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When we parent mindfully, we communicate more clearly, save ourselves mountains of stress, and raise more emotionally skillful kids. Win-win-win.
How do we raise happy, healthy children? Recent research has made a convincing case for mindful parenting, the idea of responding thoughtfully—rather than reacting—to our families in the face of the good, the bad, and even (or, really, especially) the ugly. Naturally, not losing our cool from time to time is a near impossible feat, but it’s well worth the effort: leading from a place of conscious compassion has been linked to overwhelmingly positive behavior in kids. “When we are intentional with our words and actions,” explains the developmental psychologist Mary Ann Christie Burnside, “we are also teaching our children how to be skillful.” As the saying goes, “Teach them young, teach them right.”
