Week 6 - Conflict and Parenting

I stepped from plank to plank

I stepped from plank to plank

So slow and cautiously;

The stars about my head I felt,

About my feet the sea.

I knew not but the next

Would be my final inch,

This gave me that precarious gait

Some call experience.

by Emily Dickinson (1864)

This week, you will be exploring how to:

1.    Pay detailed attention to the ‘other’

2.  Listen and see others in more flexible and accepting ways – tuning into your child’s emotional states

3. Use contemplation as a way of cultivating acceptance and compassion for yourself and others

4.  Use mindfulness practice as a way of preparing for conversation with others

5.   Explore patterns of relating through mindfulness

Home Practice

Mindful Day / Half Day at home

Being mindful for a full day, as best as you can, in the midst of your family, is a practice that helps you to generalise the learned mindfulness and practices and skills to daily life. It is also a nurturing practice that may have surprising effect on you and your family.

Choose a day in which you are around your family, but can possibly be without obligations or appointments, for example, a Saturday or a Sunday. Explain to your partner that you are going to have a mindfulness day, and describe briefly how you are planning this day and what you need from your partner and the family.

Make a program for the day/half day, that consists of:

• Periods of meditation and yoga/movement

• Mindful eating and drinking

• Work meditation (non-stressful, repetitive work such as cleaning,

gardening, ironing)

• Doing mindful activities with the kids

• Being mindfully with kids and partner.

Try to detach from devices and external sources of entertainment


Formal practice – alternate each day or both

Alternate – Sitting Practice / Movement Practices each day

Informal Practice

Informally practice being mindful of the other people in your life, taking care to listen with all of yourself. See what impact this has on your interactions and your state.

If a conflict arises between you and your child, or you and your partner, or a conflict with another person, take a breathing space and try out the rupture and repair suggestions.

Ask your partner and child to remind you to take a Mindful Moment or Breathing Space when they feel you need one.