Mindful Discipline: A Loving Approach to Setting Limits and Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

Description

Kids need both love and limits in order to thrive. In Mindful Discipline, internationally recognized mindfulness expert Shauna L. Shapiro and pediatrician Chris White offer parents simple yet powerful tools for raising mindful, respectful, and responsible children, and redefines discipline itself as a loving, nurturing approach-one that will yield both short and long-term positive results. In this book, Shapiro and White outline the five elements of mindful discipline: unconditional love, space for children to be themselves, mentorship and transfer of values, and admitting your mistakes. By letting your children witness your own personal struggles (and positive responses to those struggles) you will set an example that will stay with them for their entire lives, and help them to grow into happy, healthy adults. Grounded in clinical studies and the latest research in mindfulness and neuroscience, this book will teach you how to foster your child's emotional intelligence and self-esteem while also encouraging genuine cooperation. With simple practices, such as honoring your child's strengths, setting limits, and setting a positive example, you can teach your child the self-discipline and resilience they will need to thrive in life. Being a parent is tough work, but traditional forms of discipline can actually make it harder. Instead of trying to change your child's behavior, try changing the way you communicate with hem-you will often find that good behavior naturally follows.

Shauna L. Shapiro, PhD, is a professor at Santa Clara University, a clinical psychologist, an internationally recognizedexpert in mindfulness, and a mother. With 20 years of meditation experience studying in Thailand and Nepal, as well as in the West, Shapiro brings an embodied sense of mindfulness to her scientific work. She has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, and coauthored the critically acclaimed professional text, The Art and Science of Mindfulness, with a foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Shapiro is the recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies teaching award, acknowledging her outstanding contributions to graduate education and has been invited to lecture for the King of Thailand, the Danish Government, Andrew Weil's Integrative Medicine program, and the World Council for Psychotherapy, Beijing, China, Her work has been featured in Wired Magazine, USA Today, Oxygen, The Yoga Journal, and the American Psychologist. Shauna lives in Mill Valley, California, with her eight year old son, Jackson. Chris White, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician, parent educator, and life coach. He is the creator and director of Essential Parenting, an organization that supports the psycho-emotional development of children and their parents. Chris lives with his two boys, Kai and Bodhi, and the love of his life, Kari, just north of San Francisco, California.

"If you raise your children with respect for who they are, nourishing compassion, clarity, and wise limits, they will bloom and blossom. The tools for mindfully doing so are here in these pages." --Jack Kornfield, PhD, author of A Path with Heart "Mindful Discipline is an intelligent and creative approach to the omnipresent challenge of parenting: how to be kind and loving yet firm and in control. I was struck by the multiple levels of authority the authors drew upon: deep scholarship, personal struggles with parenting, and hard-earned meditative insight." --Fred Luskin, PhD, director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good "Mindful Discipline is the perfect guide for conscious parents and teachers. Grounded in solid neuroscience, it shows how to be loving and remain centered, while teaching children to develop their own internal wisdom and good hearts. This book is a gift!" --James Baraz, cofounder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and coauthor of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness "Mindful Discipline should be read by every parent. This book contains the operating instructions for family life that none of us received in school. Twenty-five years ago mindfulness saved my life. Now it informs all of my actions, including the way I am with my children." --Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Refuge Recovery "Coming from an expert on mindfulness and a leading pediatrician, this deeply wise book shows parents how to nourish both self-discipline and self-worth inside the children they love. Grounded in research, full of personal examples, and loaded with down-to-earth suggestions, this book is a gem." --Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Hardwiring Happiness "I'm deeply impressed and inspired by what [Shapiro and White] are offering the world! It fills such an essential niche, and moves forward our understanding of 'how to' in an important way." --Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge "Shauna Shapiro and Chris White have created a wonderful integration of the power of mindful awareness and the insights from studies of child development and the brain to lovingly guide us to a more rewarding and effective way of being as parents. The science of attachment reveals that the most robust predictor of our child's development is how we have come to make sense of our lives from the inside out. This book beautifully illuminates how the previously independent fields of attachment and of mindfulness actually share common ground--that knowing yourself is the best gift you can give to your children. An effective way of achieving this parental presence is through mindfulness, and the stories, ideas, and exercises of Mindful Discipline offer a fabulous guide to creating the deep and receptive internal knowing that will empower your children to become resilient, reflective, and compassionate beings themselves. What better gift can you offer of yourself to your child, and the world?" --Daniel J. Siegel, MD, clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, school of medicine; author of Brainstorm and The Mindful Brain; and coauthor of No-Drama Discipline, Parenting from the Inside Out, and The Whole-Brain Child "This finely and sensitively written book points to the fragility and resilience of a child's soul and demonstrates so clearly how in need each child is of an equally fragile and resilient adult's guidance. An adult, however, having been on the Earth much longer, has been able to add experience to the fragility and resilience and thus becomes the author of the child's life until he or she is experienced enough to become the author himself or herself. This beautiful book is a wonderful guide to parents who wish to lovingly, mindfully, and clearly accompany their children at the beginning of their life journey." --Meinir Davies, management and teaching team coordinator at the New Village School, Sausalito, CA "This intelligent, tender, and beautifully written book helps parents tap into their inner wisdom and create the optimal emotional environment for their child's growth and development. Loaded with powerful exercises grounded in clinical expertise and scientific theory, this book will help all of us navigate the path of parenting with greater ease, clarity, and grace." --Kristin Neff, PhD, associate professor of human development and culture at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Self-Compassion "This reader-friendly book is a masterful guide for parents. With great gentleness and humility, Mindful Discipline weaves together the rigor of science, the wisdom of reflection, and decades of clinical experience, offering parents one of the most exceptional road maps on how to raise happy, resilient, and emotionally healthy children." --Andrew Weil, MD, author of Spontaneous Happiness and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health