Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing Mindfulness with Your Children for Fewer Meltdowns and a More Peaceful Family - Carla Naumburg

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I've been neglecting my NetGalley shelf until recently and I'm trying to work through those books and have come up with a few surprises lately.

This book suffered from a busy couple weeks over the labor day holiday and beyond. Ironically, as I read this parenting book about mindfulness and meditation, I was constantly interrupted by my sweet darling, but also sometimes exhausting children. So I never felt like I got into a flow for reading this book. 

The book is based on the principles of mindfulness - rather, noticing things and being curious about them in a compassionate way. I've tried several of the mindfulness exercises described in the book with my kids so far and with good results. For example, our short 3 1/2 mile drive from daycare to home in the evening is usually punctuated by extreme whining and crying. Hungry kids who have missed Mom and Dad all day are letting out their emotions as we drive home. It's a short 15 minute trip but it always seems to take ages because of all the crying. 

So on a recent trip home I decided to employ a noticing technique before the crying started in earnest. I asked the kids to describe the cars around us and asked them which colors they saw. Then I asked them to tell me what colors were missing. We then made it a mission to find those missing colors. Ever since that drive, when we are in the car driving anywhere, the kids are ecstatic when they see - notice - a rare colored car. (As a side note, God bless those of you driving yellow cars, it's their favorite). It's ratcheted down the amount of crying that happens in the car and for that I am grateful. 

My 4 1/2 year old is a real hitting machine. When he's made he screams and hits stuff, even people, mostly his sister. So I've started some of the noticing techniques with him so he can identify what is going on with him. He gets a real kick out of me asking him if "Grumpy Pete" has shown up at the dinner table. And I don't make judgments on Grumpy Pete, just that he's grumpy, and that I'd like to see if Hungry Pete is available for dinner. My son thinks this is hilarious, but it also reinforces the mindfulness lesson that our emotions can be changed, by us, and by our recognizing that those emotions exist. It's been a great exercise for us and has helped defuse some potential meltdowns. 

Overall I still thought Peaceful Parent Happy Kids (read that review here) was more sound. I found this one a bit repetitive and too unmoored from actual scientific study, but since I'm getting results with the practices, I can't actually complain. I don't consider this a foundational parenting book, but it definitely is a useful tool

3.5/5 Stars.