By: Zoë McCoy, M.Ed CCLS

Whew, we made it to January!

The celebration of seasonal activities from mid-October to January 1 brings a roller coaster of excitement and an endless “to-do” list to the life of a child life specialist. Costumes, theme days, staff events, parties, and parades of presents and people dot the calendar with relentless festivity. There is beauty and wonder and magic in it, but also so much work and attention to detail and heightened expectations. The holidays bring extra challenges to maintaining self-care and work/life balance amidst the frenzied pace of activities. And so suddenly, we find ourselves in January: a little worn, slightly dazed, walking into the new year facing the next round of plans and preparations. 

In the beginning of the year, I suggest we pause as we step off that rollercoaster and take some time to orient ourselves. Let’s allow the world to stop spinning, to be aware of where we are, to rest and to breathe. 

Let’s gift ourselves a gentle, easy breath and a moment of mindfulness. In taking a little time to focus on ourselves, we honor the need to be centered and aware of our own thoughts and emotions as we support others.  

A few simple ways to incorporate a pause for mindfulness into your day:

1. Pick a small ritual in your day, like enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, and focus on the sensory experience (sight, smell, taste, touch, sound). Take a few minutes to be fully present. 

2. Choose a task you do every day at work (like knocking on a patient door or picking up the phone to make a call) and use that as a cue to take a deep breath and center yourself. 

3. After an intervention, take a minute to check in with yourself- how do you feel? Are you holding tension in your body? Are you energetic or tired? 

Once we’ve centered ourselves, we can encourage those around us to take that mindfulness pause, too.  

Resources to Use with Children and Families

There are many wonderful resources for children and families to learn and practice mindfulness.  Here are a few that you might try:

For Kids

1. Author and musician Kira Willey has several wonderful mindfulness books for children including Breathe Like A Bear and Peaceful Like A Panda.  She also has an audio collection of mindfulness exercises set to music called Mindful Moments for Kids and a card deck of simple prompts called “Breathe Like A Bear: 50 Mindful Activities for Kids”. 

2. The Mindfulness Teacher channel on Youtube has a collection of short, calm, and colorful videos teaching basic mindfulness exercises.  

3. Early childhood development and advocacy organization Zero to Three has a free downloadable toolkit “Getting Started with Mindfulness: A Toolkit for Early Childhood Organizations”  

4. Peace Out Podcast with Chanel Tsang incorporates mindfulness practices like deep breathing into calming nature-themed stories for kids. https://www.chaneltsang.com/podcast

For Teens

1. Mindfulness for Kids: Mindful Techniques for Managing Emotions, Overcoming Anxiety and Boosting Confidence for a Happier, Calmer, Life by Abby Swift is geared toward tweens and provides exercises focused on understanding different emotions, coping with stress, and learning positive self-talk.

2. 5 Minute Mindfulness Meditations for Teens by Nicole Libin offers quick meditations on a wide variety of topics relevant for teens like “Starting A New Class” and “Silencing Self-Criticism”. 

3. Mostly Mindful for Teens and Tweens Podcast by the Zen Librarian has nice discussion of mindfulness practices in a calm and easy-to-follow format.  While not producing new episodes, the selections are still available, relevant, and good resources.

4. Breathing Pal light orb is a lighted timer that can be used as a visual focus to follow a deep breathing pattern. Link for breathing pal 

For more information about the concept of mindfulness, resources for mindfulness practices, and an overview of some of the benefits, you can read this ACLP blog post “Mindfulness for Child Life Professionals”