Positive Reinforcement as a tool to get Kids meditating in Lock down

bewithbreath (63)in #mindfullife • 5 years ago

Hi, (Crossposting from PeakD.com)
I thought I will share some thoughts on how I got my two kids meditating 1-2 hours everyday during this lock down. And yes, they are only 9 and 11 years old.

As the lock down, including school closure, was announced in mid-March I foresaw my two kids spending quite a lot of screen time - be that on their mobile or on TV playing Fortnite, Roblox and so on. As I won't have too much time on my hand to supervise them frequently during home schooling etc I decided to use a Positive Reinforcement tool to benefit me as well as the kids. I knew meditation would help the kids and wanted them to strengthen the practice - they used to do 10-20 minutes meditation daily already. So I used positive reinforcement tool (giving reward when desired action is performed so the action is associated with the reward and do it more often) and result has been amazing:

1. Provided clear instruction and list of things to do every day: this includes completing daily school activities, house chores, creative writing. 15 mins meditation etc. I printed the list and they ticked once each activity is completed. Completing all morning activities will earn them 15 minutes of screen time. Similarly completing all afternoon activities will earn them another 15 minutes of screen time. This was all agreed. For screen time Rewards the tasks needed to be completed. This saved my time for frequent supervision and instructions.

2. Extra time for meditation: But I knew clearly that they are not going to settle for 30 minutes screen time and they will be demanding for more screen time, so I set another positive reinforcement - 30 minutes extra meditation will earn them 1 hour of screen time and if they do 1 hour meditation in a day they will earn 2 hours of screen time. And Wallah....They are now meditating at 1-2 hours a day, 30 minutes during online group meditation. And now it seems to have become a routine after 2.5 months and they are more eager to do meditation and I hardly have to tell them.

While they are meditating partly to earn the reward of screen time (as they love their X-Box), I can see them becoming much calmer, better at listening and behaving really well. In addition, I get them to write about meditation and it's benefits etc. as a part of their creative writing. Because, I truly believe that Meditation is one of the key skills we need to develop for our own health, well being and the betterment of humankind.

We meditate daily (at 8:30pm UK time) online with friends and family and if you would like to join us you are more than welcome. Just subscribe for FREE www.tinyurl.com/bewithbreath.

Mind matters most. What we think we become ~ Buddha.

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