As caregivers, our ultimate goal is to give our children the brightest possible future. Children can face stressors in different environments, such as at home or within their peer relationships, which can impact their day-to-day function.
Educators and carers are in a key position to help children develop skills to help them navigate and overcome these challenges. Mindfulness can play an important role in supporting young people. At Meadows Psychology Service, we believe that mindfulness is one of the most important skills children can develop.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the technique of being fully present and aware of events occurring in the moment without holding judgement.
Growing up can be difficult, and children, particularly those who have experienced early trauma, can face many challenges, especially in developing their social and cognitive skills. Mindfulness is essential for children, as it can positively affect their development and help them engage in healthier social behaviour
Where Can Mindfulness Be Used?
Mindfulness can be practised in a number of situations and is a great tool for diffusing situations in which children are struggling to understand or regulate their emotions. Here are some examples of situations in which mindfulness should be employed.
Mindfulness in Education
Often referred to as contemplative pedagogy, mindfulness in the classroom helps children develop a deepened way of thinking and mature their awareness and insight.
Children and young people, particularly those who have experienced early trauma and attachment disruptions, can present with difficulties across a range of developmental domains. As such, children can often experience difficulties understanding and regulating their emotions, which can make engaging in a classroom environment difficult.
Focusing on the learner’s journey can enhance their understanding of their classmates’ diverse experiences.
This approach fosters empathy and encourages students to reflect on their own learning methods, helping them grow as individuals in a supportive environment. Encouraging mindfulness for kids is essential to supporting their development.
Mindfulness at Home
If a child has had a difficult or emotionally exhausting day at school, this can impact how they process their emotions and how they respond to stressful stimuli.
Because it can be difficult for children who have experienced trauma to articulate their emotions, it can be difficult for them not to become overwhelmed. Helping the child engage in mindfulness can make it much easier for them to articulate their emotions.
Examples of Mindfulness Practices
There is a common misconception that mindfulness is all about meditation, but several ways to encourage young children to engage in mindfulness exist.
Below are some ways you can encourage the children and young people you care for to engage in mindfulness practices day-to-day
- Breathing Exercises: Encourage slow and mindful breathing to promote relaxation.
- Five Senses Exercise: Ask children to identify their surroundings using their five senses.
- Walking: Encourage the children to focus on the sensation of walking to ground them. By instructing the children to ground themselves, it will help them become more aware of their environment and calm them.
- Body Scan: Guide children to focus on each body part with their eyes closed and ask them to notice any sensations they feel. You may wish to start at the top of the body and work down, slowly guiding the young person to focus on and notice how they feel in their head, jaw, shoulders and so on.
- Bell Listening: Ring a bell and ask children to wait for the sound to disappear; this can help them concentrate and calm down. This can be repeated until the child feels calm.
- Gratitude Practice: Ask the children to think about something they are grateful for, encouraging them to reflect on the good moments in their day.
The Core Benefits of Mindfulness
There are numerous benefits to practising mindfulness with children and young people. Practising mindfulness can help to enhance a young person’s emotional, social and cognitive development in a number of ways, including:
Emotional Regulation
Mindfulness can help children manage their emotions by encouraging them to pause and think about their feelings before they react impulsively.
By enforcing mindfulness and reminding the children to take a moment to think before acting, you can encourage emotional regulation, which is a valuable skill that can be carried into adulthood.
Self-esteem and Confidence
Encouraging mindfulness in children is essential for improving their self-esteem and confidence. With time, mindfulness can help children gain confidence, better equipping them to overcome challenges and accept mistakes or failures.
Mindfulness can help children build resilience and teach them to see their mistakes as learning opportunities rather than reflections of their individuality. It can be easy for children to struggle to process their mistakes, and it can harm their confidence, so encouraging mindfulness is essential.
Improved Social Skills
Mindfulness encourages children to be more aware of those around them, which can help them develop empathy and better understand how other children feel. This awareness can improve the relationships that these children develop as they age.
Because mindfulness allows you to empathise with others, it can help children improve their compassion, which is essential for navigating social situations.
Better Focus and Attention
Children and young people, particularly those who have experienced trauma and attachment disruptions, can have difficulty engaging in school. When a child has difficulty focusing, you can almost experience a domino effect: The others seem to do the same.
Mindful practices, such as breathing exercises, can improve a child’s focus and help them pay closer attention to what they are being taught.
Practising mindfulness in an educational setting can positively impact students and build a strong foundation they can take into adulthood.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
Mindfulness is a major component of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).
If you are not familiar with DBT, it is a type of talking therapy with roots in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); it was created by Marsha Linehan, an American psychologist, in the 1970s. This therapeutic method is intended to help people who experience emotions very intensely.
The purpose of DBT is to help people understand and accept their difficult feelings and learn ways to cope in times of emotional distress.
Mindfulness is a core practice in DBT and can encourage emotional regulation, distress tolerance and awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness is essential to this therapeutic response as it enables people to comprehend and express their feelings.
How a Psychology Service Can Help
If you want to experiment with mindfulness practices to see how they can benefit young children, we strongly recommend seeking assistance from a psychology service.
You can receive the necessary training to implement mindfulness by working with a psychology service. By working with a psychology service like Meadows Psychology Service, you will have access to all the necessary resources.
At Meadows Psychology Service, we are experts in supporting carers in building strong, trusting relationships with young people and equipping them with the tools, skills and resources to help young people thrive.
If you would to know more about mindfulness for children, or you would like our support, contact us today, find out how we can help you implement mindful practices.
