Why Your Child Should Meditate Before Writing

As adults, it’s likely that we’re aware of the benefits of meditation on our mental health and focus. Your child should meditate before they sit down to write because it will help them to have laser focus and a quiet mind. With a clear head, your child will have the chance to reach their full potential during their writing time, and make the most of the time they spend writing.

How to Teach Your Child to Meditate

Meditation is a practice that typically doesn’t happen overnight, especially in kids. Meditation can take many forms. It doesn’t always have to be sitting quietly with crossed legs and eyes closed. Meditation can include a range of activities. The only “rule” to meditation is that the person practices having focus on one particular thing at a moment in time. Meditation can range from staring into the flame of a burning candle to mindfully getting dressed or eating breakfast in the morning. Small details in a typical day often get lost in the monotony of repetition. When we stop and remember to focus on the small stuff, we train our minds to put all of our attention on just one thing at a time.

Introducing Meditation at A Young Age

Getting kids to sit still can feel like an impossible challenge. Start small, and practice often. Start with thirty seconds of silence, increase to one minute, and so on. Work your way up to longer sessions each day. Practice with your child and incorporate it into their daily routine. 

Wall Street Journal “Work & Family” columnist Sue Shellenbarger writes about how to teach kids how to meditate. She interviewed many families who had an interest in teaching their kids how to meditate. One mom found success by simply leading by example and her child began to copy her each day. 

Another family started a candle-gazing meditation for 5-15 minutes after breakfast each morning. Sue suggested using a guided meditation for younger children, so they can focus on a voice and follow specific directions for what they should do next and how they should do it. Some of these guided exercises introduce the child to “belly breathing” or diaphragmatic breath, which is often utilized in meditation and other various meditative exercises.

Help them understand that it is a practice that must be done each day. We recommend having your child meditate before they sit down to write for the day. This will provide them with a clear head so they can get their great ideas down on paper. Soon enough, they will look forward to it and may even start to practice on their own as they try to cope with the regular stressors of life.

Most importantly, keep it light and fun. Meditating should never feel like a chore, and should turn into an activity that kids look forward to. In time, you can even request that your child lead the meditation.

Eliminate Anxiety and Increase Focus

Anxiety in students is more prevalent than it has ever been. You can teach your child self-coping skills to calm themself, whether it be deep breathing or a grounding activity. Once they learn these skills, they will have them for life. As soon as your child experiences a new clarity of mind from these practices, they will begin to implement them on their own because they know how effective they are.

Meditation can also help your child reduce their levels of stress, and focus on the positive instead of the negative. This will in turn reduce worry and fear, and provide more space for your child to focus. 

When you implement this new practice, tell your child to pay attention to how they feel when they write after their first-ever time meditating. If they report a huge increase in focus and they were able to write more efficiently, more quickly, and of greater quantity in the same amount of time, turn their attention to that. Show them what they were capable of without meditating before writing and with meditation before writing.