development, self-care, books and the arts. Feel free to contact her and follow her adventures on Instagram @not_a_star_just_a_mum and @pimpyourbestlife