Children benefit from the skills to calm and re-center themselves in this world full of opportunities to get off-balance. Whether they’re having difficulty with a friendship at school or getting restless at home in the midst of COVID-19, children benefit from practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness skills that help us to remember that we always possess within us the ability to find calm, imagine our best self, and begin again.
Mindfulness skills are taught as part of the RULER Social Emotional literacy curriculum with the Meta-Moment. In the 6-step Meta-Moment below, 1) something happens, then 2) the student senses how they are feeling on the Mood Meter, red (mad), blue (sad), yellow (excited), or green (calm). Once their sense their feelings, they 3) pause for a moment to 4) imagine their best self. Here the student reaches into their mental toolbox and 5) strategize to select the tool they will use to problem-solve (this is where students might try a strategy that they learned in the Kelso’s Choice curriculum in K - 2nd grade at West Woodland).
You can learn more about the MetaMoment and RULER on the Seattle Public School website: https://www.seattleschools.org/academics/curriculum/social_emotional_learning_skills/ruler/meta_moment
Want to practice more mindfulness at home? Insight Timer is an app with a free collection of meditations for children to ease nerves and build self-confidence.
Here are more free online resources to practice mindfulness with your children.
I hope you find a tool that feels like a good fit for your family. What mindfulness practices are working in your home? Please email or comment and let us know.
Special thanks to Megan Kaloper, Counselor from Coe Elementary,
for sharing her favorite free mindfulness tools.