Customer Reviews

The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate

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This is a useful book. The Mindful Child offers simple techniques to help parents help children (of all ages) gain more control over their responses to the world -increasing happiness and calmness as a result. The author does a great job of distilling age-old mindfulness and meditation techniques into simple exercises and games that children and any non yoga-fanatic can do. You can tell this is a book written by a real mom who has seen the results in action - her sincerity and conviction come through throughout - and that makes a huge difference for me. I gave the book to my sister who has two young kids and both she and I found it enormously helpful. We had fun playing the games and activities and the kids did too! Without being preachy or new-agey, this book offers way to get kids to tune out the noise of tv, internet etc. and focus more on themselves. One exercise asks them to imagine what could be inside a closed box, which, in a group setting, encourages kids to be creative and creates a suspenseful, engaging scenario; the game helps children not only use their creativity, it helps them become better aware of each other as well.

If you have a child, you'll want this groundbreaking book!

Susan has created and developed a winning teaching method that may very well change the fundamental paradigm of how we approach teaching children - The New ABC's - Attention, Balance and Clarity/Compassion.

These are practices that playfully teach principles based on the practice of mindful awareness - the art of developing and sustaining awareness of present moment experience with an emphasis on a kind, non-judgmental acceptance and curious attitude to whatever arises. As exercise and nutrition support our bodies, mindfulness practices are exercise and nutrition for the mind and heart. Some have called it "brain hygiene." Now an ongoing subject of psychological and neurobiological study, mindfulness practices have shown to reduce stress, anxiety and blood pressure, while improving our memory, concentration and immune systems. Training us to take things less personally, regular mindfulness practice develops a deeper degree of overall well-being and happiness in our daily lives.

The genius of her method (and this book) is that she has cultivated and developed these practices for many years with the intended audience - the children themselves! So rather than being a didactic lecture about the benefits of mindfulness or advice for parents, The Mindful Child is instead a practical guide filled with learning strategies disguised as games, activities and stories of discovery.

Creative wisdom runs through each of the various practices in this book, designed to bring a kind awareness to a child's inner and outer worlds. Through acceptance of the ebb and flow of inner and outer experience, children become aware of how they navigate through life, resulting in an increased ability to manage and reduce stress while developing compassion for themselves and others. Ultimately these practices help establish a dependable mind, all while having fun.

Think of it as 'Blue's Clues' on Mindfulness!

This is the book I have always wanted to read! I have long wanted to share with my children the many gifts I have gleaned through my longtime yoga and meditation practices, but have struggled to find a meaningful way to do this. This Mindful Child offers a wealth of inspiration - from personal stories about the author's family and experiences working with children all the way through to detailed descriptions of various games and explorations to share.

I have a long list of "games" to try out from the book, and have already given a few of them a try with my children. I am so impressed by how clearly the author has distilled life's essential truths into beautifully simple and straightforward explorations. And I am equally pleased by how interested and eager my kids have been to "play along." I am especially happy that the author offers mindfulness in a way that doesn't feel preachy or dogmatic at all. I don't feel like I'm trying to ram anything down my kids' throats, but rather saying, "Hey guys, come look at this. Isn't this interesting?"

The Mindful Child will help my family, and I hope many others around the world, apply the ancient truths of mindfulness to our very modern lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested helping children cultivate happiness, self-awareness, kindness and ease.

I've just started The Mindful Child in hopes of helping my boys, particularly my 9 year-old, cope with stress. He's super bright but socially and emotionally behind. Plays beautiful piano and cello, but can't relate to his peers, a huge source of stress; he's also a military kid, and my husband travels fairly frequently. . . - 15 months away in '03-'04 - presently gone for 2 weeks; lastly, both boys have sleep apnea, not solved by conventional treatments, they use CPAP machines. My 9 y/o has really been fighting the machine the last couple of weeks, and his behavior is reflective of his lack of good quality sleep.

Last night though, I guided them through "Making Connections Between Breath, Body and Mind." My 9 y/o was out before I finished! THANK YOU for this tool! I just started the book, and jumped ahead in search of something to help them ease out of the day's activities, and into a restful sleep!

I can hardly wait to try it again tonight!

I found this book to be truly amazing. As both a psychotherapist (working with children, adolescents, and adults) and yoga teacher, I have utilized ideas from this book almost daily. It has even helped to deepen my own practice even though I do not have children of my own. I have shared ideas from this book from a number of colleagues and some of them have purchased it that same day. I believe Greenland shares something we are all searching for, whether we are psychotherapists, parents, teachers, yoga teachers, or people wanting to improve our own mindfulness/meditation practice in a playful way. It has proved to be one of the most valuable tools in my psychotherapy toolbox. I am grateful for Greenland sharing her wealth of knowledge and research.

This book is an amazing resource. It is full games and activities that are fun and engaging and thought-provoking. It is well-organized and well-written. It includes some scientific background and some personal stories (from Greenland and kids she has worked with), but just enough to make it interesting and tie everything together. Simply wonderful!

Not just for children!

Susan Kaiser Greenland shares with readers of The MIndful Child a wonderful description, explanation and teaching method of mindfulness. She translates timeless wisdom in a timely fashion for contemporary lives using personal stories and metaphor, as well as step by step instructions.

I highly recommend this book not only for the benefit of our children, but for parents ourselves. Read the book. Pick the practices which most appeal to you. Explore and enjoy for a week or so *before* you introduce the ideas and practices to your kids.

If you work with adults, The Mindful Child can help you find ways to describe, explain and teach mindfulness to adult clients or students. I've successfully utilized Susan's ideas with my adult clients for several years.

I suggest you buy, enjoy, and enjoy the results of this book.

I was very anxious to read this book but I just couldn't get through it. I tried numerous times. It didn't hold my attention, it wasn't easy to read and maybe it just wasn't relevant to my kids. They aren't particularly hyper or high strung. I was just looking for something to help them manage the stresses of taking tests, peer pressure, etc. I didn't find the activities helpful other than "take 3 deep breaths" (and that was something we were already doing on our own).

With skill and genuine insight, Susan Kaiser Greenland adapts the principles of mindfulness to the needs and interests of children. She explains clearly the foundations of the practice for parents and teachers and outlines dynamic methods to translate mindfulness into practical and meaningful tools for kids. The book outlines activities to develop awareness, balance and compassion, offering engaging examples and suggestions to use along the way. This text is both brilliant and realistic, useful for parents and practitioners - to use with children and young people in managing the complexities of the world or simply for the sheer joy of reading it.

I've been studying meditation for children for some time now. This book is the greatest contribution for my understanding so far. Maybe because we can feel that all the content comes from her heart, from her true experience. And virtually all suggestions are applicable to children practice. I am very thankful to Susan Kaiser.