All right, let’s face it: we can do all the inner work, soul-searching, deep breathing we want but if our kids are running around screaming like banshees or are stressed themselves, we’re going to feel it. It’s next to impossible to maintain an inner calm when you’re at the epicenter of chaos.

Short of duct tape and tranquilizer darts, what to do?

Teach your kid to meditate.

Okay, you’re thinking “yeah right, my kid won’t even sit still to finish an entire meal without running laps around the table, so how is he going to meditate?” And that’s an excellent point, so of course you scale down your expectations and you stop imagining your kid levitating while in the lotus position. But…all kids like to hear stories (there’s a bunch of wonderful story CDs here; I especially like the Jim Weiss collection). And you can work from stories into guided visualizations. Kids are naturals at this because they haven’t yet unlearned all the possibilities that exist within their imaginations.

Also, guided imagery helps kids learn to access a quiet place within themselves, it assists in learning focus and concentration skills (great for school), and it teaches them ways to let go of worries and troubling thoughts.

Here’s what The Children of the New Earth, site for parents of indigo children, estimated by some to be 97% of today’s kid population, says about guided imagery for kids:

Guided meditations are a wonderful way to calm the minds of these very high maintenance children. It offers them a story form that keeps them interested and aware, while allowing them the freedom to create their own experiences and stories. The children are allowed to travel through the labyrinth of their minds to find their own inner silence and truth which helps them not only relax and unwind, but to live a life full of possibilities that they themselves have created. The same meditation can be used everyday and the experience will be different each time!

There are tons of guided meditation CDs out there. A couple I really like are the ones my daughter Serena, now 8, has been listening to at bedtime for about 3 years now: Guided Meditation for Children and Visions of Sugarplums (both links have audio samples to listen to, which I consider essential before buying; here’s another list of a large selection of CDs that look interesting). My son Nathaniel, when he was smaller, listened to Jim Weiss’ Good Night for years as well. (Now he listens to his iPod. Whatever.)

This is why I love the guided meditations:

• They help kids get to sleep at night. Which means Quiet Adult Time in the evening, yay!
• They’re a good rainy-day time-sucker.
• Nap Time Extender. Need I say more?
• They help kids access their own inner abilities of relaxation.
• They’re a fun thing to do together with your kid, and will be relaxing for you, too. Everybody wins!
• No duct tape required.

Next step: getting kids to sit still for yoga! Or am I dreaming here?