Breathe

I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Craig has been going to school since we got married.  He started his Masters of Social Work a year ago, and will be completing in nine months! Hooray!!!!  I swear I should have officially enrolled in his classes and I could also be earning my MSW in nine months from now.  But alas, I didn't.  However,  my favorite thing I have learned about while helping him study is the concept of Mindfulness.  I have done quite a bit of studying on my own on this topic.  I LOVE it and am practicing at becoming more mindful myself.

We discovered a kids App Called Breathe

you help the monster take deep breaths until he calms down, then you help the monster think of different ideas to solve his problem.  And then you choose the best way to solve the problem.  Simple, but the very basis of Mindfulness,  and if you could teach your toddlers this basic skill think how far ahead they would be in life. 

My Three year old loves to play this game.  the last night at 1:00 in the morning she was crying uncontrollably about how she wanted a drink of Juice.  I am such a mean mom and didn't want to oblige and get her a bottle of juice in the middle of the night. She would have nothing to do with that.

So at 1:00 this morning I told her she needed to take monster breathes.  And she did it.  Then I told her she needed to think of different ways to solve the problem.  Which she tapped on her head while I named different solutions to the problem (this was lucky for me, because, since I was naming the solutions they were all good with me)  then she selected the option she liked best. and she went off to bed.

I LOVED that my 3 year old could make mindful decisions in the middle of the night!  Hooray!