Mindfulness for children
Mindfulness is very much the buzzword of our times but what exactly is it? Broadly speaking, Mindfulness is being present in the moment – stopping and being aware of your thoughts, environment and body. Anne Marie Scanlon looks at mindfulness for children.
Although mindfulness for children is a relatively recent development there are approximately 2,200 trained mindfulness for kids practitioners in the UK. According to a recent article in The Daily Telegraph, “mindfulness for pre-schoolers is fast becoming the biggest parenting trend since Jo Frost and the naughty step.” And it’s a trend that’s being welcomed by experts such as Willim Kuyken, a professor of clinical psychology at Oxford University. Professor Kuyken has remarked that the spread of mindfulness among children could do for Britain’s mental health what fluoride did for its teeth. In a report called ‘Developing Mindfulness in Children and Young People’ Katherine Weare, Emeritus Professor at Exeter and Southampton universities, said the practice of mindfulness “gradually modifies habitual mental and behavioural patterns which otherwise create and maintain negative mental states, such as rumination, stress, anxiety, and depression and makes for greater mental stability, calm, acceptance, appreciation of what is, rather than hankering after what is not and thus higher levels of happiness and wellbeing.”
Earlier this year the Irish Independent newspaper carried a report on the success of a pilot program ‘Mindfulness Matters’ devised by Derval Dunford and Dr Ann Caulfield and introduced into primary schools in 2011. “Killeen National School in Louisburgh, Co Mayo was one of the first to introduce the practice for its 68 pupils. Starting with just a few minutes a day, the principal and teachers were so impressed with the outcome that this year they introduced weekly half-hour lessons as part of the SPHE (Social Personal Health Education) curriculum. Sixth-class pupil Cillian White is a big fan. “I live in the now,” says the 11-year-old. “Mindfulness takes my mind off things, like if I’m worried about schoolwork or exams. The class is calm and no-one is rowdy. I enjoy it a lot.”
Despite the reported successes of mindfulness programs for children, schools where they
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are practiced are still in the minority. Further, parents who can afford specialist practitioners can have difficulty finding them as this is still such a relatively young field. The good news is that most of the techniques can be practiced at home.
Before getting your children to try mindfulness you are going to need to get some calm yourself – which is always easier said than done. There is a myriad of books around on how to practice mindfulness – something which can be overwhelming in itself. Peace of Mind: A book of calm for busy mums by Georgina Rodgers (Hodder £12.99) breaks it down into easy chapters and exercises. Once you’ve mastered calm you can get your child/children into trying some mindfulness techniques.
However, before you begin practicing the following techniques with your child there are a few of things to be mindful of...
• Keep it simple. You don’t even have to use the ‘M’ word. What you are doing is trying to teach your children how to ‘be present’. You want your child to understand that feelings are not facts.
• They might not want to do it. Don’t force it as that will negate the effects and make everyone cross.
• If your child does take to mindfulness and practices regularly do not expect them to be a Zen Master for the rest of the day!
Mindfulness Exercises for Children (and Parents) 1. Saved by the Bell
Ring a bell and ask your child/children to listen closely to the vibration of the ringing sound and to keep quiet until they no longer hear those sounds.
2. It Takes Two
In any kind of meditative exercise, we’re often told to ‘pay attention to the breath’. A good
way to pay attention to breathing is to lie on the floor with a cuddly toy (or similar small object) placed on the tummy. As you and your child breathe in silence watch Teddy moving up and down whilst also being aware of anything else you can see, hear or feel.
3. Uptight is Alright Another exercise you and the kids can do while lying on the floor. Clench everything, muscles, face, arms, legs, fingers, toes, tummy, bum, shoulders… Become as tense and as uptight as possible. Hold this position for a short time (not too long, we don’t want it to hurt or to get cramp). Then fully release and relax everything. Most of us find ourselves unconsciously clenching, tightening, grimacing and hunching throughout the day. Doing it deliberately makes you more aware of it and more likely to become aware of it, and stop, when you do it without thinking.
4. The Attitude of Gratitude Taking time every day to find and name just one thing you are grateful for. It could be something big and important like a promotion at work or a good school report. Or it could be something small like a person holding open a door for you, or somebody picking up something that fell for you. If nothing good happened to you today think about all the things you take for granted – electricity, clean running water, indoor plumbing (including flushing toilets), make-up, year-round bananas, Terry Pratchett/JK Rowling/Roald Dahl, chip shops… I could go on. In our society we often focus on the things we don’t have whether it’s a certain TV or a make of skateboard. We spend so much time yearning and craving that we forget all the things we DO have. Make your own list, when you are having a very bad day and it seems that everything is going wrong it’s good to remember that you are lucky enough to have an indoor loo.
Anne Marie Scanlon for Primary Times
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