We have a lot of options today when it comes to our kids. The world is a merry-go-round or roundabout of opportunities, a playground that has almost everything to offer future generations. Yet we find our children to be under more social pressure and academic achievement than ever. The rate of prescription drugs, ADHD diagnoses, and depression has skyrocketed since the 1980s. Homework has become an increasingly cumbersome load to manage, and with myriad school activities, the time to be a child has diminished. 

Yoga, for that matter, is not just another after school activity. It is a lifestyle, a great teaching tool for our children. As a parent, we want the best we can provide for our children, especially when it comes to education and life lessons. After all, the job of a parent—in my opinion—is to prepare the child for the path that is their life, cultivate a passion of their choosing, implement values and morals so the child is able to make decisions and discriminations. We teach them to feed themselves, to fly (or run/hunt for that matter), and we have to let them go—with a heavy but loving heart. Introducing yoga to your children underlines and synchronizes exactly this path of education for them.

Yoga can be started as a baby through massage techniques, a way to connect to your baby and fortify the bond of the caregiver, facilitate movement, and stimulate neurological and cognitive development. A toddler can also benefit from learning valuable lessons of interaction, communication, and respect between his or her peers, coordination and general cognitive development. For a teenager, yoga can become a vital tool to cultivate self-respect and deal with school and societal pressure.

What better way to teach our children the value of their relationships and their own health—and, mostly, self-respect through their own actions, movements, and thoughts learned in accordance of their body and their mind? 

Photo by : © patrick / Fotolia.com