We are discovering in this crisis that the dangers and the opportunities can bring us closer together. Families are spending more time at home: a wonderful opportunity but there are also complexities to confront. Children, who are used to playing outside in the good weather, are now often cooped up at home.
Short periods of meditation together can help them and parents find peace within themselves and help the children deal with anxiety and fear. We recommend one minute per year of the child’s age. Otherwise, the essential teaching on how to meditate is exactly the same as for adults – sit still, close your eyes and say your word. There are proven benefits in stress relief and powers of attention which flower into spiritual fruits such as love, joy, peace and kindness. Experience in the World Community in many cultures shows that children can and love to meditate. What better time to explore the gift of meditation with children than now?
Many resources to explain and describe how simple this is available. To begin we offer this as an example from Latin America.
Meditation with children on Facebook (in Spanish)
WCCM Colombia, together with WCCM Mexico, is currently running a series of workshops addressed to parents, grandparents and aunts on Facebook. Christian Meditation coordinators from other Latin American countries have attended some of the workshops.
Each workshop consists of an interactive visual teaching about the prayer of the heart (see picture below). Making use of something visual that children can easily understand is an effective way to get the message across to the younger audience. This is usually followed by a song and a short 4-5 minute meditation led by one of the organisers from WCCM Mexican team.
The first workshop is called: The heart. After a short introduction, children were instructed to take out color pencils, a sheet of paper and other art resources to paint a heart with their names on it…Children are taught about emotions and how to invite Jesus into their hearts in times when they are not at ease with themselves
The second workshop is the little mouse story. The story is meant to teach children about how unique and perfect each one of them is in the eyes of Jesus. The third workshop is called the smile of the heart (it will take place on 9th April). Children are taught that every time they say the prayer of the heart the smile in their hearts becomes stronger and none can take away that happiness.
What’s been the response so far?
Says Elba from WCCM Colombia: “Parents are loving it and are very grateful for the experience we put together for them. One of the parents saw us on FB Live and the next session he joined us with his kids.”
Some practical resources
Here are some practical resources you can use as a parent, grandparent or simply if you’re looking after children to start a meditation journey with children:
- Teaching Christian Meditation to Children Session 1 & 2 by Ruth Fowler
- Meditation Resources for Meditation with Children
Meditatio, the outreach of WCCM to many professions and fields of life, has a range of resources on Contemplative Education.
