We live in a time when childhood anxiety is more prevalent than previously thought.
Thankfully we are realising that teaching mindfulness to children is just as important, if not more important, than it is for adult minds in preventing the symptoms of anxiety from an early age. It's one of the key ways to help children build resilience, which sets them up to navigate life's challenges.
In this article, Jo Stanley one of Melbourne's most loved comedians reflects on her experience with childhood anxiety and how mindfulness practices for children are helping her little girl Willow with her anxiety. She hopes that sharing her experience with other parents will show them the incredible benefits mindfulness can have on their own children.
Adults often behave as though our responsibilities have earned us a monopoly on the darker emotions, like anxiety, stress, depression or just that intangible flatness.
But we know that being young is hard. That kids can be stressed, uncertain and fearful. And most alarmingly for parents, that they can feel this way without us even being aware.
One of my earliest memories is of my mother taking me to doctor after doctor, seeking an answer for the tummy aches I constantly complained of. Each one examined me, some conducted further tests, all of them reached the same conclusion. My problem was psychosomatic.
I didn’t know what that meant. All I knew was that I was in pain, and no one could help me.
Looking back now I know that what I was experiencing was in fact childhood anxiety.
I eventually grew out of those stomach pains, however throughout my childhood it was labelled many things and manifested itself in many ways. Extreme shyness, self-consciousness, stage fright, a disconnectedness from those around me. I didn’t have the language to explain it, or even the understanding of mental health to know that it was possible to feel different.
Now as an adult, through many strategies – therapy, exercise, mindfulness – I do know it is possible to be happier and more at peace with who I am.
I’m sad for the little girl that I was. I wish I could reach back through time and hold her and tell it is going to be OK.
In fact, I do this regularly in my mindfulness and meditation practice. But I also am determined to make a difference to this generation’s children, to the kids in my world, to my own precious daughter, Willow.
This is why mindfulness exercises for children, and Smiling Mind, has become a regular part of the conversation and play that Willow and I share.
My goal is to build mindful practices into her thinking, so that it is habit and she is prepared before things get rough, before the tummy aches take over.
The great thing is that children are naturally inclined to mindfulness, and the self-acceptance it calls for. Unless someone teaches them otherwise, they are non-judgemental and non-critical – of either others or themselves.
If you get them early enough, a sense of being present is all they know. I have been inspired by watching Willow’s complete focus on the thing she is doing and the moment she is in, with not one thought for the past or future (just try and get a 7 year old to hurry and you’ll know this!).
And their joyful sense of play and imagination connects them easily with the journey a mindfulness meditation takes you on. In fact, we can learn a lot from the way children engage with their mindfulness practice. I have found it to be very moving to watch!
The free mindfulness and meditation app Smiling Mind has developed is instrumental in mindfulness for children. It has been and continues to be a continued source of growth for Willow’s self-discovery and growing resilience. She is a clever, creative and kind little person, but she is also highly sensitive.
I’m certain that Smiling Mind, and the mindfulness practice that she’s developed because of it, has helped her stay free of childhood anxiety and be the happy little monkey that we’re blessed to have in our lives. It’s a happiness that I express gratitude for every day.
The Smiling Mind app can CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
Want to turn torturous negative self-talk, crippling anxiety, insomnia and strained relationships into self-compassion, confidence, restful sleep and joyful and loving relationships? I did, with mindfulness.
And this app REALLY helped me get there. I first came across Smiling Mind as a way of introducing meditation to my daughter, Willow. The kids’ section of the app is next level amazing. For grown-ups, it breaks down mindfulness and meditation into something that is not only manageable and achievable, but outright addictive.
I’m so excited to be working with Smiling Mind, because I want every one to experience the same clarity, calm and contentment that mindfulness has brought to my life.
Jo Stanley is one of Melbourne’s most loved comedians, having spent 10 years as one half of The Matt and Jo Show, on Fox FM. At their peak, they were the most listened to radio show in the country, with a record 48 surveys (6 years) at number 1.