Mindfulness is for ALL ages and all stages of life.
With infants its the adults mindfulness that matters. Your calm will be essential to ensure that you can handle the highs and lows of parenting.
Changing our brains to help others
As you move into toddlerhood mindfulness will help with tantrums and moods. I previously shared that I will often pick up Leila and hold her and take exaggerated deep breaths and this has shown to shorten meltdowns.
We are now working on mindfulness for Leila, per her request. Last week Leila found one of the mindfulness books I had home to read to students for my google classroom. She asked to read it and did such a wonderful job taking deep breaths. Since reading the book, when I say deep breath, Leila knows what I mean and takes a good deep breath.
The more we practice mindfulness the more our little ones see it and want to join in.
As we move into childhood we can continue to teach deep breathing and begin to build the concepts of mindfulness. We can share that mindfulness is; paying attention on purpose (without judgement and with curiosity) . This will help our younger students learn to listen to their bodies and moods and as they become aware they will do it in a positive way. They will learn to accept their feelings and show them in a way that does not harm themselves or others.
A Michigan Elementary School and Mindfulness
Imagine a student that explodes. Imagine a student you have to have carried out of your class. Imagine a student that spends hours a day screaming. Imagine them screaming "give me what I want and this will stop." What if this student began to practice mindfulness and then turned around and chose to teach mindfulness skills to others? We have one such students. Those of us who have been on the journey with this young lady know the great distance this young girl has come. For those that are not as familiar, as you watch the video take a minute to think about a students who is difficult and presents challenges. What if that student could one day become like this young lady?
The older our students get the more their brains are changing. The brain is more generalized in childhood, ready to absorbed all the knowledge it can. As the brain grows into pre-teen and teen years it become more specific to interests. The changes can create challenges in how students learn. At this time mindfulness is crucial in order to help the youth learn to focus on a subject their brain may be signaling they are no longer as interested in as they previously had been. Mindfulness is a great opportunity to train the brain and emotions to work together instead in opposition.
We can takes 5-10 minutes a day to provide a safe space for our students to learn and grow in mindfulness. I have heard it over and over that there just isn't time in the day. How much time do you spend redirecting students in a given day? What if instead you used 10 minutes at the start of the day to teach students self-regulation and mindfulness? Perhaps students later in the day can learn to redirect themselves.
At our school we have a wonderful and easy to use program. I have shared it previously but it worth sharing again. Please sign up for Inner Explorer. If you cannot find the link I have sent, email me and ask for a new link. I will happily support you with getting started.
At the beginning of the school year I talked about the idea of mental contrasting and using WOOP. It takes 5 minutes a morning to set a daily goal.
I am working to grow a mindfulness library. I have some books, cards, and can always point you to a good video. Feel free to come to my office and explore ideas for your students. Don't forget that I myself am a resource and will happily come to your class and help you start your day the mindful way.
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