University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Raising Good Humans
Book

Raising Good Humans

A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids

Hunter Clarke-Fields MSAE
New Harbinger, 2019
Buy book or audiobook

Read or listen offline

Amazon Kindle
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Engaging

Recommendation

You’re running late when your toddler decides she doesn’t want to wear shoes to preschool. You yell that she’s going to wear shoes “because I said so” – a phrase you vowed to never use with your kids. Immediately, you give yourself the World’s Worst Parent award. You can avoid this react-and-blame cycle, explains mindfulness expert Hunter Clarke-Fields. A mindful approach to parenting can help you stay calm during stressful moments, and allow you to communicate more thoughtfully and effectively. With practice, you can build stronger family relationships and enjoy a peaceful, loving home.

Summary

Mindfulness quiets ill-considered reactivity.

It’s almost time to take your child to school. You go up to his room to see what is keeping him, and he yells, “I don’t want to go to school today!” Do you feel anxiety well up just thinking about this scenario? Stress can trigger an innate fight-or-flight response, which cuts off access to your rational, upper brain. As a result, you snap and start yelling at your child. Later, you feel guilty, ashamed and distraught over your behavior.

Fortunately, a mindfulness practice can help you respond differently. Mindfulness – nonjudgmental, deliberate attention to the present moment – quiets reactivity. Mindfulness meditation can reduce anxiety and depression, increase positive emotions and bring about a sense of peace. Thus, developing a mindfulness meditation practice is the starting place for becoming less reactive – and remaining calm in exasperating parenting situations.

A mind that preoccupies itself with planning and to-do lists may miss the concerns of the present moment.

As you spend time with your children, your mind may wander to the question of...

About the Author

Hunter Clarke-Fields is a mindfulness teacher, practitioner and coach. She hosts the Mindful Mama podcast, and is the founder of the Mindful Parenting online course.

Comment on this summary