How Things Are Connected For Kids

This session introduces the concept of the interconnected nature of the world and the people in it. Kids will learn how they are connected to their physical world, as well as how the air they breathe and the light they see are felt in the same way by everyone. By the end of this session, they will know how their actions impact others, the reason parents work and how they fit into the world at large. This track is taken from my course, ‘Mindfulness Meditation & Calm Breathing For Kids’, available now via my profile.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to another session of mindfulness meditation and calm breathing for kids.

Remember from the last session we were talking about making our morning routines go super smoothly and super calmly.

The basic idea was that as a family we sit down,

Take some calm breaths and work out together what we're doing and when we're going to do it and talk about why,

Why we're getting ready today and what we're going to be getting ready for.

And then as we're working through our morning routines,

As we're getting up,

Getting out of our pajamas and diapers and into our new clothes and our teeth and our hair and toilet and all the other little things we do and helping prepare and get breakfast ready.

If we ever get frustrated or if we need some help,

Just take a calm breath and then use our voice,

Use our words to say hey I need a little bit of help with this or hey I've forgotten what do I do next.

And then together we slowly and carefully work through it.

Let's take another slow calm breath,

Take a seat and get comfortable.

You ready?

So do you remember from a couple of sessions ago we were doing loving kindness,

Sending some friendly wishes to other people in our lives and to the world and to ourselves.

Well today I want to talk about how things are connected.

It's very easy just to think things just appear or things just happen and not really put two and two together and understand just how connected everyone and everything is.

A little fact about my life,

Before I started doing meditation courses online I was a school teacher and one day I was out at the local shops and one of the kids that I taught saw me in the shops and they were shocked.

They were like oh my god Mr Phillips I didn't know you did things other than teach,

I didn't know you went to the shops and I had a little chuckle because of course I do.

When I'm not at school,

When I'm not teaching I'm doing a whole bunch of other stuff but it had never occurred to that school child that I had a life outside of teaching and I realized that that young kid and everyone would benefit from knowing just how things are connected because really everything is connected.

Let's go through some examples.

The first one relates to our breathing and to nature,

To plants,

To animals.

Take a big breath in and a slow breath out.

We breathe in oxygen and that helps power our muscles power our muscles but when we breathe in oxygen what we breathe out is carbon dioxide or at least partially.

What we breathe out though is the same thing that plants and trees and some stuff in the ocean breathe in.

We breathe it out and they breathe it in.

They breathe in the carbon dioxide but then do you know what they do?

They breathe out oxygen so it's like a chain,

It's connected.

We breathe in oxygen and breathe out the carbon dioxide and the trees and some of the algae and stuff in the ocean,

It breathes in the carbon dioxide and out the oxygen.

It's all connected.

Connected.

If you look at the light coming from the sun,

That light is the same light that everyone is seeing,

That everyone's connected to.

The light that you see that enters your eyes,

It enters other people's eyes and is interpreted and becomes visual information in the same way for everyone else.

It all works the same but there's some deeper connections,

Some interpersonal connections.

The words we speak,

The actions we take,

All impact other people and it's a little bit of a chain.

Once again,

If we think back to me being a teacher,

Let's imagine I was in a really bad mood and I forgot to meditate and I got to school and I was upset and I decided to be an angry teacher that day,

A grumpy,

Cranky one and I yelled.

What would happen?

Well,

Most likely the kids in my class that day wouldn't have a good day,

Would they?

And they might go home and get super cranky.

They go home,

They're super cranky and they might yell and be upset to their parents.

So now their parents are a bit upset and cranky.

Those parents go to work and on the way to work,

Maybe they stop and get a coffee and they're super cranky to the barista serving them coffee and that barista gets super cranky and upset and then I go and get a coffee from that barista and rather than being super nice and caring to me,

They're super cranky.

Now,

That's a little bit of a silly example but it sort of serves the point,

Doesn't it?

The way that we treat other people really does matter because it can impact their lives.

If instead I was super happy,

Super cheerful,

I did my meditation,

I was calm,

Chances are I would have a great day that day as a teacher.

Chances are those kids would go home in a good mood.

Chances are their good mood would spread to their parents and their parents' good mood would spread to that barista and that barista's good mood would spread back to me.

We're all connected.

It's important to realise that the way we act and treat each other,

The words we say,

The things we do to one another,

All have a lasting impact and importantly can all impact us.

The friendlier we are,

The nicer we are,

The more caring and considerate that we are to other people.

The chances are that they're going to be caring and considerate right back.

Take sharing for example.

Imagine if you had a big block of chocolate and someone said,

Hey can I have a piece and you said,

Yes here you go.

Do you think the next time that they have chocolate and you don't,

Do you think they're going to be more or less likely to give you some?

If you share with someone,

Chances are that they're more likely to share with you.

Isn't that lovely?

That's one of the basic reasons to share,

To know that other people will share back with us.

But we should share and be generous even without the expectation of getting something back.

Because if everyone was super caring,

If everyone was super sharing,

Then the whole world would get better and improve.

Another way we're all connected is through working.

I know some kids,

They would speak to me and they would say that they get a little bit upset that their mummy and their daddy go to work.

They missed them,

They wanted to be with them.

And then we would have a discussion,

We would say,

Well do you know why they work?

Do you know what they do for work?

And do you know what?

Sometimes those kids didn't know,

They didn't even know what work was or why their parents worked.

So I would encourage them,

I would say,

Hey when you get home,

The next time you see your mummy or your daddy,

Just ask them.

Say,

Hey what do you do every day?

What do you do for work?

And have that discussion and say,

Why do you work?

One of the reasons people work is to be able to pay for the stuff in the house,

To be able to pay for the food and the bills and the toys and the fun activities.

If the parents and the carers didn't go to work,

There wouldn't be money for those things.

If there wasn't money for those things,

Then how would you have them?

So whilst it can be upsetting that you may not see them as much as you would love to,

There is definitely a reason why there is a connection.

So what I want you to do is have a little think about that and if you need to ask your parent or that and if you need to ask your parent or your carer,

Do so.

Take a slow calm breath.

Say,

Hey I really miss you when you're at work.

Can you tell me what you do for work?

Can you tell me why?

And you can have a discussion about how those things are connected.

Another area of concern for some kids was,

Why?

Why am I going to kinder or school?

Why do I need to go to the doctor?

Why do I need to do the shopping?

And the answer is,

It's all connected.

It's all connected to our future.

We go to school so that we can get super smart,

Super intelligent,

So we know how the world works,

So we can get a job and look after ourselves when we're grown up.

We go to the doctors to make sure that we're happy and we're healthy and safe into the future.

We go shopping to make sure that we've got enough food to eat for breakfast or for lunch or for dinner to get the stuff that we need.

One of the biggest frustrations can be a lack of knowing why.

If you find yourself in this situation,

You might go,

I just,

It might just be a thing that you're just not quite sure about.

You might go,

I just,

It might just be a thing that you're just not quite sure of the connection.

So,

Take a big slow breath in through the nose,

Out through the mouth and ask why.

And remember,

Make sure to listen.

Put those mindful hearing ears on,

Listen super carefully and if you're not sure,

Just ask another question.

And in that way,

You'll see how everything is connected and you'll see your place,

Your place in the family,

Your place in society,

In the school and your place in the world at large.

And from that place,

You'll be able to move with confidence.

So,

Let's take a big slow breath.

And remember,

If you have any questions about how things are connected,

Ask the person that's meditating with you to ask me in the classroom and I'll answer you straight away.

Have a great day.

Hey there,

I just wanted to let you know that this track was from my course,

Mindfulness Meditation and Calm Breathing for Kids.

It's out now and you can check it out on my profile.

Enjoy.