Let’s have a mindful Christmas

IN my previous column, I talked about attending Rex Publishing’s launch of Little Explorers book series where I emphasized how parents are the most critical contributors and champions of education for children at home. I like how these book lays out socio-emotional learning in a simple and local way.

I was invited to the event largely to share my knowledge on the importance and tools on socioemotional learning (SEL). I shared how I am a strong advocate of 21st century learner skills and even a stronger believer that socio-emotional skills bears even greater importance in our children’s everchanging environment. Part of the 21st century learning include socio-emotional skills such as communication, confidence and collaboration.

The most basic SEL skills which many children are having difficulty in classrooms is listening skills. Auditory exercises such as listening to different sounds like bells, instruments or natural sounds must start as early as infancy. Next is the expression of emotions. Many parents like this Big Feeling Pineapple toy because it allows their toddlers to define what they are feeling, resulting to less tantrums.

Confidence is important to build early because this is your child’s best protection from bullying. This is built by constant repetition and mastery of basic skills, and, in my experience, being allowed as much imperfection and room for iterations. That’s why art has been a constant staple in our household because there is no painting that is wrong. Lastly, I always tell my children, who are 16 and 13 now, that most future problems will need a team, and not one person to solve; therefore, knowing team work is no longer an option but a necessity. Today, global tools further dissect SEL into various skills like identity and autonomy, citizenship, respect and global inclusiveness.

They asked me what exercises and activities I think are needed so families can help create better foundations for children and unlock their potential during their young years. I shared that although my children today do well in academics, leadership and sports, it was equally important to me that they are empathetic and loving people who care about their family and community. I think there are two main activities during their early childhood years that laid this foundation.

The first is pretend play and nurture time as early as toddler years. I remember coming from home from work every day and I would tell my daughter, “Mom’s so tired. Can you prepare a cup of coffee for me?” Meagan would prepare it with her play set with such delight and I would hug her. This is her first encounter with accountability, collaboration and confidence— that even if she as a toddler, she was able help and contribute to her family. The second is STEAM play. This is injecting play which includes art in science, technology, engineering and math. I never aimed for my children to excel in school. What I wished was for them to love asking questions and enjoy learning, so I tried to make subject learning relaxing through play.

This made me think of how this holiday season would be a perfect time for mindfulness in our families. Mindfulness means we are more aware of ourselves—our mind, intention, and action, what is truly important and what we truly need. It would be great if we could all start to be more conscious and reflect mindfulness in various aspects of our lives this holiday season. From our celebrations, our gifts and more importantly the activities we plan to do as a family, it would be meaningful to sprinkle a little mindfulness into them.

Some of my top picks include listening and talking as a family and learning to express emotions. If you need a little guide, tools like Talking Cubes can start the ball rolling, as well as SEL toys, like Pineapple Feelings which has a poster for various emotions that you can do on the toy and allow your child to physically express. We can act out nurturing activities with our children, like cooking or playing doctor, or playing familiar games like bingo. This is even great for being inclusive of grandparents. When the new year comes, why not do safe “explosive” experiments like creating your own erupting volcano. A list of New Year’s Resolution can also be done as a family by thinking of how we can help our community, like starting to reuse paper or playing with sustainable toys that save the environment and support bigger causes, like this wooden panda blocks that support the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Here is to all of us having a mindful Christmas and New Year ahead. ■