When I speak with parents about mindful parenting I always tell them to tell their children the truth.

I believe that everything is energy. Children can feel the energy more strongly than we do because they have less filters. They also hear other children speaking about it, and overhear adults talking, despairing, fighting.

We cannot sugarcoat this election result.

We elected a bully who said awful things about many different groups of people. This is sad and scary for many people in the United States. After spending a week in New York City with my two daughters ages 26 and 28, I realized that there is no way I can fix this for them. Seeing them in pain makes me feel like a mother lion. I really want to get the bully and tear him down, but I can’t.

This is the world we are in right now and, though I can’t change the election results, I do have solutions. Here are six steps to helping children and ourselves process the results of this election:

1)   First, feel the feelings.

This is painful. as parents we don’t want to see our children in pain.

Don’t deny your children the gift of feeling the pain no matter how much you want to protect them from it. We can guide our children to visualise or sense a wave coming over their heads, to their hearts; feel the feelings and then let the wave move out through their toes.

2)   Communicate with them.

Tell them how you are feeling. Write the feelings down on a piece of paper and then burn them.

It’s okay to feel mad, sad and frustrated about how this election ended up. Talk about your feelings and let them express theirs. Bake some bread together or make some Play-Doh and pound out the anger and sadness. 

3)   Breathe, dance, move.

Play some happy music and dance around. Move the energy, don’t let negative emotions sit in the body. Practice breathing peace into your heart, and breathing out love to everyone on Earth.

4)   Go for a hike.

Turn off the news and leave the phone at home. Go be in nature, feel the earth under your feet. Spend time just being in the moment with your child.

5)   Focus on gratitude.

Gratitude unlocks joy in our heart. With each bit of gratitude, the heart opens more and more.

Point out how you are grateful for them, how they are perfect just the way they are. Start a gratitude journal and write in it before bedtime. Send a letter of gratitude to someone in their lives and mail it to them.

6)   When putting your child to bed, do a mini meditation.

Count down from five to one. With each number have them relax deeper and deeper. Then picture a beautiful rainbow. Wrap the rainbow light around them in a blanket letting them know they are loved and protected.

Last but not least, teach them the mantra “Peace Begins with Me.” Say it over and over again.

Let them know that peace is an inside job and nothing on the exterior can affect you when you are connected to a vibration of peace. The old cliché “What the world needs now is love” has never been truer.

Show your children how much you love them. Tell them with your words. Write them notes telling them how much you love them—love conquers all. Model loving behavior and they will do the same. When this next generation learns to vibrate love, connect to peace, be compassionate, feel grateful they will have the power to truly change the world.

This generation is feeling the pain of this election but will soon see the light. And when they do, their light will light up others and the world will be a brighter place.

~

Author: Kathy Walsh

Images: Flickr/Lyn Lomasi ; Youtube

Editor: Erin Lawson