Category: Mindful Parenting

Let’s be honest. Anyone who calls traveling with kids a “vacation” is delusional. That is called a “trip”—especially when the children are really little. No more lounging for hours with a cocktail by the pool and napping as the sun sets. No more gallivanting around a city, wandering aimlessly through museums, and popping in for a quick cocktail at 4 p.m.
But! Traveling with kids can also be loads of fun. It’s important to have time away from regular life to be together, especially if one or both parents work a lot. Setting aside these days or weeks is vital for the health of the family unit, and shows the kids—and your partner!—that they are a priority. You never know what new parts of your kids or spouse you’ll discover when you’re on a totally new adventure.

When should I travel with my kids?

We went on our first trip with our daughter when she was 6 weeks old, and it was surprisingly easy. She could sleep and eat anywhere and was no trouble to carry around. The hardest time to travel with a kid is between about 9 months and 2 years, when they don’t have their own airplane seat, can’t really watch TV, and just want to move all the time. This is not to say that travel with kids can’t be fun—just that the journey probably won’t be easy.
The best way to stay sane when you travel with small kids is to keep some semblance of a schedule. Do not throw out the nap. Do not stay out all hours of the night, expecting the kid to fall asleep on your lap at a fancy restaurant. These plans will most likely backfire. The kind of trip you have with a toddler will not resemble any other kind of vacation you’ve taken before or will again—so just embrace its limits and go small: a beach, a lake, an all-inclusive. Think of it as a particular kind of family time.
There seems to be a sweet spot starting around age 3 or 4, going up to about age 13. Older kids are a total blast to travel with—they have the energy and stamina to go, go, go. But they can also sit peacefully in a restaurant without throwing food. Some kinds of vacations are better suited to certain ages, but mostly it depends on your own family values.

Finding Childcare

There are lots of options for getting a night out on the town sans kids when you’re away—but remember, it’ll cost you.
A few recs: Some all-inclusive resorts will offer babysitting for a small additional fee, so you can factor that into the cost of your travel. Bonus: You don’t have to go out searching for a reliable sitter! They’re right there! Alternately, if you’re not doing an all-inclusive, you can look on sites like Care.com or UrbanSitter for vetted sitters (rather than a total stranger!), so you can have a little more peace of mind.
If you have very little kids, consider bringing your own sitter along: How much help will you want? What will the childcare options already there cost you? If you think you’ll need more help than one night out with your partner—if you’re going to want another set of hands—this might be the more financially sound option.
Or! My personal fave: Travel with another family. It’s a win-win: The parents have friends to hang out with, and the kids have friends to keep them busy. You can swap out date nights or share the cost of a sitter.

Where should I travel with kids?

Each family has its own particular rhythms and desires. My husband, for instance, loathes the idea of going to the beach for a week, but for others, this is a dream vaca—easy, calming, low key. He also hates going the same place two years in a row. But for a lot of families, going on the same vacation summer after summer (or winter after winter) is comfortable; you know what to expect and can plan accordingly. Sometimes the kids even make lifelong friends.
Here are some time-tested options for families:

The Beach (and/or Any Big Body of Water)

“Entertainment for hours for the kids, and parents can sit in the sun,” says Rachel Graves, mom of two boys in Portland, Oregon. “This is especially great if you can get a rental ON the beach, so no packing up the car is required! It’s easy to go back for lunch and naps. Bonus if there’s also a pool!”
Joyce Bernas, who has two young girls in Montreal, agrees: “I won’t go anywhere with kids unless there is a pool or swimmable beach,” she says. “No matter what else is around you, you know you have an activity the kids will love and not get tired of day after day. It’s basically my fail-safe back-up plan. You will also likely find other families to occupy your kids.”
Some faves: Kauai, Hawaii; Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Malibu, California.

A City

This one is not for the faint of heart. But if you love restaurants, museums, walking tours, and shows, this is the best way to go. This is a trip that is more manageable with older kids (think 5 or 6 and up) and/or a singleton. “We went to Seattle last summer,” says Kim Morchower, mom of 4- and 6-year-olds in L.A. “The Airbnb was affordable and nice. There were lots of things to do with kids: lake, hiking, museums, parks. Great town, perfect family trip.” New York City is always a blast, as are European cities—think Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna—which are extremely walkable.
Some faves: New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, Austin, Seattle, Portland, Nashville.

A Cruise

Okay, to some this might sound like a nightmare, but to others it’s bliss: everything all in one place! A pool, views of water for miles, and activities galore. “We took our toddler on a cruise with extended family and loved it!” says Ginette Sze of Montreal. “It’s relatively clean and safe, and there’s so much good food available at all hours, and waves to rock you to sleep, and occasions to dress up fancy for a change. Some cruises have activities and programming for youth.”

Disneyland or Disney World (and Other Theme Parks)

“I took my 5-year-old to Disney world in January, and it was amazing,” says Sze, “but it wasn’t a restful vacation by any means. It was magical but also a constant obstacle course of boutiques and crap for sale and the food was ugh. We used FastPass+ to avoid some long waits, but it requires advance planning. The thing that’s the most fun about theme parks that I always recommend is the water parks (which is not included in Disney passes, by the way). They are truly fantastic. I have so many wonderful childhood memories at water parks.”

Camping

“Camping is great IF both kids are walking and there are nearby attractions like a lake or river,” says Grave. “But it’s a terrible idea with infants/non-walkers or bad sleepers.” Betsy Uhrman, a mom of two in L.A., adds: “When possible, we prefer group sites with no other sites nearby. Both for privacy and for when small children wake at random hours of the night … I feel less badly (though still feel badly) about disturbing people I know.”
Some faves: Bandido Campground in Santa Clarita, California; Sequoia National Park.

Skiing

“We’ve taken winter snow trips to Lake Tahoe two years in a row and stayed at Granlibakken Ski and Sled Area,” says Jessica Lattiff, mom of two boys. “Kids have a blast, and there’s stuff for grownups to enjoy, too. Really good breakfast included in the room rate, sled rentals and two different hills for kids, a small ski area where they can take beginner lessons, plus a heated pool, hot tub, sauna, and spa services.”
Some faves: Granlibakken Ski Resort.

The All-Inclusive

Who doesn’t want absolutely everything taken care of? No searching for food, activities, sitters—the all-inclusive, although often quite pricey, can be worth it. “Kinderhotels” in Austria are a prime example—they provide all-day childcare (including separate meals!) for guests.   
Some faves: Franklyn D. Resort in Jamaica, Kinderhotel Almhof in Austria.

Luxury

We know, we know. Not with kids! But what if you can? Tots Too offers myriad luxury family vacations all over Europe and beyond.

Choosing Accommodations

Ah, hotels: They used to be so luxurious and lovely. Breakfast in bed. Room service. Someone to make your bed in the morning…
With kids, this scenario is a little different. Usually you only have one room, so if one kid needs to sleep, where will the other kid go (and stay quiet)? Do you want to worry about waking the neighbor at 5 a.m.? And what if you need to put the kid down at 7 p.m. but want to eat, too?
But there are still perks to hotels, usually in the form of a pool and breakfast, and sometimes childcare.
When traveling with kids, Airbnb is usually a great option—but always check the reviews. The last thing you need when traveling with kids is to find yourself in a place that bears no resemblance to the pictures! What a rented apartment (or house) will give you is more flexibility, and it might end up being cheaper. You can cook meals, stock the fridge, and have more space to move about on your own schedule.
Kid & Coe offers amazing homes that are equipped with stuff for kids! You can specify your desires (pool, beach, best for kindergarteners, best for babies) and voila! Everything is already there for you!

Tips for Travel With Kids

Plan, plan, plan.

Gone are the days of booking a flight a week before and winging it. Have at least one plan/destination for each day, keeping naptime and bedtime schedules in mind.

Stay (sort of) on schedule.

This is especially true if you have a napper. Do not expect the kid to nap on cue wherever you are. If you want to avoid daily meltdowns, plan your days as you would at home, with a big activity in the morning, followed by lunch and a nap. If you have a second (or third) kid who doesn’t nap, use that time to rest or have a little one-on-one adventure.

Partner up.

Some of our best family vacations were with other families. It’s a win–win! The kids have friends to play with and so do the parents.

Make sure everyone is getting their needs met—at least a bit.

It’s unlikely that you’ll plan a vacation that is perfect for every single family member at all times, but the best way to make travel with kids work is to make sure that everyone gets to choose at least one or two parts of the trip. Don’t love museums but your husband does? Okay, so go to one, or let him go alone while you take the kids out for ice cream so he can enjoy it in peace.

Divide and conquer.

You do not need to be together all the time. Especially if you have more than one kid, consider doing activities in pairs or even letting each parent have at least one morning or afternoon to him- or herself.

Pack snacks.

A whiny, hungry child is no fun for anyone, ever.

Put away your phone.

Really, stop working.
Traveling with kids can be absolutely magical. Just remember: It’s a trip, not a vacation. It’ll be exhausting and incredible—and, let’s be honest, you’ll probably need an actual vacation soon after. So try to save a little moolah for a weekend away with your honey.
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There are few words more likely to make a new parent cringe than tummy time. Sit down with your stroller squad and broach the topic, and the responses will likely range from “He screams the whole time” to “Just make it stop.”
So why the heck do parents do this to their babies? And for that matter, to themselves?
The answer goes back a few decades to 1994, when the American Academy of Pediatrics launched its Back to Sleep campaign. Since re-named the Safe to Sleep campaign, the goal was to reduce SIDS in infants by recommending parents put babies to sleep on their backs rather than their sides or stomachs. The campaign worked. Since the ’90s, SIDS deaths have been cut in half, and at least three quarters of parents put their babies to bed on their backs at night.

But while it’s saved babies’ lives, the campaign poses two problems for new parents, says pediatrician Lisa Lewis, MD, author of Feed the Baby Hummus, Pediatrician-Backed Secrets from Cultures Around the World.
“Prolonged back positioning may cause the back of the head to flatten,” Lewis explains. Dubbed flat head syndrome or plagiocephaly, the flat spots can be complicated to correct, requiring babies to wear corrective helmets to help the head develop correctly. All that time on the back also means babies aren’t using the muscles in the arms, neck, and shoulders that they typically develop when they spend time belly-down, Lewis adds.

When doctors started seeing these issues pop up in their offices again and again, tummy time was born to help stave off flat-head syndrome, help babies work those muscles, and make parents everywhere wonder if all the crying is really worth it.
The short answer? Yes, tummy time is worth it. But you knew we were going to say that, didn’t you? Here’s why the experts beg moms not to throw in the towel…and how you can make tummy time easier on your baby and yourself.

How and When to Start Tummy Time

By name alone, it’s pretty obvious what tummy time entails: spending periods of time encouraging baby to lie on their tummy. But when do you start tummy time? And how long should baby spend in tummy time?
According to Lewis, parents should start tummy time at birth, if possible, and no later than 1 month of age.
“At birth, I recommend starting tummy time with skin-to-skin contact on the chest or by placing baby face down in the lap,” she suggests. “Gradually transition tummy time to a flat surface.”

At first, baby can spend just a few minutes doing tummy time—literally as little as three to five minutes is all it takes, two to three times per day.
Now for the bad news: They may hate it at first, and they may even do some crying and screaming.
“Some babies do hate it because it’s exercise! It takes effort,” explains Danelle Fisher, MD, chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “When babies hate it, I recommend trying it three times a day for 90 seconds.”
Even there, the doctors have good news. As they spend more time on their tummies, most babies get more comfortable and start to enjoy (or at least tolerate) the part of the day they spend on their fronts. That’s in part because the “exercise” gets easier. After all, tummy time is aimed at helping a baby “develop the strength of the neck, upper chest, and upper back,” Fisher says.

Tummy Time (and Place)

You know there might be tears (baby’s and yours). But you also know it’s worth it.
So how do you set yourself up for tummy time that will help baby and maybe lead to them enjoying that time on their belly?

This is one part of raising baby that doesn’t require much of a cost investment. You can practice tummy time just about anywhere and with few supplies. Fisher even did tummy time with her son on his changing table. He hated the floor, but he loved his changing table, so she made it work.
“The most important thing is that tummy time needs to be fully supervised and only when the baby and parent are awake,” says pediatrician Gina Posner, MD of MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.
Beyond that, there are few “rules” for tummy time aside from Do it! Even the “place” is fairly flexible.

Tummy Time Supplies

As they grow, laying out a thin blanket on the floor or a colorful play mat with some toys to draw their attention can help keep baby safe and encourage them to engage. Fuzzy blankets and items a baby could choke on should be moved out of the way, and Lewis advises parents to position baby so that their mouth and nose can both be seen.
“If you can see the nose and mouth, then you know he is ventilating well,” she explains.

Tantrum-Free Tummy Time (Yes, it’s possible.)

It’s common sense: If you start playing when baby’s already feeling cranky, they’re going to turn on the scream machine. Think of tummy time the same way.
“Tummy time is easier when the baby is in a content mood,” Lewis points out. “For example, if the baby is getting close to feeding time or sleepy, she might be more likely to get upset when placed on the tummy.”
It’s best to try tummy time after baby’s been fed, burped, and had their diaper changed. This helps a baby transition from feeding to play and then to sleep time, says Lynelle Schneeberg, PsyD, a psychologist and fellow with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“This helps a child learn to self-soothe instead of learning a ‘feeding to settle into sleep’ pattern,” Schneeberg explains. The latter pattern often results in fragmented sleep, as a baby who becomes accustomed to falling asleep while eating will need another feeding if they wake up in the middle of the night.  But tummy time helps prevent that cycle.
That said, if a baby has just eaten, lying flat on their belly on the floor can be uncomfortable. Lewis suggest baby be inclined, instead. If they’re on your lap, for example, bring your knees up, so baby’s head is above their waist, easing digestion.

Call in the help.

If you’ve got older kids in the house, tummy time is the perfect opportunity to call them into the room. They can engage their little brother or sister: cooing, chatting, and showing off toys.
No big kids? No problem. Tummy time is also a chance for you to get down on the ground and play with baby, Lewis says.
Or, if your baby is not happy on the floor, even with you nearby, it’s A-okay to scoop them up, lie down on the ground or on your bed, and let baby hang out, belly-down on your belly.

The End of Tummy Time

Whether baby loves or hates tummy time, this is one stage of baby raising that’s relatively short lived.
“Once the baby is rolling both ways, they will be able to go from tummy to back and back to tummy, so at that point, no more tummy time is needed,” Posner explains.
By 6 months old, most babies have developed their muscles enough to graduate from tummy time. Ironically, at this point they’ll actually be able to roll onto their bellies themselves during playtime, essentially doing their own version of tummy time!

Cluster feeding is one of those baby stages that can feel like it will never end: Baby cries. You get up and feed them. You lie down. Baby cries. You get up and feed them. You lie down. Baby cries. You can see where this is going.
Most breastfed babies will go through a period when they seem to want to do nothing more than eat, eat, eat, and then eat some more. Called cluster feeding by doctors, these periods can feel like your baby is turning you (and your breasts) into a human pacifier as nothing—and we mean nothing—but a mouth full of breast will quiet their screams.
So what’s going on with your fussy baby? Will a cluster feeding newborn continue to be a cluster feeding infant and later turn into a cluster feeding toddler? Is there a way to stop this insanity?
We asked the experts to help make sense of why your baby has turned hangry and what to do about it.

What is cluster feeding, anyway?

First, a little good news: Cluster feeding is normal in babies.
Pause for sigh of relief.
Okay, now let’s dig in.
Babies go through phases where their eating patterns change, but just because they’re eating more does not mean they’re cluster feeding. To be considered true cluster feeding, a baby needs to be demanding to eat almost constantly in a very short amount of time.
Exact numbers will vary from baby to baby, but if your baby’s demanded to eat two to four times in a row over a three-hour span, it’s safe to say you’ve got a bout of cluster feeding on your hands, says Leigh Anne O’Connor, an international board-certified lactation consultant based in New York City. You might want to grab some water and load a few good binge-worthy shows into your Netflix queue.
This could go on for a while…literally.
It’s normal for cluster feeding to last anywhere from two to five days, O’Connor says, although you should get some breaks along the way. Just as the name implies, cluster feeds tend to happen in clusters, meaning baby will eat, eat, eat for a chunk of time and then lay off. It may even be limited to one portion of the day.
“When breastfeeding is going well and the baby is growing, it is normal for babies to cluster feed in the evening,” O’Connor says. There are a few reasons for this phenomenon.
“As the day goes on, the volume of milk is less than in the early part of the day,” O’Connor explains. Because the first milk a baby drinks early in the day is watery, it’s good for hydration. But if baby doesn’t eat a lot, that first milk, called foremilk, stays in the breast and builds up. Each time baby goes to have a meal, if they stick to short and sweet eating times, they’ll continue to get that more watery foremilk.
If a baby cluster feeds, on the other hand, they quickly work their way through the foremilk, O’Connor says, and get to a mother’s hindmilk, which is fattier and helps baby grow.
“Also, in the evening the milk has more melatonin,” O’Connor adds, “so after a cluster feeding in the evening, the baby has a belly full of fatty milk with a natural sleep aid!”
With the changes in breast milk throughout the day, it’s no wonder doctors say cluster feeding is more prevalent in breastfed babies than those who are formula fed. As Cathy M. Coleman, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics in the department of pediatrics at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital on New York’s Long Island puts it, “Formula-fed babies may have appetite changes at various times, but formula is not human milk and takes longer to digest, so feeds are typically spread farther apart in a formula-fed infant.”

Is cluster feeding a problem?

Having a baby who won’t let you put them down for five seconds can be frustrating and even a little alarming, but it’s important to remember that cluster feeding is a normal part of development for newborns. And despite what you might have read in some parenting Facebook group, it isn’t “spoiling” your baby to respond to their cries for food and feed them on demand. Cluster feeding babies really do need to eat.
What’s more, that time you spend meeting your little one’s demands not only helps them grow, but can also help a breastfeeding mom’s body adapt to meet the demands of feeding a growing baby.
How?
Deedee Franke, a registered nurse and international board certified lactation consultant based at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, says cluster feeding is “a way babies in the early months help mom build a milk supply or how a baby makes up feedings missed after a long stretch of not eating”—particularly after they may have been sleeping for a longer period.
Because a mom’s milk production system is built to respond to a baby’s demands, cluster feeding is one of the ways baby is programmed to trigger mom to make more milk, which they will need as their bodies get bigger and thus require more food.
“If a baby is nursing more and removing more milk, then the mother produces more,” Franke explains.
You’ve heard that babies (and older kids) go through growth spurts?
Cluster feeds are part of helping baby and mom adjust for those growth spurts, Franke explains, which is why they tend to occur several times in the first three months of life.
Cluster feeding can first crop up in the first week after a baby is born, as mom’s milk is coming in and nature does its part to help establish good milk production. From there babies will typically cluster feed around the two or three week mark, then again at around six weeks, and once more at around three months old, Franke says. As they grow and eventually begin eating solid foods in addition to (and eventually instead of) mom’s milk, the need for cluster feeding wanes, and you’re less likely to experience it with older kids.

Muddling Through

Cluster feeding can be exhausting, especially for parents who have to work or take care of older children in addition to feeding a fussy baby at night. So the answer to “How to stop cluster feeding?” may be disappointing.
You don’t.
But before you let the tears flow, there’s some good news to consider.
Forty percent of moms told University of California, Davis, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers that they don’t feel like they produce enough breast milk, and some even turn to a breast pump to stimulate their milk ducts between feedings. But cluster feeding is nature’s way of helping your body keep up. As Franke puts it, “Baby is the best pump,” not to mention baby at the breast is often preferred to the mechanics of a pump, if only because it’s much more pleasant to bond with baby than operate a machine.
What’s more, if you know a baby is cluster feeding, you’re armed with information. Use it. Now is the time to tell others in your household that you really need them to pick up the slack or to call in those favors from friends and family members who offered to lend a hand at your baby shower. They made the offer; don’t leave it hanging.
Coleman says it’s also a good excuse for a mom to take to her bed where she can rest and do nothing but feed herself and baby.
“The milk supply will respond to the demand, resulting in decreased feeding frequency,” Coleman says.
If your nipples are chapped or you’re feeling pain in your arms or back from all that nursing, check with your insurance company to see if a lactation consultant can help you check your latch and find a more comfortable position.
“Some moms need to go back to Latch 101 during a cluster period, as this will help with nipple comfort,” O’Connor says. In other words, go back to the basics of latching baby on your breast, or ask for help making that latch.
“It is easy to get relaxed about positioning baby at breast, but as babies grow they can become acrobats and pull on the nipples,” she notes. “Grounding the baby and making sure the baby is super close should remedy discomfort.”
If your nipples are sore, a balm like coconut oil or other nipple cream designed for breastfeeding moms can help. As for back, arms, and neck pain, changing up your positions might help. For example, a side-lying pose can allow you to rest while baby has access to your breasts.

When to Call Your Pediatrician

Although cluster feeding is a normal part of baby’s development, that doesn’t mean it isn’t alarming or confusing, especially for first-time breastfeeding moms who haven’t been through it before.
Struggling to know if you’re breastfeeding “correctly” or should even keep doing it? Know that you’re not alone. According to the UC Davis and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital researchers, 52 percent of moms worry that their baby is not feeding well at the breast, leading researchers to conclude that moms need more support in their breastfeeding journeys.
If a baby is “nursing constantly for a few hours, they will get both fore and hind milk, therefore they should be getting all the nutrients” they need during cluster feeding, Coleman says. But if a mom truly does not have enough milk, then baby may need to be supplemented with formula to allow for adequate caloric intake. “This would be based on the baby’s weight and urine and stool output, and should be decided with the pediatrician,” Coleman says.
That doesn’t necessarily mean a mom who wants to continue nursing has to give up, she says. Supplementation with one or two bottles of formula a day for a few days can help baby improve weight gain and give mom a little rest, and baby can be weaned back off formula once things calm down.
It’s important to always trust your mom gut, and it never hurts to ask a medical expert for some help. If your baby is struggling to maintain their latch, if they’re falling asleep quickly at the breast, or if they’re gaining weight slowly, it’s especially important to make that call to the pediatrician.
“Sometimes a baby will frequently feed because the baby is not feeding well or transferring milk well from the breasts,” Coleman explains. “If a mother is not sure about how the baby is feeding, it is a good idea to have the baby’s weight checked and speak to a lactation consultant or your baby’s healthcare provider about the baby’s feeding pattern to make sure breastfeeding is going well.”
A baby may also be fussing and using a mother’s breast for soothing rather than sustenance, so it’s important to keep tabs on other markers of health to determine if baby is hungry or just not feeling well.
“If a breastfed baby is at least a week old, and not urinating at least six to eight times in 24 hours or stooling at least three to four times in 24 hours, the pediatrician should be called,” Coleman says, adding that “if a baby is very fussy for a prolonged period of time, parents should take the baby’s temperature, and the pediatrician should be called.”

When it’s over, it’s over.

Although true cluster feeding can last for several days, and it can come back, once you hit the three-month mark, things tend to improve. Not only is your milk production in full swing, but in a few months, baby can generally start to eat other things in addition to breast milk, taking some of the pressure off your body and allowing you the fun of sharing your favorite eats with your little one.
It’s important to remind yourself that not only is cluster feeding normal, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
As Coleman (who isn’t just a pediatrician, but a mom too) says, “It is hard, but if you focus just on the nursing for a couple days, usually things improve.”
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Since 2012, Cosmic Kids Yoga has been a positive force in the sometimes questionable world of online children’s entertainment. The concept is simple: Teacher Jaime Amor guides kids through a series of poses using a colorful cadre of animals to make the lessons more appealing to young minds. She stands on a round yoga mat, talking directly to her audience, bringing them through “yoga adventures” that invite them to use their imaginations while moving their bodies.
If Cosmic Kids Yoga stopped there, that would be enough, but Amor has a bigger mission. In the vein of legendary television presenters like Mr. Rogers, she focuses on imparting useful lessons to her young audience, teaching them how to handle difficult emotions, confront personal challenges, and interact with their world in healthy, positive ways.
Over the last six years, Cosmic Kids Yoga has grown. Episodes like “Pedro the Penguin” quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views, and the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel now has more than 200,000 subscribers.

We spoke with Amor to discuss how yoga can help children—and to find out what’s next for Cosmic Kids Yoga.

HealthyWay: We mentioned this in our emails, but a few of our editors have kids that are big fans of yours.

Amor: Aww, that’s amazing! That’s so encouraging when we hear it. I always thought that if the kids like it, we’re doing something well.

What is it about Cosmic Kids Yoga that you think makes it such an effective form of exercise for children?

It really works on multiple levels. Firstly, because of the way that they’re physically engaged, they’ve got something physical to do. And secondly, the stories just keep them wanting to continue along on the adventure.

You’ve got quite a range of stories, too.

Yes, you’ve got everything from mermaids to space monkeys to baby seahorses. The kids are really interested in all of the cute, fun characters.

There’s a practical side—all the things that I’ve done in the videos are things that I’ve practiced and done with kids in real-life classes, so I know that they work.
And we have these practical life lessons where kids are able to take some of the techniques that they learn in the stories and then apply them to their real life, you know? If they feel like they need some headspace and calm, they’ve got their 10-down count that we learn in Lulu the Lion Cub. It’s about slowly breathing and counting down from 10 to one.
That’s a proper mindfulness technique, really. But it’s also really practical for a kid; if they ever notice that level of stress in themselves, they can just engage it. I think it’s the combination of the fun factor and the practicality of it that really makes the kids want to do it.

And yoga feels good—that’s certainly something!

Yes, it feels good! I think that moving your body, doing these yoga poses feels great. And kids love moving. They’re always moving in some way. That’s how we work out what our bodies can do.

Mindfulness isn’t really something that we focus on as a culture. We don’t really give children the tools that they need to deal with their emotions in a healthy way.

Yeah, exactly. And I think what I’ve found is that, in the stories, we can create an event—a situation—where a particular feeling or challenge will crop up.
Perhaps our brothers and sisters have been making fun of us. Well, Lulu the Lion Cub, she hasn’t learned how to roar yet. She’s feeling those same emotions, because her brothers and sisters are saying, “Wah, wah, you haven’t learned how to roar yet!”

That’s a real thing that a lot of kids will relate to. So we’ll go with Lulu on a little journey to see how she might help herself deal with that frustration in those moments. There, vicariously through a character, you’ve learned a technique, but it doesn’t feel like you’re being told what to do. It’s not being pushed on you; it’s being offered as a solution.
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And in the stories, I often make the kids the heroes. They’re the ones actually giving Lulu the advice that she might take to help herself.
When you put kids in control like that, when you give them that hand of power, they say, “I know what I’m doing; I feel confident in this.” And so when they’re confronted with that situation, they really feel that those tools are at their fingertips, ready to use.

Speaking of practicality, we were wondering about some of the practical elements of the show. Who comes up with all of the creative ideas?

We have a really small team. I generally come up with the stories. I work with Martin, my husband, and we work very much as a team to decide on the message. What do we want to do in this story? What do we want kids to take away with them?
And then I’ll go away and I’ll build a plot around situations that kids might have found themselves in, then try to relate that to the animal world. What’s brilliant about the animal world is that it lends itself to yoga; obviously so many yoga poses are based in nature. It really helps to create a yoga journey that I can put together with that story.
Then we rehearse a few times. I go to schools, and I try [the story] with different groups of kids. I’ll figure out what bits are working, what bits aren’t working, and then it’s ready for the green screen studio.
We go into the studio once every four or five months. I’ll have spent three or four weeks trying to cram as many stories as I can into my head, and then I’ll try to film over a couple of days, between six and 10 stories.

Cosmic Kids Yoga uses a lot of green screen. Is that a challenge?

It is, but I’m used to it now. Initially, it was quite interesting. It was just a piece of fabric that we put up in a local village hall.
Now, [the studio] is five minutes down the road from us, and it’s a proper, full-on, wonderful, infinity curve green screen, which is absolutely amazing.
In the room, usually, there’s me, my husband Martin, and Konrad, who’s our third team member. He does all of our production, films it, and does all of our backgrounds. He’s an incredibly talented guy, so he knows how to build these wonderful worlds.
So it’s the three of us. There’s also Nick, our animator, who draws our little characters that appear sometimes at the beginning of the session. That’s it, really; it’s a very intimate affair, so I feel incredibly relaxed.
I think about the camera like it’s a group of kids I’m talking to. I think that’s another factor that helps the kids get it. They really see me talking to them—because I am talking to them. There’s a lens in the way, but I don’t think about it like that.

Was there a single experience you had, or a single factor that led to the creation of Cosmic Kids Yoga?

I used to be a children’s entertainer. I would work through the weekends as an actor, and I would dress up as a fairy, or a princess, or a pirate, and I’d go to a children’s party. I would have two hours to make it the most fun, exciting, engaging two hours they’d ever had, and really celebrate the birthday boy or birthday girl.
Quite early on, I realized that I couldn’t just sit there and tell a story in a costume. It occurred to me that if I actually got them to physicalize the story with me as I told it, they would be a lot more engaged.

Sure enough, they were. I used to tell this story—there was a witch, and in order to stop the witch from putting a curse on all of us, we had to learn these five special moves. I taught them five yoga poses, and they’d make the witch melt into a puddle on the floor. They’d all be elated, jumping around. “We did it! We did it!”

It was at that point that I realized—you can make something so much more experiential if you get kids moving. Not only that, you’ve got 25 kids in a room, and they’re very high energy. They’re excited to be at the party. But it’ll be completely pin-drop silent when you’re teaching them these moves.

That’s when I knew that there was this incredible combination of storytelling and yoga that could, in itself, be an activity.

Did you immediately start trying to build Cosmic Kids Yoga?

At that point, I was working at a school—I was running a cookery club. I talked to the headmaster and said, “Would you mind if I tried some yoga with the kids?” He was really open to it, so it started from there.
That grew. I was doing 15 classes a week at various schools all around where I lived. After doing that for about two or three years, Martin, my husband—his background is in innovation—he looked at me as I was dragging my mat somewhere after a long, long day.
He said, “I think we should try filming you and see what happens if we put it on YouTube.” That was where the Cosmic Kids online world was born.
That really made sense to me at that point, because often in my classes, you would find that if it was 3:15 on a Wednesday afternoon, not all the kids felt like doing their yoga at that prescribed time. But that’s when the after-school club is, or when they’ve been told, “You’re doing yoga.” That’s when they have to do it.
Having it available on a video on a platform like YouTube suddenly means that they can do it whenever they want. That meant the world of doing yoga for kids became so much more accessible.

How long after that did it start to become a success?

It took some time, you know. We were delighted every step of the way. When you start from nothing, when you start at zero—you get your first view, and you’re like, “Oh! Oh! We’ve had a view!”

We filmed three in the first day, and we sat on them for about three months because we thought they were ridiculous. We thought they were really odd—nobody was going to watch them.

But we put them up, and they slowly started getting views. We didn’t know anything about YouTube and how it works, so we started paying for ads. We attached ourselves [via ads] to Sesame Street.
From there, we started getting a few more views, then we stopped doing the ads, as we had our own little foothold of teachers and parents. We got feedback: “This is great!” “My kid really likes this!” “I’m going to tell my friends about it.”
Gradually, it became a more organic thing, and it grew really steadily. I mean, it took us about four years to get to 100,000 subscribers, but it’s one of those channels that isn’t really a subscriber-led thing. It’s more about the views.

Now it’s at the point where it’s 2–3 million views a month. It’s quite a bit more significant, and a lot of schools use it.

That has to feel very rewarding.

It is, relatively, yeah. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you keep learning as you’re going. That’s the thing about self-publishing, isn’t it? It’s about putting yourself out there. And you can really see the arc of someone’s journey.

What’s your mindset for growing Cosmic Kids Yoga and bringing more kids into the fold?

What’s really been great is what’s at the core of it. The yoga adventures have been so sticky for the kids—they’ve been waiting for the next video. They’re keen to keep up the practice, and they want the next story.
The variety is really important to them, as I’ve found in teaching my live classes. Every week I go in and they say, “Which story are we doing this week?” You couldn’t say that you’re doing the same one as last week. That’s my motivation for keeping it fresh, and hopefully making it more appealing to more kids.

That’s fantastic. The exercise, obviously, is at the core of that, so let’s talk about yoga in general for a moment. When did you get into yoga?

I was about 19 and I was at drama school and we had a very spiritual voice teacher. She’d run a voluntary yoga session for us, and I found it really, really opened the door, because it showed me you could find this state of relaxation.

I found that really useful when I was working as an actor as well. Being on stage, or working with the camera, if you can find a state of calmness, or steadiness, or peace in yourself, you end up producing a more open and effective performance.

It wasn’t until I got into my sort of late twenties and early thirties that I thought, “Okay, I’m going to take my training and study yoga a bit further.” So I learned how to train and teach in Ashtanga.

Who are some of your favorite people in yoga? And just generally—who inspires you as an entertainer?

There’s my teacher here in the UK—he’s amazing—he’s called Jeff Phoenix. He’s got a pretty big following. He’s been doing it for 20 years, and he just oozes all of this tremendous energy. He’s an inspiration.

Recently, I’ve really enjoyed Dylan Werner, I think he’s really cool. And Patrick Beach. They’re kind of these young bucks that are coming up through the ranks. Back to the classics, Shiva Rea is amazing.
In the showbiz world, I was mostly inspired a few stage actors. Rory Kinnear is brilliant. I know he’s done a lot of movies as well, but seeing him on stage was inspiring. I’ve always loved Helena Bonham Carter—I know she’s absolutely mad, but I just think she’s great! There’s something kind of dangerous about her, and she’s exciting to watch.

Do you have any plans for Cosmic Kids over the next year?

At the moment, we’re in that sort of stage where we just want to keep making it. We’re in a really good groove at the moment. And there’s always new ideas kind of coming up and out of the woodwork. Kids will say, “Can you do a Pokémon one?” or “Can you do one about this movie that’s about to come out?” Kids really love the movie-themed episodes.
We’ve had schools using Cosmic Kids Yoga, and that’s something we’re really excited to see. What other forms could Cosmic Kids take? Could it take the form of a game? Could it use these other technologies we have now—Xbox Kinect, motion capture, even VR? So we’re considering those types of things, anything that could create an even more engaging world that kids could take part in.

We want kids to feel closer, and feel stronger about mindfulness in their own lives. That’s really our focus, just to keep making people aware of it and help more kids discover it.

I think it’s wonderful. Especially helping kids handle emotions in a healthy way is something we really need right now.

Absolutely. The next episode we’re going to be releasing is one of my stories, Mr. Hoppit the Hare, and it was inspired actually by [writer] David Sedaris. I don’t know if you know him. He’s brilliant. I just think he’s just so funny and dry.

And he did this incredible story about animals, which was inspired by Donald Trump building a wall between the States and Mexico. I just thought, well, here’s an opportunity—how do we celebrate diversity? How do I appreciate who’s in my community, and look around and see what’s happening around me, and recognize the good in it?

It’s interesting where your journey takes you, and how exactly how we can help kids learn about their own mental health, but also show them socially where everything is and how it’s unfolding in front of them.