The Mindful Path – Mindfulness for Young Children
Hello from guest blogger Lisa Robinson! In this second quarter of 2015, my posts will be about Mindfulness in Education. Let’s start with examples of what some children experienced in preschool and in kindergarten. In Madison, WI, a group of children between 4 and 6 years old were in a study where they learned to be more mindful by bringing their attention to the present moment. At the end of the study, researchers found that the children who participated demonstrated less selfishness and more mental flexibility. At the end of the article, there’s a great sidebar that features tips for families that want to practice mindfulness together. See the full article from eurekalert.org here at this link: https://ow.ly/LgJ0d Also wonderful is this unscripted video from mindful.org that shows what kindergartners say about how they learned to use mindfulness to work more effectively with strong negative emotions: https://youtu.be/RVA2N6tX2cg Here is a link to the full post where the video appears: https://ow.ly/LgMjF To see what children can learn about themselves and using mindfulness at a very young age is inspirational. By learning these critical skills, children can be much better prepared to be successful as they age and take on the challenges of adult life. I hope that you see the possibilities of how mindfulness could benefit children in your life. Please feel free to share your comments or questions below.