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Mindful Parenting: Pausing to Choose Calm Over Chaos in the Everyday

Mindful Parenting: Pausing to Choose Calm Over Chaos in the Everyday

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 Welcome back, friend. I'm Julia Cartwright, and I'm so glad you're here with me today. If you're tuning in on a Sunday morning, you might already be feeling that familiar buzz of anticipation before the week kicks into gear. The kids are probably running around, there's laundry waiting, and your nervous system is already bracing for Monday. So let's take these next few minutes together, just you and me, to build some calm into your parenting foundation before the chaos begins.

Find yourself in a comfortable spot, somewhere you won't be interrupted for just a few breaths. You don't need anything fancy. If you're sitting in your car before school drop-off, that counts. If you're on your bathroom floor with the door locked, I see you. Settle your body down, and let's start by noticing what's actually happening right now. Not what should be happening, just what is.

Take a slow breath in through your nose for a count of four. Hold it gently for four. Now exhale like you're releasing the steam from a warm cup of tea, slowly through your mouth for six counts. Do that one more time. In for four, hold for four, out for six. You're already shifting something in your nervous system. Can you feel it?

Here's what I want you to know about calm kids: they're not born that way, they're caught that way. When you regulate yourself, your children feel it in the same way plants feel the shift from winter to spring. It's not something they need to understand; it's something they absorb.

So for the next few minutes, let's practice what I call the Pause Between. This is the space between trigger and reaction, and it's where your power lives as a parent. Imagine your child just knocked over their juice at dinner, or said something sassy that made your blood pressure spike. In that millisecond before you respond, imagine there's a golden thread connecting you to your breath. The moment you notice frustration rising, that thread is your escape hatch. You gently tug it. You breathe. You pause. And in that pause, you get to choose.

When your child sees you take that breath instead of react with anger, their nervous system learns something profound: emotions are safe. They can be felt and released. They don't need to control us.

This week, every time you feel that familiar tension with your child, try it. One conscious breath. One golden thread. You're not trying to be perfect. You're just trying to be present.

Thank you for spending these moments with me on Mindful Parenting: Daily Tips for Raising Calm Kids. Your commitment to showing up, even in small ways, is already changing your family's life. Please subscribe so we can practice together again tomorrow. You've got this.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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