Generation Mindful
By Ashley Miers
My husband and I have recently become raving fans (and clearly so has our son) of Generation Mindful. Isaac is enamored of his "Snuggle Buddies" - stuffed animals meant to bring him comfort and also to help him learn about and understand his emotions.
John and I are currently taking the Generation Mindful Positive Parenting course, which teaches parents how to recognize their own triggers and regulate their own emotions so that they can more effectively teach their children emotion regulation and cultivate emotional intelligence amongst everyone in the family. The course advocates for love-based, shame-free discipline versus punishment and power struggles.
We also ordered supplies to create a "Calming Corner" for Isaac, a safe place for him to calm down whenever he's feeling overwhelmed. It's a work in progress, but I am loving putting this sacred space together for him (I'm going with a "magical forest" theme) and bit by bit we’re learning to use all of the tools and resources Generation Mindful provides. I love that there are illustrations to help Isaac identify his feelings, games to play to make exploring these topics fun, and that all of this encourages and cultivates connection between all of us.
There is so much to explore, so much juicy content with the "Time In Tool Kit", the Positive Parenting course, and everything that Generation Mindful offers. It's going to take us some time to fully digest, integrate and implement all of the valuable knowledge and skills! We just started an after-breakfast morning ritual of reading one “Peacemaker” card per day to help us consider ideas like what it means to be a leader, the importance of sticking with things and getting things done, what love is, why kindness matters, the power of play, and so much more.
I'm truly grateful and excited to explore this parenting approach with Isaac and to give him a start in life that is light years ahead of some of what I experienced as a kid (spanking, "stop crying", etc). One thing that I’ve really internalized as a coach is the power of active listening, validation, compassion, and non-judgment. When we shut down or reject our feelings (or the feelings of others), that’s when problems fester and the pressure builds to create acting-out behaviors and conflicts. A couple of sayings that I’ve already picked up from our Positive Parenting course that I love are “name it to tame it” and “feel it to heal it”.
I'm also incredibly grateful to have a partner who is on board and fully engaged with me in this emotional intelligence adventure. It's a beautiful thing to consciously change generational patterns, and I'm profoundly grateful for the support and resources available to parents today to do so.
Parents have so much power. We are literally creating the next generation and molding the future in terms of how we nurture that generation's development. And the future will need healthy, well-adjusted leaders perhaps more than ever.
If this resonates with you, definitely check Generation Mindful out. When we heal ourselves, we can heal the world.
