I woke up earlier than usual this morning. I thought I heard one of the kids’ doors open and close a couple of times. No one came in so I assumed it was Isabelle going back and forth to the bathroom. I was wrong.* After the third time, a teary-eyed boy plodded into my room and stood beside my bed.
“Mommy, I had a bad dream.”
“That’s unusual for you, buddy. Do you want to come in and snuggle?”
“Hold on a minute, I’ve gotta go and get Patchy.”
Ari ran down the hall, retrieved his stuffed dog, and was climbing into the center of the bed in a flash.
“Do you remember what your bad dream was about?” I asked him once he was snuggled under the covers.
“Um, uh, uh…”
“It’s okay if you don’t remember,” I replied.
“I don’t remember,” he said forlornly.
“That’s okay. Do you need help calming down?” I asked.
Ari nodded.
“Every morning, before I start my day, I always do a meditation exercise. I use an app on my phone. There’s a section for kids. I’ve tried some of these with your sister before. Why don’t we try do a short one together.”
“Okay,” he sniffled.
I selected “Calm,” which had the same familiar voice, Andy Puddicombe, who leads my daily meditation sessions. I was unsure if Ari would last the full five minutes, but he surprised me by following Andy’s instructions from the get-go. Andy told us to breathe in through our nose and exhale through our mouth and Ari and I followed his lead.
Later in the calming meditation, Andy asked us to wiggle different body parts and then let them rest. Ari did exactly as he was asked. I was impressed.
When the meditation as over, I asked Ari, “Do you feel calmer?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Calm enough to head back to your room?”
“No, I wanna stay with you,” he replied.
“Well, I’m going to do my meditation now. So if you stay, you have to be silent so I can focus on my meditation.
Ari was quiet and still for two minutes. Eventually, he left the room in search of adventure. Where was his next adventure? His \ big sister’s room.
And, thus, our day began.
*= You know how I know I was wrong? Ari went into Isabelle’s room to wake her up two minutes into my meditation. She was fast asleep. (Of course, he woke her.)
Raising Literate Humans 
Even though this was a too early morning wake-up, this moment is a snapshot of times you will treasure. ( I’m in a snapshot frame of mind after going through old pictures.) I hope you have a way of holding on to your writing.
I have photo albums that I create for the kids on a yearly basis. Plus they have this blog (+ a private one). Therefore, I think I’m doing a halfway decent job at catching everything.
Using the Calm app is such a perfect response, and of course once Ari was calm he wanted the whole house to wake up. I hope Isabelle didn’t mind being awakened. I also hope the many new moms among us see this. It’s such a good example of how to parent a distraught child.
I’ve never used Calm, but I’ve heard it’s amazing too!
Isabelle is typically an early riser so she didn’t complain.
Sigh. Not the perfect ending and yet the opportunity for valuable life skills. I appreciate your use of dialogue along with the variety of tags; said, asked, forlornly, replied, sniffled.
“Said is dead,” right?
What a great idea to settle from a bad dream. Oh those dreams you don’t remember, but the feeling stays with you. They’re the worst! I recently started using the Calm App. I’m still learning about it. I have liked it more than I expected. I appreciated hearing more about the ways you are using it.
I have a family member who swears by the Calm app. I’ve been using Headspace for years, but I’ve heard Calm is great!
I went to Headspace to explore and ended up signing up for it. Poor Ari! I remember nightmares as a child – bad enough to cause me to roll right off the bed! Again, you have such wonderful parenting skills and knew just what to do. I hope Ari and Isabelle have wonderful adventures today!
You’ll love it, Lynne!
Headspace is my favorite app (bonus points for being free to educators)! I try to do at least two 15 minute mediations per day. It’s wonderful that you are using to teach your kids to be mindful from a young age.
I was thrilled when I saw that they offered it free to educators this year!
You portrait this early moment so perfectly!! I have a meditation app too and I’m also sharing some meditations with my 9-year-old son!
What does your son think of it? Isabelle likes it — in moderation.
He really like it! And sometimes, He takes deep breaths on his own when he feels some tension . He loves the ocean meditation before sleep.
Such a cute story! Ari is so adorable. Love the snuggles and that the meditation calmed him down.
Me too! I had done several of the Sesame Street x Headspace meditations with him when they first came out, but never one that was all audio. I will definitely revisit the kids under 5 bank again for him!
I love that you offered Ari a solution that he can learn to apply as he continues to grow and mature. You were the one who introduced me to Headspace. Is that the app you are using, or have you found another?
Yep, I’m still using Headspace, Marilyn. I’m oddly brand loyal (as in I’ve been using Colgate since I’m age three and will only use another toothpaste if the choice is not brushing my teeth before a speaking engagement or the other brand)!
That’s great that he followed along and was able to concentrate and calm down after his bad dream.
I am so thankful it worked! I will have to pull it off, when needs arise, more often.