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Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
The Mindful Parent is an organization devoted to sharing with parents and other child caregivers ways in which to enhance the many joys of parenting.  By mindfully attending to our children, both when we are physically present with them and when we are physically separated from them, we can enhance our sense of connection to them and, in turn, our connection to the cosmos.  This makes us a better parent, a happier person, and a more vital human being.
 
To facilitate a more mindful approach to parenting, The Mindful Parent publishes on its website, and in its bi-weekly newsletter, mindful parenting verses and commentaries.  The Mindful Parent website also serves as a community forum that encourages and supports a mindful parenting dialogue and the sharing of mindful parenting experiences.
 
In the spirit of developing a mindful parenting community, we encourage you to submit a mindful parenting experience through verse, commentary, and imagery to share with others.  We believe that through our collective experience, we can help each other develop a deeper and more meaningful mindful parenting practice. Click here to learn more about making a submssion.  We thank everyone who has contributed or is considering making this very compassionate contribution.

Click here to learn what recent events are taking place and of changes to The Mindful Parent website.  Please contact us with your questions about mindful parenting or to share a mindful parenting experience.  We are devoted to working with you to enhance your ability to "be" with your children, and to experience the bliss that awaits you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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(c) 2003-2004 Zen Health.  All rights reserved.
The Mindful Parent is a servicemark of Zen Health.
From the Archives
Wednesday July 14, 2004
    Today's Sip:  Leaving the Nest, Part III
 
Today's tip is the third and final part of the "Leaving the Nest" series.  While it is not necessary to do so, you may want to read Part I and Part II.  These two segments opened awareness to our preparation for our child's entering into our lives, and to our child's development and movement toward independence, respectively.  As with today's tip, the previous two tips use the imagery of birds and provide a verse to recite when the sight or sound of a bird enters awareness during the day. 
 
Today's tip has us soaring with our child.
 
          My sweet child
          We soar with the wind
           Still, our wings touch
         
Baby birds learn to fly very quickly.  Their independence is remarkable.  How quickly it is that our child gains independence.  It may be independence from breast feeding, from our overseeing their homework, from their keeping us informed on where they go in the evening, and, in most cases, from us as they move away from home. 
 
Each stage of your child's growing independence can be likened to your child taking wing and flying in the air, as if a bird.  Through the practice of mindful parenting, we understand that, regardless of the circumstance, we are always connected to our child -- we have the capacity to feel that connection deeply.
 
Today, when you hear or see a bird, breathe deeply and imagine you and your child flying high in the sky.  Smile.  Recite the verse and imagine cool air flowing around you, lifting you both higher and higher.  And as you are flying alongside one another, sense one of your wings lightly touching one of your child's wings.
 
Sometime afterward, if you have the opportunity, hold your child's hand and open to this sensation as you imagine yourself flying again with your child.