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By Anne Cushman

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For the first few weeks of my son Skye's life, he would only sleep if he could hear my heartbeat. From midnight to dawn he lay on my chest, his head tucked into the hollow of my throat, awakening every two hours to nurse. In the day, he'd nap in my arms as I rocked, a slideshow of emotions-joy, exasperation, amusement, angst, astonishment-flickering across his dreaming face, as if he were rehearsing every expression he would need for the rest of his life. If I dared to set him in his bassinet, he'd wake up with a roar of outrage, red-faced and flailing. He cried if I tried to put him in a baby sling, frontpack, stroller, or car seat. He cried whenever I changed his diaper. And every evening from seven to nine, he cried for no apparent reason at all.

When Skye was two weeks old, I ate black bean tacos for dinner and he screamed until sunrise, his body stiff and his fists clenched. While I sobbed along with him, my husband actually called the emergency room, where the nurse on duty told us, kindly, that it sounded like gas. The next morning, a nutritionist friend assured me that everything would be fine so long as I stopped eating dairy, wheat, yeast, soy, corn, legumes, garlic, onions, tomatoes, sugar, peppers, broccoli, and citrus fruit (and considered dropping fish, mushrooms, and eggs). As Skye finally fell asleep in the crook of my right arm, I collapsed on the sofa in my bathrobe, eating cold brown rice with my left hand and spilling it in his hair.

It was about that time that I decided that what I had embarked on was an intensive meditation retreat. It had all the elements, I told myself: the long hours of silent sitting; the walking back and forth, going nowhere; the grueling schedule and sleep deprivation; the hypnotic, enigmatic chants ("...and if that looking glass gets broke/Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat..."); the slowly dawning realization that there is nothing to look forward to but more of the same. And at the center of it, if course, was the crazy wisdom teacher in diapers, who assigned more demanding practices than I had encountered in all my travels in India-like "Tonight you will circumambulate the living room for two hours with the master in your arms, doing a deep-knee bend at every other step, and chanting, ' Dooty-dooty-doot-doot-doo, dooty-dooty-doot-doot-doo.'" Or "At midnight you will carry the sleeping master with you to the bathroom and answer this koan: How do you lower your pajama bottoms without using your hands?"
Related: The Dismay of Motherhood
Like all great spiritual practices, these were exquisitely designed to rattle the cage of my ego. They smashed through my concepts about how things should be (rocking in the garden swing by the lavender bush, watching the hummingbirds, while my newborn slept in a bassinet by my feet) and pried open my heart to the way things actually were (standing by the diaper table, flexing one tiny knee after another into Skye's colicky tummy, and cheering when a mustard-yellow fountain erupted from his behind). And with every breath of my "baby sesshin," I was offered the opportunity to cradle my child in my arms like the baby Buddha and be present for a mystery unfolding.

Skye is almost seven months old now: a quirky, radiant little boy who's napping in his crib as I write this. He loves light switches, redwood trees, telephones, drums, just about anything with a keypad, and travels to just about anywhere. Things have gotten a lot easier, as everyone said they would; the madness of the first six weeks, which seemed as though it would last forever, has dropped away like the stump of his umbilical cord.

But the metaphor of mothering as meditation-the "18-year retreat," as Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn call it in Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting-remains a compelling one for me. Last week, one of my best friends left to study Vipassana in Burma. I stayed home to study the effect of mashed bananas on Skye's stools. When I hear the story of the Buddha's life, I no longer identify with young Prince Siddhartha slipping out of his palace at night without saying goodbye to his wife and son to seek enlightenment in the forest. I identify with his wife, Yasodhara, left behind to raise a little boy named Rahula, which literally means "fetter."

When I look to Buddhist tradition, I don't find many role models for using mothering as a path to enlightenment. Meditation has been primarily a path for renunciate men. The Buddha's own mother died shortly after giving birth to him under a tree. The women who came to the Buddha and persuaded him to establish an order of nuns-led by 'the Buddha's aunt, Prajapati, who had raised him from birth-had left their family life behind them. The Therigatha (literally, the "songs of the women elders," the poems of the awakened women of early Buddhism) tells of women who turned to the dharma after their children were carried away by hawks, buried in mudslides, swept away down rivers. Their poetry sings of the freedom that can lie on the other side of unfathomable loss-"I have seen the jackals/ eating the flesh of my sons/ in the cemetery./ My family destroyed/ my husband/ despised by everybody/ I found what does not die." But it offers little guidance for how-if at all-it is possible to find that profound awakening while caring for children who are still alive, or still grieving for ones who have died.

True, Tibetan Buddhism offers the image of Prajnaparamita-the "Perfection of Wisdom"-as "the Great Mother," the "mother-consort of the Buddhas." The "womb of the Tathagata" is the vast emptiness that gives birth to the world. In metta (lovingkindness) meditation, we're often instructed to cultivate the immense, selfless compassion of a mother for her child. But those are all metaphors.

Actual moms-cursing in childbirth, leaking milk, kissing bruises, pounding a wall in the middle of the night so they don't pound their babies-as spiritual practitioners? My search comes up empty. That doesn't mean, of course, that mothers haven't been practicing the dharma for the past 2,500 years-just that their efforts (of necessity outside the official monastic structure) have not been recorded in a canon that they did not have the time or authority to contribute to. (It's worth noting that the only way I am able to sit back and reflect on mothering as a path is by paying someone else to care for my baby for a few hours.) But in twenty-first-century America, Buddhist meditation has become a lay practice, and the majority of all active practitioners are women-fifty-seven percent, according to James William Coleman's The New Buddhism. The dharma teacher on your Vipassana retreat could be nursing a baby between interviews; the shaven-headed Zen priest offering incense could be a soccer mom.

As a new mother, I've found myself wondering: How are other women negotiating the dance between practice and parenting? How does their practice affect their mothering? How does being a mother affect their practice? Are mothers changing the forms of Buddhism in America?

And-the most compelling question of all for me-can mothering really be a path of practice every bit as valid as the monastic path? Can suctioning the snot from a sick baby's nose have the simplicity and purity of a nun's prostrations? Can wiping out a diaper pail lead to "the awakening of the Buddha and the ancestors?"

On one level, this question seems absurd. Nothing could be further from the regimented march of a formal retreat than the disheveled dance of motherhood. The books on my bedside table used to be about pursuing Awakening in the Himalayas. Now they're about preventing awakening in the middle of the night. There's a diaper changing table where my altar used to be; my zafus and zabutons have been requisitioned to cushion Skye's play area. Forget about chewing a single raisin for five minutes and admonitions to "when you eat, just eat"-I'm on the phone with Skye on my hip, ordering baby-proof plates for the electrical outlets as I eat cold veggie potstickers with my fingers straight from the cardboard box and rub fresh spit-up into the floor with one socked foot. It's hard to find the moment even to tell myself that this is a spiritual path; I'm too busy looking for Skye's other mitten.

But on another level, as Myla Kabat-Zinn reminded me, "Parenting is a unique opportunity to do a certain kind of inner work that's both different and the same as retreat work. It's about seeing more deeply into ourselves, and coming up against our own limitations and rough edges-seeing more clearly what pushes our buttons, what makes us afraid, what creates anxiety. It's the opportunity to see our children as they are, without the veils of our expectations and judgments and fears."
Related: Three Forgotten Stories About the Buddha's Mother
A few weeks ago, I had tea with Furyu Nancy Schroeder, a Zen priest and Director of Practice at Green Gulch Zen Center. Seven years ago, Fu and her partner, Grace Dammann, adopted Sabrina, a baby with a chronic illness whose birth parents were not well enough to care for her. Sabrina is now a thriving member of the Green Gulch community. I asked Fu how becoming a mother had affected her practice. "I became a human being," she told me. "And that's what Buddhist practice is all about-becoming a human.

"I had been making the classic mistake of thinking I could do it myself. Through meditation I had gotten very good at putting a little bubble around me. But after Sabrina came, I lost my ability to forgo certain states of mind. I was hysterical, anxious, riddled with doubt, exhausted. I was totally dependent on the kindness of everyone around me. I realized that I'm not isolated-I belong to a nexus of support. And the flood of pain that followed that was extraordinary.

"My love for this child was a crowbar that ripped open my heart."

I asked her if she felt any conflict between parenting and practice. She shook her head. "A priest's life includes everything," she said. "What's remarkable about a life of practice is that everyone can enter it with who they are and what they love to do."

On a practical level, of course, places like Green Gulch are still sorting out exactly how families with children fit into community life. They've had to hammer out compromises to balance the obligations of practice, community work, and family. (For instance, while children are young, their parents are allowed to share their community jobs-the two parents, in effect, adding up to one full-time worker.) The family program at Spirit Rock Center-an Insight Meditation center in Woodacre, California-offers a family retreat every year. But as Vipassana teacher and mom Julie Wester describes it, it's more Buddhist summer camp than meditation retreat. "It's hard to get people to teach at it, because it's so chaotic," she admits.

A traditional meditation retreat offers opportunities that the daily life of a mother can't match: the chance to cultivate in silence, undistracted, the skills of mindfulness, insight, and one-pointed concentration. And in a tradition that has traditionally celebrated the monastic, renunciate path, the unique gifts of motherhood are not often explicitly acknowledged. When Wester became a mother at age forty-three, one of her own teachers warned her not to have another baby, "or you'll never teach again."

"I felt a lot of despair in the first years of motherhood, feeling that I had lost my practice," she remembers. "It took me a long time to realize that the activities of motherhood were the practice, rather than practice being something that I could fit in between those activities.

"Mothering is a meeting with the highest teacher, in the same way that death is. It's the deepest encounter we ever have with life. But it's like any teaching-it's offered, and whether we receive it is up to us. And to experience it as a teaching, someone has to name it as such-and it probably won't be the male teachers."

For me, mothering has been the deepest practice I've ever taken on. Motherhood is a constant assault on my ingrained selfishness-a wake-up call to the snoozing bodhisattva within. I'm letting go of props I thought were indispensable-a decent night's sleep, for example, or a morning ritual of yoga and meditation. I'm offered the opportunity to study my mind as it changes as fast as my baby goes from giggles to squalls. When I wake up to the sound of a cry at midnight, I can resent Skye for breaking into my dreams. Or I can rock him in the dark, milk pouring out of me, and let myself soak in the intimacy of a moment so precious and fleeting it breaks my heart wide open.

Could there be any better way to get my nose rubbed in the truth of impermanence than to love a child in a jagged, careless world? Napping with Skye in my kingsize bed-his head on my breast, my nose pressed against the dark silk of his hair-I watch the heartbeat fluttering in the soft spot on his skull. Forget about freeways, and plutonium, and stealth bombers-I've been sternly warned that even a teddy bear could suffocate him in his crib. At night, when he's been silent a couple of hours, I creep into his room and stand in the dark, not moving for fear of creaking a floorboard, until I hear him sigh.

And even if everything goes absolutely perfectly, I know that this particular Skye-the one who warbles and passionately sucks on the bill of his rubber duck as he splashes with me in the tub-is going to dissolve like bubble bath. Yesterday he was a kicking bulge in my belly as I swam laps in the July sun; tomorrow he'll be a middle-aged man, weeping and scattering my ashes in a mountain lake. Watching Skye rub strained carrots into his eyelashes, my husband says, "It's so beautiful that it hurts."

I feel plugged into the world now, in a way that I never have been before. As I feed my child out of my own body, I see how I am fed by the body of the earth. I'm crocheted to a chain of mothers before me, and a chain of unborn children who will inherit a world that I can't even imagine. I want Skye's grandchildren to be able to swim in the Pacific, and hike the granite ridges of the Sierra, and gasp at the blue herons standing on one leg in Bolinas Lagoon.

Is this "attachment"? Or connectedness?

I don't mean to be grandiose. I know these insights aren't the pristine diamond of samadhi. They're a, sloppier, stickier kind of realization, covered in drool and Cheerio crumbs. But maybe this is the gift of mothering as practice-a kind of inclusiveness that embraces chaos and grit and imperfection. It's not based on control or keeping things tidy.

It makes room in its heart for a plastic dump truck in the middle of the living room floor, and rap music leaking under a bedroom door at midnight. It doesn't slip away in the middle of the night to search for enlightenment. It stays home with Rahula the Fetter, and finds it there.

As mothers, what can we make of that story of the Buddha leaving his family in the middle of the night? I asked Fu Schroeder. "Oh, but he wasn't the Buddha when he left his child. He was a young prince, in terrible pain," she answered. "If you're awake, you don't leave your child. Where would you go?"

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For the first few weeks of my son Skye's life, he would only sleep if he could hear my heartbeat. From midnight to dawn he lay on my chest, his head tucked into the hollow of my throat, awakening every two hours to nurse.

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Illustrations to help Kids (and adults) understand basic yoga poses

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Illustrations to help Kids (and adults) understand basic yoga poses

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Now is a perfect time to work on making some memories with your closest family members. When situations call for social distancing outside of our home, we need to do the opposite within home.

Now, more than ever, we need to engage with those living in our home. We may be together for a while, but look at it is way, it is a wonderful opportunity to create some good family memories and positive interactions together.

Staying home can be isolating, especially when we hole ourselves up in different rooms than our other family members. Make an effort to spend quality time together. Sitting in the same room on different electronic devices is not quality family time. Put down the elections, join together in one room, and do activities together.

Your family bonding becomes stronger when you spend time doing activities together. Below are 10 ideas you can do with your family and loved ones.

1. Create Photo Albums

If you are like most of the population, you probably have lots of photos and very few physical albums. My parents generation always had photo albums. I can go to my parents' home in Florida and find at least 20 albums from the lives of my parents and my childhood that I can flip through and reminisce. Physical, tangible photo albums are always cherished.

Look back at the past five years of your life. Were there meaningful trips that you took as a family or major life events such as a Baptism, marriage, or birth of a child that happened in the past few years? Do you have photos of the event stored somewhere digitally such as social media, on your phone, or on a computer? If you do and you want to savor those memories for years to come, then you may want to think about creating some photo albums.

This is a great activity for family of all ages. You can approach the project in one of several ways. You can print the photos and put them in your own physical photo album (the kind our parents used and you can still buy), you can scrapbook, or you can create an online photo album.

Whichever choice you make, the family can be involved in the process. I like the tangible photos and traditional albums or basic (no frills) scrap-booking, as do my kids. We have albums in all three formats. Whichever method you decide to do you can involve the whole family in the creation process.

Scrap booking as a family can be fun too. It does not have to be over the top either. We do it with scrap booking paper (12 by 12 inches), photos, and bits of paper to write captions for the photos. The family uses photo safe glue to secure the photos to paper that each person selected and then we slide the pages into the clear page holders of the album. Albums are easy to create using this method and this method still allows for personalization of each page.

To do a photo album project, I simply print out the photos that I want to use for the album. Many albums will ship printed photos directly to your home. For example, we did a National Park trip this past summer and visited seven of them in the United States over a three-week span.

I printed all of the photos from the trip that I thought we could use for the album. Then I cut strips of colored paper. I use these strips to write a sentence of two. I usually put a strip with details on each page, but not every photo because that becomes more tedious.

Having everyone select and do a page or two and write the details about what the photos they selected makes it even more meaningful. For example, my son Charlie writing "This is Glacier National Park where we camped and Max got bit by gobs of ants at the dog run and we had to find a vet to help him" makes it memorable. His handwriting and the thing that captured his memory about that particular day are special. It adds his touch to the memories from the trip. Having every family member participate in putting the photos into the book and writing a few sentences for the photos that they are putting into the book helps to make it a shared family experience.

It is also a wonderful time for revisiting the occasion that you are creating the album about. For example, doing an album as a family for a trip you all took together provides us with plenty to talk about as we go through the photos. My kids always get excited and say "look mom, remember when...." about a hundred times anytime we do an album together. The photo album activity is a bonding activity, as is the reminiscing over special time you spent together in the past.

2. Indoor Camping with Sheet Forts

What kid doesn't love a good sheet fort? Sheet forts are the kind of memories that make a childhood great. If your kids don't have any sheet fort memories, then now is the time to start making them!

All you need are some sheets. The bigger, the better. Flat and fitted work just fine. Fitted sheets can be helpful to secure under legs of tables since they have elastic corners and are gathered. We like to use tables, chairs, and sometimes couch cushions too. You create a space using the furniture and then cover the furniture with sheets. You are essentially making indoor tents.

My kids like to play inside their forts for hours once they are created. I help with the creation, to ensure that things don't fall over and hurt anyone, but once that is done, I let them play. They will take books, little action figures, and their stuffed animals into their fort to play. Feel free to climb into their fort with them too! They will think you are the best parent ever!

3. Bake or Cook Together

Staying at home is a great opportunity to cook or bake together as a family. If you have special recipes that you would like to teach your children, now is a great time to do that.

If you have grandma's apple pie recipe that has been passed down for generations, it would be a nice time to make it with your children. You can use the time to talk about your grandparents, the heritage of your family, and perhaps the meaning of the recipe to you.

After you make the special dessert or dish with your children, it will then have special meaning to them too. They will be able to recall the time that they made that special concoction with you and the memories you made from that day.

Here're also some ideas for you: 15 Easy Recipes for Kids That Don't Require an Oven

4. Play Board Games Together

I come from a family that plays games together. Even as adults, we love to play Boggle, Scrabble, Rummikub, and a variety of card games.

My kids have caught the game bug too. When we go camping or are home over the weekend, we will play Uno, Connect Four, Dominoes, and Memory. These board and card games are inexpensive and provide hours of entertainment. It is also a great way to bond as a family and create memories.

Some of my favorite memories from childhood are sitting at the kitchen table playing games with my siblings and parents.

For very young children, you can start with games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. From there, you can move onto slightly more challenging games for their minds such as Uno, Monopoly Junior, Memory, War (basic card game), and Connect Four.

My kids started playing Candy Land at the ages of three and four. From there, they have been hooked on family game time ever since. They ask often to play together and now is a great time to teach them to play even more games. The entertainment, laughs, and memories are priceless!

5. Put on a Show or Play

Family talent shows, putting on a play, and putting on a musical show do not require an audience. Your family can do the show and record on your phone or other electronic device. It doesn't need an audience other than you all to make it memorable. It is the experience of collaborating, planning, and executing the show together that make it special.

My kids began making their own hat creations out of our various art supplies. I have been helping them in the process. We have art class daily as part of our new home school curriculum (I am one of those moms who never wanted to home school, yet I am doing it because our schools are closed indefinitely).

Art class daily has become hat making time. Once they have made enough hats for a fashion show, I said we would put on a show and record it. It has spurred on their motivation to create elaborate works of art. They are excited about each hat and the show that is to come to fruition.

You can find free plays and scripts on Free Drama. You can act them out as a family and record just for fun. You can also use a script from the website to create a puppet show. Each family member can then play multiple roles and it opens the door to more characters.

If you don't have puppets, then make some! You probably have a basket of mismatched socks like we do. It is a great way to use them at this point. Go to Pinterest for ideas on how to make sock puppets. Creating the puppets together is also a great bonding activity. Once you have your characters made, then you can act it out.

Don't forget to video it, because I can guarantee that your kids are going to be interested in seeing their own performance. Such a great way to make family memories and it doesn't cost much, if anything at all!

6. Reading Aloud

Reading a book aloud is a great way to create some bonding time and memories. It is a much better alternative than everyone isolating themselves doing their own activities. Being pulled into the same imaginative world through a book creates a shared experiences.

I remember reading The Old Man and the Sea to my mom when we were on a car trip when I was a kid. I recall talking about the premise of the book and our opinions about it. It obviously left an impression on me, as I remember this over 25 years later.

I have read aloud books to my kids too. The first chapter book we read aloud together was Charlotte's Web. After we read the book together, we then watched the movie. It is sweet how my kids will still point on the book or movie if we see it somewhere in public. They will say "remember when we read the book together and watched the movie?" They say it with such sweetness and innocent pleasure, it is a good reminder that the simple things in life are sometimes the best.

Some other good books that we have read aloud together that my kids personally enjoyed were The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Secret Garden, and Little Women. I know several friends that have read the Harry Potter series with their children who are slightly older than my six and eight year old children.

Medium shares a list of 20 great books to read aloud with your kids. Their list is helpful because it has descriptions along with recommended ages for each book.

If you can't get out of the house to go to the library, you should look into the digital software that your library utilizes. Visit your local library's website to find out what apps you will need for you to borrow from their digital library.

Our library offers a multitude of free e-book downloads. You borrow the materials much like you would a physical book. Usually, the downloads can be kept for 2-3 weeks at a time, depending on your library rules. They also have audible books available for download from many libraries as well. For example, our local library subscribes to Cloud Library. To use it, I simply downloaded the app and entered my library card information requested from the app. I was instantly given access to thousands of audible books free!

7. Plant a Garden

This tip only applies if you have a yard, however there are options for creating patio gardens and indoor gardens too. Planting a garden and teaching your child how to tend to vegetables is a wonderful bonding opportunity. You are teaching them real life skills, you will have real food to eat from your own garden, and you are creating memories that will last a lifetime.

If you ask a person if they had a garden when they were a kid, everyone knows the answer. It is not something you have to think to hard about. Why? Because gardening is an experience. Why not experience it with your family too?

If you don't know much about gardening, then you can learn with your child as you go through the process. Here is an article from Bonnie Plants on how to plant a garden.

If you don't want to leave your home, then you can order gardening supplies online like I did. Lowe's dropped off our raised garden bed kit on my doorstep and I ordered a variety of seeds from Amazon. Just look online at the garden stores that are closest to you and see what they ship to doorstep if you don't want to leave the house.

8. Host Your Own Family Party

Just because you are home and can't have a big party with lots of friends doesn't mean you can't still have a party. A party with your family is fun if you decide to make it fun.

Pick a theme to really make it an event. An 80's themed dance party is sure to get the whole family laughing and smiling. Pull out your best 80's looking clothing, rat your hair to get that special 80's look, put on some 1980's tunes, and teach your kids some dance moves from the 80's.

Having a dance party doesn't require many people. A party of two is still a party! Make some memories and perhaps show your kids what things were like when you were a kid. They will certainly remember an 80's themed dance party for many years to come.

Weekends spent at home don't mean that they can't be fun. Make the weekend special even if you have to be home. For example, Friday can be family movie night or family game night. Then Saturday night can be your 80's dance party. Let your creativity go to work and if you need a few ideas check out this blog article that has 32 Party Theme Ideas .

9. Learn an Instrument Together

No time better than the present to start learning to play that instrument you have always wanted to play.

Have you always wanted to play the guitar? Then, look online for a basic learning guitar that isn't expensive, yet has good reviews. We did that for my daughter and purchased a decent quality ukulele from Amazon that was intended for beginners while still having a quality sound (it wasn't some trinket from a tourist destination that wouldn't hold a tune.)

We found lessons online from an instructor who would conduct lessons one on one using Skype. Many instructors use this technology or other free software that allows quality video communications from their home to yours.

The website we happened to use to find an instructor was TakeLessons.com. You can find instructors that will teach anything from drums to cello to saxophone. Prices vary too. You pick your instructor from their pool of instructors available. This website is basically a service that connects people with talent (some with really good music education too) who can teach to students who are looking to learn.

Learning to play an instrument together and you are creating memories together! You are also learning a new skill that you can enjoy for years to come. Playing music together is good for the mind and soul!

The TakeLessons.com website also has language lessons. You can learn a new language as a family. All from the comfort of your own home. I am sure there are many different website that offer lessons on learning another language. Do your research and compare prices before committing to anything.

10. Plan Future Travels

While you are learning a new language you can begin planning future vacations. You can do a family meeting and discuss where you would like to go and why.

It would be even better to have each child research where they would like to take a trip. Each child and/or family member can present a pitch on why your family should travel to that location in the future. They can use their research to tell about the area such as its historical value, recreational features, and the learning experiences that can be had from such travels.

This doesn't mean you need to book any travels. It more about learning and finding hope in the future. If we can't plan for the future, then there is no hope. Make mental plans now, as a family, for what you want to do and where you want to travel someday.

Make Memories Today!

There is no time better than the present to start making memories together and bonding as a family. In these times when many people are having to stay home for extended periods of time, it is a great opportunity to bond and connect as a family.

You have a captive audience with your children at home. Don't miss out on this time by holing up in separate rooms doing your own activities. Make it a point to chose group activities and engage your family during this time at home.

Every day alive is a blessing. Every day having your family is blessing. Don't take your blessings for granted. Love on them and create great memories in spite of the circumstances.

Featured photo credit: Marisa Howenstine via unsplash.com

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12 Illustrations To Teach Kids Yoga Poses

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Now is a perfect time to work on making some memories with your closest family members. When situations call for social distancing outside of our home, we need to do the opposite within home. Now, more than ever, we need to engage with those living in our home.

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The following are good general tips for introducing mindfulness with kids.

1| Try to separate yourself from any outcome, and approach them with an open mind. If they are not accepting, trust another time will present itself more effectively.
2| Be genuinely engaged and dedicated to your own journey of mindfulness however far along you may be. Going through the motions just for your child’s benefit won’t fly.

3| Accept that it likely won’t look as neat and tidy as you’d like it to and that it’s the shared experience, not control that’s important.

4| Follow your child’s mood, making it fun and engaging.

Source: parentswithconfidence.com

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15 Diverse Books for Kids to Include In Your Classroom Library - Waterford.org

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These diverse books about culture and heritage, LGBTQ identity, disability, and mental health make for great additions to class libraries.