Beautiful scene
Many parents
Many children
Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
Your mindful parenting practice tip
of the day. 
Be sure to
sip slowly
The Morning Cup
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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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Tuesday August 31, 2004
The Morning Sip:  Breathing and Your Child's Existence
 
Mindful parenting opens us to the wonderful presence of our child in our lives.  Whether our child is in our physical embrace or in some unknown place, the practice of mindful parenting softens our intense thinking mind so that we can connect more deeply to our child and to the cosmos.
 
Today, take notice of your breathing.  Breathe in slowly and deeply.  At the point where your inhalation naturally concludes, await the magic of your exhalation.  It just happens. How marvelous.  Breathe out fully -- press out of your lungs the air you have drawn strength from and which will now feed the trees.  The space between inhalation and exhalation is a magical one.  When we become aware of that space, we become more grounded and more connected to ourselves.
 
               Between my inhalation
                And my exhalation
                Surfaces my child
 
At the precious moment between inhalation and exhalation recite the verse and sense the physical awakening of your child.  Perhaps it was when he or she took their first breath.  Perhaps it was the moment of conception.  Whenever that time is for you, sense and, if possible through memory or intuition, open fully to that moment.