Teenager Responses Positively to Meditation

 Our daughter is a sophomore in high school. Every morning I get up at the crack of dawn to have her breakfast ready in the car, including water, floss and a toothbrush.

Her lunch I pack into her backpack along with change for the bus. We always get to school in plenty of time.

However ,when we get to school, my biggest stress starts after we have arrived in front of the school when she refuses to get out of the car until shortly before the bell rings.  Often this results in her being tardy. I feel confronted with an emotion that is referred to as ANGER. When I start encouraging her to get out which often results in a scream,  she retorts:  "This is not how you treat a child!"  She calmly continues that if I want her to get out of the car, I need to calm down, say my request politely, and excuse myself for my behavior.

A few days back during a meditation, a thought entered my mind which I decided might be a solution to the above.  So this morning I brought my ZAFU meditation cushion.

When we got to school we had our regular lovely chat and when I felt that she needed to get out of the car, instead of telling her to get out, I said:" DylanGrace,  today I brought my meditation cushion and I will take that cushion and sit in the truck-bed and start meditating in front of all driving parents and students until you decide to go to class".

She just smiled, waved and jumped out of the car: "Bye, bye Mom".