Learn Buddhist-inspired practices to help you feel calm and confident as a parent while deepening your connection with your children.


Dear Friends,

Raising kind, confident, and compassionate children is a goal for many parents, but it takes practice, and setting a good example. From meditation and mindfulness instructor Cynthia Kane, the DailyOM course How to Parent Like a Buddhist teaches you how to apply Buddhist-inspired principles to parenting and also how to apply these principles to yourself. You'll learn to handle everyday situations with more calm, ease, and acceptance. Let's get started!



How much do you want to pay?

$19$35$55

This is the total amount for all 10 lessons

Interview With Cynthia Kane


DailyOM: Tell us what it means to parent like a Buddhist?

Cynthia Kane: To parent like a Buddhist means that you connect with your child or children in a kind, honest, and helpful way. It means you listen intently, see them through friendly eyes, and allow them to experience the world without trying to fix everything for them. You connect calmly and handle difficult moments with ease and grace. It means that you not only connect with your children in this way but that you also are kind, honest, and helpful toward yourself. It also means that you listen to yourself and see yourself with friendly eyes, so you can experience the world without trying to prevent the world from happening to you. You connect with yourself in a calm way, so that you can interact with your children in the same way. You know that there will be difficult moments as a parent because suffering is a part of reality. However, you don't dwell in the suffering, and you don't keep your attention on what isn't helpful; instead, you see the suffering, let it in, and then move through it.

DailyOM: Who should take this course? Do you have to be a Buddhist or want to be a Buddhist to take it?

CK: Any parent, stepparent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, caretaker, or guardian will benefit from taking this course. Teachers will get a lot from the course as well. You do not have to be a Buddhist or want to be a Buddhist to take this course. The practices taught, while based in Buddhist principles, are universal in that anyone can begin to apply these concepts and practices to their parenting. The course, while designed for parents, is also something you can share with your children. For older kids, they will be able to go through the lessons on their own or with you, and it can be something the whole family practices together. While with little ones, you might not teach them the material, but what you can have them do is pick two of the course practices to focus on for the day. I have a 3-year-old, and each day he picks two practices. Lately, his two practices have been patience and listening.

DailyOM: How did you structure the course and lessons? What kinds of practices do you teach?

CK: The course is designed to be experienced over a 10-day period. Each day you'll be learning a Buddhist-inspired practice to help you feel more confident as a parent and connected with your child or children. Each day builds on the next, so that by the end of the course, you have not only individual practices that are helpful for you, but also a process for cultivating the type of relationship you crave with your children. The practices you'll learn are attention, trust, nonattachment, listening, generosity, compassion, patience, speaking, and discipline. What is important to remember as you go through is that parenting is truly a practice; it's not something that you will ever master or get right. And there is no one size fits all for parenting; everyone will have a different view. That is why this course is really powerful, because everyone can take these practices and incorporate them into their lives in the way that works for them. This is less about becoming something or someone different, and instead cultivating what is already within you.

DailyOM: How has this parenting approach changed your family dynamics and relationship with your kids?

CK: When I first became a mom, I wanted everything to be perfect; I wanted to make sure I was doing everything right. I tried to anticipate needs and did not want to do anything that could upset anyone. Well, pretty quickly all of this led to stress, anxiety, overwhelm, and exhaustion. Besides all of that, the real kicker was that I lost myself in the process as well. I was doing so much for everyone else that I had forgotten what I liked and needed. I had forgotten how to laugh at things and be light and feel free. I was the kind of mom that read all the books and tried to find and adhere to different ways of parenting and philosophies. And all it did was drive me batty! I just wanted to feel less stressed around parenting. I wanted to enjoy my time with my kids while they were young, but also enjoy and have my own personal time. I wanted to learn how to connect with my children and set boundaries while still being nurturing. I wanted to be able to be myself, love my children, and be kind and helpful and honest.

So when I started to implement Buddhist practices into my parenting, what I hit upon for me was a way to manifest the relationship I wanted with myself and my children. These practices are the "how": they were the tools I needed to be able to let go of judgment and be helpful and supportive and honest with my children, to allow them to be as they are while also setting limits to keep them safe, and to become less reactive and instead calmer and more connected with them. I found the freedom to let myself be the parent that I am and to let my children be the kids they are. Because of this, I truly enjoy spending time with my kids. Are there difficult moments? Yes. But I see these as what brings us closer together, what gives us the opportunity to create more connection and trust and confidence in one another.

DailyOM: What are your two favorite parenting tips that someone could begin practicing today?

CK: My two favorite parenting tips are stop what you are doing when your child is talking to you and look at them so you can see their face and they can see you. Second, listen to how you talk to yourself about your kids, and notice if it causes you stress, worry, anxiety, discomfort, or overwhelm. If it causes more suffering, then practice talking to yourself differently about your kids: move your attention to that which is, instead of that which is not.

DailyOM: How can students make this course as successful as possible?

CK: This course will be successful for you if you choose at every moment to cultivate the type of relationship you want to have with your children. That means that in the wonderful moments and in the more difficult ones, you choose to show up as the parent you want to be. And that when you cannot, you let them know that. And when you have said something or done something you are not happy about, you apologize or you admit to it. This is so powerful; it is so powerful to remember that you have a choice. You can choose to sit in the suffering or you can choose to move you and your children in a different direction.

With this course, you will learn how to move your relationship with your children in the direction you desire. And this course will also heal relationships that seem impossible to mend, maybe not overnight, but through practice you will see how effective this work is in creating connections where before there wasn't any. Take your time as you go through each lesson; it is not meant to be rushed through. These practices will become daily practices for you, and once you begin to see the benefits, you will have a hard time going back to the way it was before.

DailyOM: Do you have a parenting mantra or affirmation you love?

CK: In difficult moments, I say over and over again to myself, "They're safe, they're fed, they're healthy. They're strong and they're capable."

How Does It Work?
Starting today, you will receive a new lesson every day for 10 days (total of 10 lessons). Each lesson is yours to keep and you'll be able to refer back to it whenever you want. And if you miss a lesson or are too busy to get to it that day, each lesson will conveniently remain in your account so you won't have to search for it when you're ready to get back to it.

Get Started Now
We are offering this course with the option of selecting how much you want to pay. No matter how much you pay, you'll be getting the same course as everybody else. We simply trust that people are honest and will support the author of the course with whatever they can afford. And if you are not 100% satisfied, we will refund your money.



How much do you want to pay?

$19$35$55

This is the total amount for all 10 lessons



Thanks, Cynthia! That's a wonderful mantra for any parent to remember. Cynthia's course guides you through 10 days that are filled with a variety of tools and guided meditations that will deepen the way you parent and your relationship to your child or children. Until next time.

Be well,

DailyOM