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What screen time really does to children's brains

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What screen time really does to children’s brains

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Screen time has become synonymous with bad news - but the science may not be as straightforward as it seems

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Calming Comfort Anxiety Therapy Bags & More

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Calming Comfort Anxiety Therapy Bags & More

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Weighted Therapy Bags & Fidgy Bags - all beautifully hand made

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DA DA DAISY'S STORY

I had always had a fascination for essential oils and Aromatherapy and wanted to explore it further but something always got in the way ---- busy life really .... As it does

I had owned a Real Estate Company in a little costal township, in South Australia, it was my life as I spent so much time in the office, I decided to make it as comfortable as possible, surrounding myself and staff with beautiful things that made me happy. One of the things I used to do was burn and infuse different blends of essential oils.... Working in Real Estate De Stress was the most popular blend !!!!!

We forever had random people walking into the office, not because they wanted to sell or buy a home, BUT to inquire about the amazing aroma that was wafting out onto the street as they passed by...

Our senses tell a lot about us, what we need and what makes us happy and relaxed, as I started to explore essential oils in more depth in my spare time, a whole new world started to open up.

......Fast Forward a Few Years.....

My Fathers health had started to decline, he lived on a farm in which I started spending more time at, as I had just sold my business, it became a place for me to go, not only to spend time with Dad, but a "time out" place for me, to spend time in the open air and nature and to destress and work out what I wanted to do next in life.

At the farm I started to create a garden for Dad, after a lot of trial and error, losing a lot of plants, I found that the plain old fashioned white Daisy was the only thing that seem to survive and thrive in the hard limestone soil. SO... Daisy's it was..... breaking them off and planting them everywhere, and I mean Everywhere ...

Dad was delighted, he couldn't believe daisies could bring him so much Joy, he was proud of this Garden of DAISY'S we created, when in bloom the sea of White was absolutely stunning against the openness of the farm. He would always say "they look Bootifulll"

As Dads health deteriorated and medical intervention was failing, we knew there probably wasn't a lot that could be done, so I started making Aromatherapy sprays with oils that were appropriate for different ailments that he had, I was just trying to find something to make him feel good about himself and soothe his soul.

I would leave the sprays on the coffee table, explain to him, when he was feeling Tired, lethargic, Nauseous, or couldn't sleep, to spray himself and his face, breathe in the aroma and just see if it helps....... Not Sure he was going to do this. (We are talking about a 73 year old male that was a Gung Ho type of Man) Dad was a little eccentric himself, but he did have a belief in life and a "Give anything a go attitude"

Well ..... to my surprise he started using all the different sprays, He was my biggest advocate.... It wasn't long before he was asking me if I could make one for this or for that ... so I did .. we ended up with all these little brown bottles with strange labels on them like .....Micks' MoJo Juice ...Nite Nite Mick Sleep Tite. Dad really started to get into this, it was fun to see.

Sadly, my Dad lost his fight for life and passed away. I was so grateful that I was able to share this journey with him.

Leaving me at a complete loss and looking to move ahead with the next chapter of my life and find something that makes me happy in life was my next challenge. NO IDEA what I wanted to do... & THEN

I was at Dads farm one day after his passing, walking amongst the DAISYS and thinking to myself about the connection of Dad and the Daises, and what joy they bought to his life, and out of nowhere I distinctively knew I had to create something to honour him and.. BINGO !!! DA DA DAISY was born....... Aromatherapy sprays with Quirky names just like I used to make for my Dad.

I have been creating these Beautiful sprays in hope that they will bring some pleasure and joy to the lives of people that use them, just as they did for my DAD ......

Just to add a little bit more Quirkiness to the story, I Registered the business name Da Da Daisy, designed and ordered the Business cards and then shared with a Girlfriend what I was planning to do... She asked where I got the name from, I said i really just kept on hearing it my head, over and over so thought I would use it. She asked insistently what it said ...... I repeatedly said Da Da Daisy .. until she pointed out the first two words spell Dad Dad ..... I know strange right ... Then she asked why the black and white stripes on my business cards.. my reply, I thought it looked striking with the Hot Pink .. I ASKED WHY !!!! by this point, she then replies your Dads Race Horse Jockey Silks were at his funeral, weren't they black and white stripes?? ummm yes they are ... so I do believe and have faith, that not only have I been guided but I am on the right path with Da Da Daisy

HAPPY SPRAYING

LOVE DA DA DAISY XX

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How Short-Form Video Addiction Takes a Toll on Teens' Health

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How Short-Form Video Addiction Takes a Toll on Teens' Health

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How Short-Form Video Addiction Is Impacting Teen Health

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The rise of short-form videos presents challenges for teen health, affecting focus, emotional well-being and overall mental health.

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Teen's Brains & Screen Time Short Form Video

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Teen's Brains & Screen Time Short Form Video

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How Short-Form Video Addiction Is Impacting Teen Health

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The rise of short-form videos presents challenges for teen health, affecting focus, emotional well-being and overall mental health.

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Highly recommended reading ! An urgent and insightful investigation into the collapse in youth mental health, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author

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Jonathan Haidt is a modern-day prophet, disguised as a psychologist. In this book, he's back to warn us of the dangers of a phone-based childhood. He points the way forward to a brighter, stronger future for us all
Susan Cain, author of Quiet

An urgent and provocative read on why so many kids are not okay-and how to course correct. . . . even if you're not ready to ban smartphones until high school, this book will challenge you to rethink how we nurture the potential in our kids and prepare them for the world
Adam Grant, author of Think Again

This is a crucial read for parents of children of elementary school age and beyond, who face the rapidly changing landscape of childhood. Haidt lays out problems but also solutions for making a better digital life with kids
Emily Oster, author of Expecting Better

Every single parent needs to stop what they are doing and read this book immediately. Jonathan Haidt is the most important psychologist in the world today, and this is the most important book on the topic that's reshaping your child's life right now
Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

If this important book rings enough alarms to make politicians impose a genuine social media ban on children, I believe most parents would be happy and most teenagers happier
The Times, Book of the Week

Compelling, readable - and incredibly chilling . . . a terrifying assessment of the digital carnage . . . remarkably persuasive . . . a clarion-call to parents everywhere
Lucy Denyer, Telegraph

Compelling thesis . . . interweaving distressing analysis alongside practical advice
Ed Smith, New Statesman

Deals seriously with counter-arguments and gaps in the evidence . . . all the suggestions sound sensible. Some even sound fun
Economist

Urgent and essential . . . it ought to become a foundational text for the growing movement to keep smartphones out of schools, and young children off social media
Sophie McBain, Guardian

A game-changer for society . . . The statistics that Haidt offers are jaw-dropping . . . although this book is about young people, it will resonate with many of us . . . I can't recommend this book highly enough; everyone should read it
Irish Independent

I would be amazed if large parts of this book don't ring painfully true . . . Whatever we do, it's time to recognise that there's been a massive shift in human behaviour
Mark Mason, Daily Mail

Forget horror; this is one of the most terrifying books I have read . . . some of the statistics Haidt quotes are truly shocking . . . a persuasive and rousing argument
Anna Davis, Evening Standard

Erudite, engaging, crusading Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, New York Times Book Review

Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

Beautifully grounds his critique in Buddhist, Taoist and Christian thought traditions . . . his common-sense recommendations for actions...are excellent
Judith Warner, Washington Post

A book of devastating observations . . . his data is startling . . . robust scientific evidence for what we've all come to assume is true . . . it's the sheer scale of harm depicted here that should galvanise us
Simon Ings, Spectator

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The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

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An urgent and insightful investigation into the collapse in youth mental health, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author

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The 5-minute daily playtime ritual that can get your kids to listen better

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The 5-minute daily playtime ritual that can get your kids to listen better : Life Kit

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Called "special time," the strategy is widely recommended by children's health professionals to help reduce behavioral issues in young children. Here's a guide on how to do it with your kids at home.

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Mind the Bump   Mindfulness and how the brain works

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ABC Catalyst - Experiment on Mindfulness

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ABC Catalyst - Experiment on Mindfulness

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St. Thomas Goodwood - 'The Wellbeing Book' !

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St. Thomas Goodwood - 'The Wellbeing Book' !

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CWkxsW8k4o

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This is a great alternative for the plant activity in the Peaceful Kids program.  Not only does the plant grow but they also get butterflies !

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Disgust and Anger Clip - Inside out clip

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Disgust and Anger Clip - Inside out clip

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Great video on emotions

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Realheartmusic Shirley Pyrc & Byron Keno

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Realheartmusic Shirley Pyrc & Byron Keno

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Realheartmusic Shirley Pyrc & Byron Keno

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Realheartmusic Shirley Pyrc & Byron Keno

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Realheartmusic Shirley Pyrc & Byron Keno

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Inspiring and fun songs for kids - created just for kids by Shirly Pyrc, a Chaplain in WA

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A book that all educators need to read

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My Doctor's are always telling me about the importance of mindfulness in , healing so when I saw this book I decided it might be worth checking out.

The authors go into a lot of detail about what mindfulness is, how it will help you as a student to be more mindful and improve your grades while lowering stress, but it also tells you step by step how to do just that. Later chapters look at how mindfulness can be used for and by teachers, in classrooms from Nursery to College. Parents can find this...more

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My Doctor's are always telling me about the importance of mindfulness in , healing so when I saw this book I decided it might be worth checking out. The authors go into a lot of detail about what mindfulness is, how it will help you as a student to be more mindful and improve your grades while lowering stress, but it also tells you step by step how to do just that.

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Certificate in Mindfulness & Wellbeing For children

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Certificate in Mindfulness & Wellbeing For children

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Would you like to gain a recognised certificate in Mindfulness & Wellbeing for children?

Would you like to change careers or add to your qualifications and experience and hold mindfulness and wellbeing classes and programs for children?

Wellbeing For Kids is now offering a certificate program for anyone who would like to work with children and support their wellbeing.

This certificate is a registered teacher training course with Meditation Australia and once completed you will be able to become a member with Meditation Australia and gain insurance to work with children.

We are excited to announce we now provide online training !
​
​To register your interest in the online training email Georgina georgina@wellbeingforkids.com.au
​

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Would you like to gain a recognised certificate in Mindfulness & Wellbeing for children? Would you like to change careers or add to your qualifications and experience and hold mindfulness and wellbeing classes and programs for children? Wellbeing For Kids is now offering a certificate program for anyone who would like to work with children and support their wellbeing.

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The Hole in the Road | Headspace | Meditation

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Description

Written to inspire the imaginative child, with space to personalise, by writing the child's name, dreams and an illustrated frame to draw in. This is a heart-warming book makes a memorable gift for someone special or special addition to your classroom. Created for children of ages 3 - 10, to either share with an adult or for Transitional to Fluent readers.

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Where All Amazing Things Start (Angela Bertram)

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Written to inspire the imaginative child, with space to personalise, by writing the child's name, dreams and an illustrated frame to draw in. This is a heart-warming book makes a memorable gift for someone special or special addition to your classroom.

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Picture book

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I Don't Want to Bully Anymore focuses on building confidence and character as an anti-bullying strategy. It is meant to help bullies feel good about themselves and fit in with the group.

It helps victims not to take the words and actions of the bully to heart.

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I Don't Want to Bully Anymore focuses on building confidence and character as an anti-bullying strategy. It is meant to help bullies feel good about themselves and fit in with the group. It helps victims not to take the words and actions of the bully to heart.

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by David Gillespie - essential reading before your child reaches teenagehood

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From Australia's most trusted non-fiction researcher and author comes the book that every parent needs to read.

With their labile and rapidly developing brains, adolescents are particularly susceptible to addiction, and addiction leads to anxiety and depression. What few parents will know is that what we think of as the most typical addictions and problematic teen behaviours - smoking, drinking, drug-taking, sex leading to teenage pregnancy - are on the decline.

The bad news is that a whole raft of addictions has taken their place. Whereas once the dopamine-hungry brain of a teenager got its fix from smoking a joint or sculling a Bundy and coke, it is now turning to electronic devices for the pleasure jolt that typically comes from playing online games (if you're a boy) and engaging with social media (if you're a girl).

What is even more troubling is that, unlike drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, electronic devices are not illicit. Quite the contrary. They are liberally distributed by schools and parents, with few restrictions placed on their use.

However, all is not lost. In Teen Brain, David sets out clear, reasonable and effective rules to help you confidently manage your kids' use of screens at this critical point in their lives.

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From Australia's most trusted non-fiction researcher and author comes the book that every parent needs to read. With their labile and rapidly developing brains, adolescents are particularly susceptible to addiction, and addiction leads to anxiety and depression.

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The Science of Happiness

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?” Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.”

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Dr. Craig Hassed

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Jon Kabat Zinn

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Our mission is to promote the well-being of children through engaging and powerful picture books.

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Allowing time for the body and brain to rest

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Allowing time for the body and brain to rest

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Article by Georgina Manning on free play in Kidspot.com

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The Sloth Who Came to Stay by Margaret Wild

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Buy The Sloth Who Came to Stay at Angus & Robertson with Delivery -
A wryly amusing story about a fast family who are taught to slow down when an adorable sloth comes to stay by the award-winning author of Fox and Ruby Roars.

Amy's family is speedy!

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also explain fight and fight response

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Fight Flight Freeze – A Guide to Anxiety for Kids

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Mirror nuerons and action and emotions

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Every winter, like clockwork, we prepare to avoid catching the flu or seasonal cold. However, there is an epidemic we're all infected with without a cure: emotional contagion. In BrainCraft's latest video, "Are Your Emotions Contagious?" writer and host Vanessa Hill suggests we tend to subconsciously catch each other's feelings through a mirror neurons system that reflects behavior.

The mirror neurons theory suggests neurons might be involved in feelings of empathy, while others think these brain cells play critical roles in human abilities like speech. A 1992 study published in the journal Experimental Brain Research found certain groups of neurons in the brains of macaque monkeys fired not only when a monkey performed an action, such as grabbing an apple out of a box, but also when the monkey watched someone else performing that action. This brain activity was seen even when the monkey heard someone performing the action in another room.

A 2000 study published in the journal Psychological Science found this behavior is reflected in humans. Participants were shown a face with either a happy, angry, or neutral expression, but only for 30 milliseconds. The expressive faces weren't on the screen long enough for the participants to notice, so they had no idea that they were being subconsciously exposed to them. Still, the participants who were shown the happy face displayed increased electrical activity in the muscles needed to smile and mimic that face, and vice versa with the angry face.

"It's thought that we mirror behaviors and facial expressions to help us understand the emotional states of others and learn by imitation," Hill says in the video. We tend to mimic and match moods, facial expressions, and behavior as empathy. This is why if we see someone is smiling and we're upset, chances are we still match our feelings to our emotional environment as a way to empathize.

Whether emotions are as contagious as the common cold is still up for debate, but recently a study published in the journal PLOS One found the physical sensation of feeling cold is actually contagious. Participants were shown videos of a hand in either visibly cold or visibly warm water and found the participants' hands dropped in temperature. This was more noticeable in participants who reported having higher levels of empathy.

Although it is not clear whether mirror neurons are responsible for emotional and temperature contagion, it does seem we are primed to mimic what we observe.

It really is monkey see, monkey do.

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Are Emotions As Contagious As The Common Cold? [VIDEO]

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Every winter, like clockwork, we prepare to avoid catching the flu or seasonal cold. However, there is an epidemic we're all infected with without a cure: emotional contagion. In BrainCraft's latest video, "Are Your Emotions Contagious?" writer and host Vanessa Hill suggests we tend to subconsciously catch each other's feelings through a mirror neurons system that reflects behavior.

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Discussion on scientific evidence of mirror nuerons

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Discussion on scientific evidence of mirror nuerons

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This week Greater Good editor-in-chief Jason Marsh is reporting on highlights from the recent Being Human conference in San Francisco, including a round-up of some of the key themes and speakers, and an interview on the evolutionary roots of altruism with Yale psychologist Laurie Santos. Today, we present an interview with neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran on mirror neurons, the subject of his Being Human talk.

Did you ever have that sensation where you're watching someone do something-serve a tennis ball, say, or get pricked by a needle-and you can just feel exactly what they must be feeling, as if you were in their shoes?

Scientists have long wondered why we get that feeling, and more than two decades ago, a team of Italian researchers thought they stumbled on an answer. While observing monkeys' brains, they noticed that certain cells activated both when a monkey performed an action and when that monkey watched another monkey perform the same action. "Mirror neurons" were discovered.

Since that time, mirror neurons have been hailed as a cornerstone of human empathy, language, and other vital processes. But there has also been something of a mirror neuron backlash, with some scientists suggesting that the importance of mirror neurons has been exaggerated.

V.S. Ramachandran has been one of mirror neurons' most ardent scientific champions. Ramachandran (known as "Rama" to friends and colleagues), a distinguished professor of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, conducted early research on mirror neurons; he has since called them "the basis of civilization" in a TED talk and touted their significance in his recent book The Tell Tale Brain.

"I don't think they're being exaggerated," he said a few days ago at Being Human. "I think they're being played down, actually."

In his presentation at Being Human, Ramachandran discussed how research on mirror neurons and "phantom limbs" suggests an extraordinary human capacity for empathy. (See this post for more details.)

After his Being Human talk, I sat down with Ramachandran to discuss what we know-and what we don't-about these celebrated brain cells. Below is a condensed version of our conversation.

Jason Marsh: First, could you explain a little bit about what mirror neurons are and how they were discovered?

V.S. Ramachandran: Well, basically Giacomo Rizzolatti and Vittorio Gallese and some of their colleagues in Italy discovered mirror neurons. They found these neurons in the frontal lobes of the brain-the pre-frontal areas of the brain-among what were originally found as motor command neurons. These are neurons which fire when I reach out and grab a peanut, another set of neurons which fire when I reach out and pull a lever, other neurons when I'm pushing something, other neurons when I'm hitting something. These are regular motor command neurons, orchestrating a sequence of muscle twitches that allow me to reach out and grab something or do some other action.

A subset of these neurons also fire when I simply watch another person-watch you reach out and do exactly the same action. So these neurons are performing a virtual reality simulation of your mind, your brain. Therefore, they're constructing a theory of your mind-of your intention-which is important for all kinds of social interaction.

JM: So you've talked about the role of mirror neurons in motor skills. I wonder if you could elaborate on the role of mirror neurons in affective experiences, in emotional experiences.

VR: Well, people have asked me that already, and I don't know much about it. All I know is they are involved in empathy for, say, touch or a gentle caress or pain.

For example, pretend somebody pokes my left thumb with a needle. We know that the insular cortex fires cells and we experience a painful sensation. The agony of pain is probably experienced in a region called the anterior cingulate, where there are cells that respond to pain. The next stage in pain processing, we experience the agony, the painfulness, the affective quality of pain.

It turns out these anterior cingulate neurons that respond to my thumb being poked will also fire when I watch you being poked-but only a subset of them. There are non-mirror neuron pain neurons and there are mirror neuron pain neurons.

So these [mirror] neurons are probably involved in empathy for pain. If I really and truly empathize with your pain, I need to experience it myself. That's what the mirror neurons are doing, allowing me to empathize with your pain-saying, in effect, that person is experiencing the same agony and excruciating pain as you would if somebody were to poke you with a needle directly. That's the basis of all empathy.

JM: Just to clarify: When you talk about mirror neurons and non-mirror neurons, what percentage are you talking about?

VR: Between 10 and 20 percent [are mirror neurons]. For motor neurons, I think it's a higher percentage-maybe about 20 percent. For sensory neurons, it's about 10 percent. But these numbers are not all that accurate.

JM: So could you elaborate on the social implications and broader practical implications of mirror neurons?

VR: Well, [mirror neurons] enable me to see you as an intentional being, with purpose and intention. In fact, we suggested nearly a decade ago that mirror neuron dysfunction may be involved in autism. People with autism, ironically sometimes they mimic constantly what you're doing, but it's also true that they're bad at imitation and they don't have empathy, they don't have a theory of mind, they can't infer your intentions, they don't engage in pretend play. In pretend play, what I do is temporarily say, "I'm going to be this superhero," so you do role play. That requires a theory of mind.

So take all the properties of mirror neurons, make a list of them, and list all the things that are going wrong in autism-there's a very good match. Not every symptom, but many of the symptoms match beautifully. And it's controversial: There are about seven papers claiming that it's true, using brain imaging, and maybe one or two claiming that there's no correlation [between mirror neurons and autism].

JM: From your perspective, what do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions around mirror neurons-speculations that have yet to actually be validated by science?

VR: Well, I think as with any new scientific discovery, initially people are very skeptical. When people discovered that these neurons do exist, and that they exist in humans, then people went overboard and said they do everything. And I myself am partly responsible because I made this playful remark, not entirely serious, that mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology and open up a whole new field of investigation. Turned out I was right, but it's overdone-I mean, a lot of people, anything they can't understand, they say it's due to mirror neurons.

JM: And what are some of those things that people attribute to mirror neurons that we don't yet know to be true?

VR: Well, I think my own theory about autism hasn't been proven. It's a plausible theory-it's better than any other theories that are out there-but it still has not been proven. But the popular person latches onto it and says that autism's caused by mirror neuron deficiency.

The other important thing I want to say is that mirror neurons are obviously the starting point for things like empathy, but that's all it is-I mean, you need much more. If mirror neurons are involved in things like empathy and language and all of that, then monkeys should be very good at these things. One of the things I argue, and others have argued, is that mirror neurons are important in transmitting skills from generation to generation. I need to put myself in your shoes to observe what you're doing, and to mime it accurately. Mirror neurons are important in that.

JM: Right, and that's what culture's about-the transmission of those learned skills.

VR: Exactly. That's one of the proposals I made on the Edge website in an essay I published 10 years ago. But if that were true, it they were responsible for all that transmission of skills and culture, monkeys should be very good at those things because they have mirror neurons.

So clearly mirror neurons provide the substrate [for those skills], and maybe there are more sophisticated mirror neurons in humans than in monkeys, but they're not by themselves [responsible].

Those kinds of errors are quite common, but that's okay.

JM: Why do you say it's okay?

VR: It's how science progresses. People make overstatements, and then correct them.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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This week Greater Good editor-in-chief Jason Marsh is reporting on highlights from the recent Being Human conference in San Francisco, including a round-up of some of the key themes and speakers, and an interview on the evolutionary roots of altruism with Yale psychologist Laurie Santos. Today, we present an interview with neuroscientist V.S.

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Explaining Mirror Nuerons

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Dr. Dan Siegel - Explains Mirror Neurons in Depth

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For my second piece on neuro-myths, I'm tackling head-on the biggest, hottest development in neuroscience, according to some observers, in the last 20 years: mirror neurons. So enthusiastically have scientists embraced them, that they have become a kind of neuro-scientific Rosetta Stone, making all sorts of mental phenomena clear that have hitherto been obscure.

They've been credited with explaining the following:

Stuttering, Schizophrenia, Imitation, Phantom limbs, Hypnosis, Sexual orientation, Cigarette smoking, Political attitudes, Facial emotional recognition, Business leadership, Obesity, Love, Yawning, Music appreciation, Sport appreciation, Drub abuse, Risk assessment, Self-awareness in dolphins and many more.

What are these amazing super-human mirror neurons? For the uninitiated, let me tell you a short story.

Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team of researchers in Parma, Italy, were working on research into the functioning of the brain, using monkeys as test subjects, back in the nineties, when one of the researchers noticed something odd. The monkeys were hooked up to machines that registered their brain activity. As a reward for the various things the humans were getting the monkeys to do, the monkeys received peanuts, a food they love. When you give a monkey a peanut, he grabs it, and the pleasure centers of his brain light up like Christmas.

One day, the researcher absentmindedly-or perhaps with malice aforethought-ate one of the peanuts himself rather than feeding it to the monkey. The researcher was astonished to see that the monkey's pleasure centers lit up, just as if the monkey had eaten the peanut himself.

What was going on? After lots more investigation, the team discovered that monkeys and humans both have mirror neurons that mimic both actions and emotions of the simians and people around them. Our sense of empathy with our fellow humans, then, is real; when we see someone experience joy or sorrow, we experience that emotion with them. It's not that we appreciate the emotion or understand it intellectually from a distance. We actually experience it. We are an empathetic species.

As Rizzolatti explains, "The instantaneous understanding of the emotions of others, rendered possible by the emotional mirror neuron system, is a necessary condition for the empathy which lies at the root of most of our more complex inter-individual relationships." What Rizzolatti is saying is that most of human relations would not be possible without mirror neurons, because we wouldn't be able to understand our fellow humans. And understanding is a first step in most human interaction.

OK, so where's the myth?

Into all this love and understanding comes Gregory Hickok, a rival neuroscientist, wielding Occam's Razor and a host of other rhetorical weapons, in his new book, The Myth of Mirror Neurons. Hickok argues that the science that underpins most of the more far-fetched application of the idea of mirror neurons is unproven. Well, yes. But for precisely the reason that other scientists have leaped with too much enthusiasm on the mirror neurons idea - its explanatory power - we shouldn't be ready to give up on it yet. It is the best explanation for how the human mind accomplishes certain things as quickly and accurately as it does. It just hasn't been finally proven yet. It's an hypothesis.

The book is mis-titled. Hickok doesn't disprove the basic mirror neuron hypothesis. He just points out that the speculation has gone too far, too fast. And he prunes away a good deal of the enthusiastic growth of ideas around the original root. He's right to do that. But he's wrong to crankily dismiss the whole idea just because others have taken it up so enthusiastically. Sure, we have lots more work to do to understand mirror neurons, human empathy, and the brain in general. We're infants on that journey of understanding. But until someone comes along with something better, mirror neurons are a powerful way to explain and understand some vital aspects of the human mind, and there's good - if preliminary - evidence that they are real.

What are the takeaways for public speakers and communicators? As long as people are empathetic and share emotions, speakers need to take charge of their own emotions, because whatever they show up with they're going to leak to the audience. If the speaker is excited, the audience will be. If the speaker is nervous, the audience will be too - and it won't listen.

So don't wait until mirror neurons are proven to exist beyond a shadow of a neuro-scientific doubt. Do the work to take charge of your emotions as a speaker - as a leader - now, and take charge of the room.

I explain in more detail how to do this in my book Power Cues: the Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, published this year by Harvard. You can find it here.

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Are Mirror Neurons A Myth - And What Are They, Anyway?

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For my second piece on neuro-myths, I'm tackling head-on the biggest, hottest development in neuroscience, according to some observers, in the last 20 years: mirror neurons. So enthusiastically have scientists embraced them, that they have become a kind of neuro-scientific Rosetta Stone , making all sorts of mental phenomena clear that have hitherto been obscure.

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There is differing research on the impact of mirror neurons

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Meditation For Children (Calming activity)

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First Form：Waist Rotation with Swinging Arms

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Hugs make us feel good, but how many hugs do you need a day? What are the benefits of hugging and how long and how often should we hug our child? Even though I could hug my kids all day long, let's take a look at what science says.

Let me start by saying, I love to hug my kids. (I lie down with them at night just for a little extra one on one time, too.) But besides just wanting to show affection, there are more benefits to giving someone a hug.

Benefits of Hugging

There are SO many benefits to hugging!

According to Mail Online: " The skin contains a network of tiny, egg-shaped pressure centers called Pacinian corpuscles that can sense touch and which are in contact with the brain through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve winds its way through the body and is connected to a number of organs, including the heart.
It is also connected to oxytocin receptors. One theory is that stimulation of the vagus triggers an increase in oxytocin, which in turn leads to the cascade of health benefits." Guess what? Even a 10-second hug a day can significantly improve your health.
Shekar Raman, MD told Huff Post: "A hug, pat on the back, and even a friendly handshake are processed by the reward center in the central nervous system, which is why they can have a powerful impact on the human psyche, making us feel happiness and joy... And it doesn't matter if you're the toucher or touchee. The more you connect with others - on even the smallest physical level - the happier you'll be."

How Many Hugs Do You Need A Day?

Neuroeconomist Paul Zak recommends at least eight hugs a day to be happier and enjoy better relationships.

Psychotherapist Virginia Satir said: "We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth."

How Long Should I Be Hugging my Child?

Science says to hug your child for 15 seconds at a time. Or more!

According to Mercola.com: " A 20-second hug, along with 10 minutes of hand-holding, also reduces the harmful physical effects of stress, including its impact on your blood pressure and heart rate. This makes sense since hugging is known to lower levels of stress hormones like cortisol. "
75 percent of people said they wanted more hugs from friends & family.
Why not? It even reduces stress. Hugs encourage your body to release oxytocin which is released by the pituitary gland to help you handle stress.

Oftentimes, when I hug them, I remind them that "hugging is good for you and it makes us happy." Then I always ask... "Can I hold you just a little longer?" And they always say yes. ♥

Today, starting now, hug your kids for 15 seconds. Aim for at least four hugs today.

Some great ways to start doing this are always by giving out good morning hugs and good night hugs. Then you have twice a day where you can say "I need a hug". (Trust me - you'll quickly find yourself hugging your kids much much more!!)

You might have a one week old or a 17-year-old... hug them either way. Don't stop just because your kids are older.

Spend time with them every day ... hug them often.

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Benefits of Hugging Your Child: How long & How often

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Hugs make us feel good, but how many hugs do you need a day? What are the benefits of hugging and how long and how often should we hug our child? Even though I could hug my kids all day long, let's take a look at what science says.

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Kylie Johnson Mindfulness colouring cards

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Article with Georgina Manning for 'The Age'

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Opinion

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"The year is going so quickly," remarked my daughter. I couldn't disagree with her, but still, I was shocked by the words coming out of her mouth. She's ten for heaven's sake!

Childhood is supposed to feel like it stretches on forever. The gap between the two Annual Chocolate Festivals (aka Easter and Christmas) used to feel interminable.

Children are now lamenting the speed of time. Credit:Stocksy

But now my daughter tells me last Christmas feels like yesterday. Is her childhood being ruined? Lamenting the speed of time was only supposed to happen when you got old.

It turns out, it's not just my daughter who is concerned about the perception of time. According to educational and developmental psychologist Deborah Jepsen from Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services, even if you haven't heard your child express it directly, they still could be feeling it.

"Kids will express it by saying how quickly the term has gone, or say, 'It's already the end of term!' " Jepsen says.

Scientists have advanced a number of reasons for the perception that life is speeding up. These include the slowing of our "internal clocks" like metabolism and heart rate as we age, which makes time seem to go faster, or a reduction in the amount of information our brains process in later years.

These theories about ageing and the perception of time make me feel like I'm on the express route to a nursing home. I'm 43 and it feels like we should still be in April. But what does it say about our kids and the world we have created for them? We can't blame this one on genes and biology.

Georgina Manning, director of Wellbeing For Kids says that children are feeling as though their lives are very rushed, and rushing adds to the perception that time is speeding up. "Children are often being rushed from one thing to the next without any down time to just 'be' and slow down and live in the moment," she says.

"Rather than 'being', children are often in 'doing mode', moving from one task to the next, often on autopilot, creating a sense of urgency which can trigger children's stress response.

"Being hurried from one activity to the next each day, without this essential time for play must be exhausting and overstimulating with no time left to process the day, reflect and make sense of our day's experiences," Manning says.

In addition to over-scheduling our kids, Sophi Bruce from The School of Life blames the sense some children feel of time rushing by on overstimulating and overloading our kids with too much information from devices, and constant interruptions from online messages, adverts, banners, and likes.

"As children's brains are being stimulated at a quicker rate, their brain becomes used to being stimulated but can't actually handle the level of information so it is in a greater cycle of trying to catch up," Bruce says.

Does it actually matter that our kids feel like time is flying by them? There's no doubt that a large part of my shock in hearing my daughter's comments came from nostalgia for my own childhood and the "good old days". As a parent you wonder do we really have to add our children's perception of time to our long lists of things we have to worry about?

Being hurried from one activity to the next each day, without this essential time for play must be exhausting and overstimulating.
Georgina Manning, director of Wellbeing For Kids

According to Bruce, we would benefit from putting down our own generational lenses on time and letting go of comparing our childhoods to that of our children's. But if the pace of life is having negative consequences on our children's wellbeing then we shouldn't ignore it.

"It's problematic if children display signs of stress or withdrawal due to feeling overwhelmed or have negative perceptions of themselves in terms of what they can't achieve (a distorted sense of time gives us a distorted sense of success)," says Bruce.

Psychologist Jepsen suggests parents dial back the scheduling and planning and try to spend a little more time enjoying the 'now'. "If we focus too much on the next step, the next term, the next event we can create anxiety in our kids by overthinking," she says.

Bruce suggests parents think about the lessons they are teaching their children about time through their own behaviour and language. Constantly telling kids "there's not enough time", "we're late", and "we haven't got all day" sends the message to our kids that life is moving too fast.

One answer might be found in our own childhood: long stretches of boredom where our parents did not feel compelled to entertain us, improve us, or pay other adults to cram as much knowledge and skills into us as possible were common for many of us. "Boredom slows down time and opens up opportunity for creativity," Bruce says.

It seems counterintuitive in these times of uber-competitive education, status anxiety, and the frenzy of tutoring and extracurricular activities, but what our kids actually need from us is less, not more.
Kasey Edwards is the author of the children's series The Chess Raven Chronicles under the pen name Violet Grace.

Writer, author of '30-Something and Over It'. View more articles from Kasey Edwards.

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'Mummy, the year is going so quickly': Should we be rushing our kids?

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Opinion Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size "The year is going so quickly," remarked my daughter. I couldn't disagree with her, but still, I was shocked by the words coming out of her mouth. She's ten for heaven's sake! Childhood is supposed to feel like it stretches on forever.

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Beautiful 20 min body scan with Jon Kabat Zinn

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Beautiful 20 min body scan with Jon Kabat Zinn

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Guided Meditation  |  Jon Kabat-Zinn  |  Breathscape Bodyscape

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How are you feeling? Meditation gives us a chance to entertain that question at a deeper level. It can give us the room to fully experience an emotion for what it is.

Stop being so emotional! When you hear something like that, what can you really do? You can try to push down on your insides and get them to change, but that's like playing inner whack-a-mole. Whatever you push down in one place just pops up somewhere else. You work hard to calm yourself down about a snub at work only to find yourself yelling at your daughter later, for essentially no reason.

Emotions are challenging, but why would we want to stop being emotional? It's our lifeblood. It's what causes us to get up in the morning and cross the street. Even if it were desirable to get rid of them, we'd have no choice. They're part of our system of sensing and responding to the world. Without them, we'd be automatons. Music would not move us. Loss would not affect us. Nothing would bring us to tears. Nothing would make us fall down laughing.

Nevertheless, emotions can wreak havoc and spread pain throughout our lives. And that's where meditation comes in. Contrary to what some people believe, meditation does not make us emotionless, nor does it convert all emotion into fluffyminded bliss. When we're doing mindfulness meditation, if we feel jealous, we feel it: the pain, the guilt, the whole enchilada. What also happens, though, is that we have a little space around the emotion. We can see it for what it is.

For one thing, emotions combine thoughts ("John just said something very nasty") with feelings (a clenched jaw, a grimace). And the thoughts come in rapid combinations and gather momentum. As we meditate, we notice this process. We notice how the emotion feels. We're a bit like a scientist, though. Our primary job is not to judge it or try to change it. It is to watch, stay with it, and let it be.

We can see that the emotions are not permanent, that they come in waves. Going deeper, we see complex layers. While jealousy may appear completely negative and undesirable, we can discover an underlying energy there that can provide the fuel for inspiration and emulation. If we strip away the damaging, aggressive ingredient in the emotion, something powerful and beneficial can remain. This is what it means to tame our emotions through meditation. We see the possibility of riding their power without harming others or ourselves. We also can choose how to act, rather than be driven to act. There's an art to it, and as the photographer Annie Liebovitz recently pointed out, "Art is messy. It is hard."

In this five-part series, we look at a range of emotions and some meditative practices to work with them more creatively.

Working with Anger

It can be one of the ugliest emotions. It can ruin any situation. If it lurks deep inside and curdles, it can make us sick. It also has awesome power.

Anger is a complex and fascinating emotion. We can be sitting quietly, apparently calm, and then the trigger comes-"You know, you never..."-and before you know it, Mount Vesuvius erupts. Lava is spewing everywhere. People are ducking and running for the hills. Or maybe your anger is the more slow-burn style that seethes and bubbles beneath the surface, only erupting in tiny bursts of snarkiness.

Anger is fiery. Even when it's cold, it requires a lot of energy, like a refrigeration system. When we pay attention to how it feels in our body, we might notice a knotty stomach, a clenched fist or jaw, tightness in our chest. We may notice that the state of anger can strongly tint our thoughts, and we interpret the world through the lens of our rejecting state of mind. We are sending out the message: "Get out!"

Deep within the anger, we may be storing feelings of inadequacy that cause us to see threats and injustices where no real threats exist. It helps to uncover and uproot these feelings and deeply held false views. At the same time, anger can have beneath it a wise and powerful protectiveness, like the hovering presence of a mama bear or a wise judge enforcing justice in the face of racism and other ills and evils. But it's usually very hard to defend what is right or necessary without throwing a little resentment into the mix. We can utter a clear "no" when a child throws some food in a sibling's face, but maybe (under our breath) we throw in, "You little brat." Refining our emotions can involve shaving things pretty fine. The old R&B tune got it right: "It's a thin line between love and hate."

Rich, complex, and powerful, anger benefits from contemplative time and investigation. There's lots to learn about what's going on beneath our outbursts.

Practice: Exploring Aggression

In a moment when you notice yourself feeling angry and aggressive, turn your attention to the feeling. Where is it in your body? What is going on?

Breathe mindfully for a few breaths as you notice your body sensations change. Listen for your thoughts without adding to the inner dialogue, or trying to silence your thoughts.

What are your thoughts saying? When you're offended, you're usually holding onto a rigid definition of yourself and what you can accommodate, so ask yourself "who" is offended. Why?

It can take some patience to stick with the unpleasant feelings, but remind yourself to come back to observing the anger in this moment with self-compassion and discover what your anger has to teach you.

If you like, you can finish with an aspiration for yourself, something that will also take out some of the self-involvement. You can say to yourself silently, "May I find the resources to understand and transform my anger," or "May I take care of the pain I'm feeling and care for the pain in others."

Explore these 4 more ways to navigate difficult emotions mindfully:

Getting Started: Emotions was compiled by Barry Boyce, editor-in-chief of Mindful, in consultation with:

Jeffrey Brantley, MD, director of the MBSR program at Duke University's Center for Integrative Medicine. Author of Calming Your Angry Mind.

Vinny Ferraro, meditation teacher and senior trainer, Mindful Schools.

Stefanie Goldstein, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and co-author of the audio program: Mindful Solutions for Addiction and Relapse Prevention.

Christa Turksma, child-clinical psychologist and specialist in developing mindfulness for teachers and families.

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How Meditating Helps You with Difficult Emotions - Mindful

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How are you feeling? Meditation gives us a chance to entertain that question at a deeper level. It can give us the room to fully experience an emotion for what it is. Stop being so emotional! When you hear something like that, what can you really do?

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New childhood anxiety treatment focuses on the parents

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New childhood anxiety treatment focuses on the parents

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Joy Lian

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly one in three American children will experience at least some kind of anxiety disorder before reaching adulthood - a number that continues to rise despite years of innovations in drugs and therapy techniques.

But in a recent study, a new technique developed by the Yale Child Study Center shows promising results for curing childhood anxiety disorders. The winning method? Ditch individual treatment for the child and focus on another source of support - the parents.

A team of Yale researchers randomly assigned 124 children with anxiety into a conventional, therapy-based group or a parent-only group. Those in the therapy group attended 12 weekly meetings to learn how to control their symptoms and to confront their fears through exposure therapy. But for the second group, none of the children spoke to a therapist about their anxiety at any point during the trial. Rather, their parents were encouraged to stop accommodating the child's behavior and to be supportive of the child's ability to cope with anxiety themselves, in a treatment called SPACE.

What they found was surprising: Not only did SPACE reduce anxiety symptoms just as well as the conventional therapy did, but parents in the SPACE therapy also reported a much better relationship with their children than those of children in the therapy-based group. The study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry on March 7.

According to first author and Associate Director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program Eli Lebowitz, SPACE - which stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions - is an alternative to the cognitive-behavioral therapy normally used to treat childhood anxiety.

"The results of the study were really quite remarkable," he said. "Regardless of what measure we used to look at the outcomes, children whose parents received SPACE were as improved and as likely to be cured from their anxiety problem as children who had 12 sessions of some of the best CBT therapy available. And that is truly a remarkable outcome."

It is natural for parents to seek to accommodate their children, Lebowitz said. For example, if a child gets anxious when there are guests in the house, parents may stop inviting people over. However, according to the study, children can grow accustomed to these accommodations over time, which can lead to greater difficulty with anxiety later in life. For the SPACE group, researchers worked with parents to replace accommodation with words of support and with expressions of confidence in their children's abilities to deal with anxiety on their own.

In the first study written about SPACE - a 2013 explanatory study authored by Lebowitz - parents were encouraged to follow a script of supportive and reassuring phrases when they attempt to reduce accommodations for their child with anxiety.

"We understand it makes you feel really anxious or afraid," the script said. "We want you to know that this is perfectly natural and everyone feels afraid some of the time. But we also want you to know that it is our job as your parents to help you get better at things that are hard for you, and we have decided to do exactly that. We are going to be working on this for a while and we know it will probably take time, but we love you too much not to help you when you need help."

Lebowitz said this study was the first to test SPACE's effectiveness as a standalone technique. The researchers' success with SPACE will provide a new alternative for children with anxiety who may not respond well to traditional therapy or who refuse to participate.

However, Lebowitz said more research is still needed to figure out how the brain's psychological pathways are altered in children whose parents participated in SPACE. Given the program's success, co-author Yaara Shimshoni is currently adapting SPACE to work with children with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, whose picky eating habits have interfered with their wellbeing.

"The focus of the treatment that we developed based on the SPACE program is on identifying and reducing these accommodations in a supportive and loving way," she said.

The Yale Child Study Center was founded in 1911.

Matt Kristoffersen | matthew.kristoffersen@yale.edu

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New childhood anxiety treatment focuses on the parents

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Joy Lian According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly one in three American children will experience at least some kind of anxiety disorder before reaching adulthood - a number that continues to rise despite years of innovations in drugs and therapy techniques.

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The Australian author and principal says it is becoming more difficult to run a school, with overprotective parents failing their children

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John Marsden has spent decades writing about, teaching and founding schools for young people - and lately, he has been getting worried. Really worried.

In his new book about how we treat and understand children, Marsden - the author best known for his Tomorrow, When The War Began series - is in no mood for niceties about contemporary parenting. "We are seeing an epidemic of damaging parenting at the moment," he writes.

John Marsden: 'You're not allowed to run, you're not allowed to touch other people, you're not allowed to share food ... The scale of the problem is massive.' Photograph: Chris Le Messurier

In The Art of Growing Up, billed as a manifesto,Marsden writes of the problematic state of parents being in love with their children, rather than loving them. He warns of parents playing eternal advocate for children who may not be as gifted or guileless as adults may like to imagine. He despairs at "curling parents" - the Scandinavian term for those who furiously clear all paths for their children. "Toxic parenting," he writes, is having serious impacts.

But are we engaged in "toxic parenting" en masse? Or is it just a case of extremes worsening?

"No, I think this is a widespread problem," Marsden says. "Damaging parenting," he says, is not equivalent to emotional abuse, but rather represents an "ill-conceived and misguided" approach that is doing significant emotional damage.

"It's mostly the middle class that I'm referring to. It's not that people are setting out to act destructively, but their common sense and instincts seem to have been overridden by other considerations. The emotional damage is coming from an anxiety which often approaches panic."

In the last five years, he says, it has become more difficult to run a school (he is principal and founder of two). And The Art of Growing Up does, at times, read much like the work of a principal who is fed up.

Marsden says that this contemporary crop of teenagers is outperforming generations past in terms of academic achievement, political engagement and so on - but he is fearful about their emotional health, borne out by statistics on the prevalence of mental health issues among the young.

"The scale of the problem is massive. The issue of emotional damage is pandemic," he tells the Guardian. "The level of anxiety is something I've never seen before, and I don't know how it can be improved."

If [parental fear] overrides everything else then what you have instead is a kind of slow death by emotional damage.

John Marsden

Marsden says that much of the anxiety among parents and children springs from concern that the world is a dangerous place, with traditional "safe" authority figures no longer to be trusted. That, coupled with an infantilisation of children as pure, helpless creatures, leads parents to cosset and fret over their offspring, and demand much of the same from educational institutions.

"Part of that is a fear, in particular, of physical injury," he says. "Of course, all reasonable parents are concerned about physical injury to a child, but if that overrides everything else then what you have instead is a kind of slow death by emotional damage which is so awful to witness."

Marsden runs two private schools in Victoria, both housed on extensive bushland campuses. Children climb trees, ride bikes, camp and don't wear uniforms. They are expensive schools to attend but Marsden believes all schools can address the "boring", "antiseptic" lives of contemporary children and young people, lives which are lived primarily through second-hand experiences, he says, and devoid of grazed knees.

Photograph: Pan MacMillan

"It's ironic that in Australia, which has more free space than about anywhere in the world, children are put into school campuses which have recreation areas the size of a few basketball courts. And the rules are: you're not allowed to run, you're not allowed to touch other people, you're not allowed to share food ... you certainly can't pick up a stick, you certainly can't climb a tree." He is incredulous.

By limiting children's exposure to danger, to fear, we are limiting their ability to mature, develop resilience and independence, he says. Marsden despairs at parents who don't allow four-year-olds to peel their own mandarins. "They're capable of helping themselves and we have to be forceful in making sure we step back."

And from the grace of childhood, so venerated by society, children inevitably fall when they become adolescents, demonised by finger-wagging elders. The feelings and experiences of these young people are too often trivialised, he says, while we constantly worry over exposure to sugar, screens and cyberbullies.

Marsden doesn't like to think in terms of optimism or pessimism. It's a bit of a cop-out, relinquishing the optimist of the obligation to make the world better. And while he has no hesitation in labelling various parts of today's parenting and childhood culture at crisis levels - attitudes and behaviours which can be linked to tragedies ranging from addiction to domestic violence - he won't be drawn on whether what is happening today is more toxic than what has happened in the past.

"We're failing them in different ways," he says. And, for Marsden, that's not just good enough.

The Art of Growing Up by John Marsden is out 23 July

This article was amended on 17 September 2019 because an earlier version misnamed John Marsden's series Tomorrow, When The War Began, as Tomorrow, When The World Began. This has been corrected.

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John Marsden on the 'toxic' parenting pandemic: 'I've never seen this level of anxiety'

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John Marsden has spent decades writing about, teaching and founding schools for young people - and lately, he has been getting worried. Really worried. In his new book about how we treat and understand children, Marsden - the author best known for his Tomorrow, When The War Began series - is in no mood for niceties about contemporary parenting.

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Herald Sun article

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Heraldsun.com.au | Subscribe to the Herald Sun for exclusive stories

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Subscribe to the Herald Sun to get unrestricted digital access, home paper delivery, Foxsports.com.au subscription, Apps for iPad and Android and much more...

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Four-year-old Faith already believes in the power of breathing to help her do her best learning. "I was trying to match some letters and I got really frustrated," says Faith. "And I needed to take a deep breath and I almost got it. I almost got it by myself and I felt just a little happy."

Faith knows that the simple act of breathing can help her focus to complete the task at hand. She attends the Momentous School, a program of the Momentous Institute, a 97-year-old organization devoted to the social emotional health of kids and families. The school has been tracking kids' progress for almost 20 years and have accumulated significant data showing the positive effects of incorporating mindfulness into education. Faith and her classmates are learning essential skills that research shows may give children lifelong protection against one of the most serious and quickly growing threats to child well-being in America today: toxic stress.

How toxic stress impedes healthy development in kids

Toxic stress is a prolonged activation of the stress response - without the buffer of safe relationships. It, along with " adverse childhood experiences" (ACES) - such as, poverty, abuse, domestic violence and more - is on the rise. Dr. Robert Block, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, feels that ACES "are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today."

A growing body of science, including the work of Harvard University's Center for the Developing Child, has found that toxic stress can impede healthy development, literally changing children's brains and affecting their capacity to absorb even the best instruction.

A growing body of science, including the work of Harvard University's Center for the Developing Child, has found that toxic stress can impede healthy development, literally changing children's brains and affecting their capacity to absorb even the best instruction. Mindfulness is a much-needed life preserver in this otherwise troubling picture.

While childhood trauma is sadly nothing new, science now better understands its impact on brain function. During stressful experiences, the amygdala essentially hijacks the pre-frontal cortex impeding its ability to come online. In other words, the part of our brain responsible for the fight, flight or freeze response takes over and blocks the part of our brain which processes complex thoughts, anticipates consequences and inhibits behavior.

To state the obvious, we must intervene upstream to prevent ACES in the first place. In fact, a recent study examining the long-term cost savings of social emotional health programs in elementary schools estimated a benefit-to-cost ratio of 11:1, meaning every dollar invested in the programs had an average return of $11 in benefits.

Mindfulness can help kids manage their internal worlds

Moving stress from toxic to tolerable involves increasing the number of protective relationships in children's lives and helping them learn how to regulate their nervous system, which is where mindfulness comes in. This skill allows children to manage their internal world regardless of what comes at them externally, which is a concept that even young children like Faith can understand.

At Momentous Institute, we use the analogy of a glitter ball or snow globe to convey the concept, explaining that the brain under stress is like a shaken snow globe- with the glitter swirling, they cannot see clearly. Breathing and other mindfulness techniques, which the children practice several times each day, help them " settle their glitter" so they can do their best thinking. We teach them that mindfulness and social emotional health can help them understand and manage their feelings, reactions and relationships. As Susan Kaiser Greenland illustrates in her books, The Mindful Child and Mindful Games, mindfulness practices can be right-sized for kids as young as Faith.

How mindfulness translates into improved academics

Science tells us why this works. Research shows mindfulness shrinks the amygdala and thickens the pre-frontal cortex. According to Dr. Richie Davidson, mindfulness strengthens connectivity between areas of the brain that support attention and concentration, thus weakening the amygdala's capacity to hijack the thinking parts of the brain.

With this understanding, it is easy to see how mindfulness and self-regulation can translate into improved academics. This is true for all kids, but especially important for our most vulnerable kids coping with multiple ACES.

In kindergarten, those in the mindfulness group scored higher on a standardized vocabulary/literacy assessment than those in the control group.

There is a scarcity of large-scale research confirming mindfulness improves children's life trajectories. However, there is a robust body of evidence about the benefits of mindfulness for adults. We hope it is only a matter of time before a large body of research about the impact of mindfulness on children becomes available.

Momentous Institute published one of two existing studies examining the impact of mindfulness practices on prekindergarten students' self-regulation and academic performance. This study indicated that prekindergarten students who received a yearlong mindfulness curriculum showed greater improvements in their working memory and capacity to plan and organize than students in a control group. In kindergarten, those in the mindfulness group scored higher on a standardized vocabulary/literacy assessment than those in the control group.

Other research at Momentous School has shown that after three years of participating in mindfulness practices, 5 th grade students' levels of empathy predicted their scores on standardized reading and math assessments. This tells us that Faith was right when she said breathing helped her figure out her letters. Mindfulness does not just help her feel better or calm down; it increases her capacity for academic performance.

Mindfulness for kids is not one-size fits all

Without question, there are no silver bullets when dealing with complex topics like education and trauma. Mindfulness can only thrive in schools where positive climate is a priority. In addition, mindfulness can never be reduced to a curriculum. This work only takes root in a sustainable way if the system adopts a commitment to consistent practice and the well-being of all involved-children and adults alike.

The systemic issues behind the rising stress levels - poverty, racism, sexism, violence and inequity-must be attended to with courage and conviction.

Embedding mindfulness in education is one important step. That alone, however, will never be sufficient in addressing toxic stress and ACES. The systemic issues behind the rising stress levels - poverty, racism, sexism, violence and inequity-must be attended to with courage and conviction.

By prioritizing these systemic shifts along with a true integration of mindfulness, we can provide children a sense of control and the opportunity to achieve their full potential. We believe the same breathing that helped Faith learn the alphabet can spell long-term thriving for our children and our society.

A Glimpse at a Mindfulness Class for Children

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Why Mindfulness Belongs in the Classroom - Mindful

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Four-year-old Faith already believes in the power of breathing to help her do her best learning. "I was trying to match some letters and I got really frustrated," says Faith. "And I needed to take a deep breath and I almost got it. I almost got it by myself and I felt just a little happy."

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ABC News: Meditation hailed as important tool for teaching kids to cope with stress and anxiety

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ABC News: Meditation hailed as important tool for teaching kids to cope with stress and anxiety

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It might be a far cry from maths and science, but teaching children to de-stress has become such a valuable tool for some Australian teachers that they are arguing meditation, or mindfulness, should be part of the national curriculum.

Teachers at Brighton State School in Brisbane say meditation is radically improving the wellbeing of students

Teacher Sarah Mailey says it gives kids tools to "cope with life"

Money for optional meditation courses was included in this year's federal budget

The Queensland Education Department said about one in seven people aged from four to 17 experience a mental health issue every year across the country.

A report from Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute found up to one in four could be at risk.

There is growing concern about a possible anxiety epidemic in our schools, stemming from the combined pressures of social media, personal issues and the desire to get good marks.

Teachers at Brighton State School on Brisbane's bayside are among a growing number of educators embedding meditation into their daily lesson plans to help children deal with their emotions and improve focus and behaviour.

Year four teacher Kath Warren said it was making a big difference.

"Children that we would normally see be quite stressed or anxious ... they'll practise their mindfulness and straightaway they're much more engaged and ready to learn," she said.

Ms Warren and fellow teacher Sarah Mailey spend 10 minutes after lunch with their students listening to calming music and following a guided meditation track.

Ms Mailey introduced mindfulness into her classroom three years ago to give her students tools to "cope with life" which she said were not traditionally taught at school.

Ms Warren said meditation made kids more engaged and ready to learn.(
ABC News: Talissa Siganto
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"There are certain different social skills and self-regulation skills that are already in our curriculum, but it's only a very small part ... I feel like it needs to be something that's touched on every single day," Ms Mailey said.

The skills have also worked for some students at home.

Too stressed to test

Many high school students are getting so stressed they are visiting doctors in the hope of being able to escape the pressure of a group exam.

Eight-year-old Henry said he sometimes used them at night to calm down.

"It helps me because sometimes at home I get stressed," he said.

Another student, Abigail, said the skills helped with her anxiety.

"I do it and I talk about all my feelings with Mum," she said.

The two Brighton teachers are rolling out a school-wide mindfulness strategy, and believe every classroom in Australia would benefit from something similar.

"Some teachers will say, 'Who has the time', but Kath and I always say, 'Who doesn't have the time?'" Ms Mailey said.

"Those are the social skills that really need to be explicitly taught rather than just incidental."

Meditation included in federal mental health plan

For now, the practice remains optional for teachers, but it has received some backing from the federal Health Department.

In the 2019 budget, $2.5 million was pledged toward the school-based mindfulness program Smiling Mind as part of the Federal Government's mental health and suicide prevention plan.

A growing number of teachers believe meditation is a perfect tool to help children deal with their emotions.(
ABC News
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Psychologist Addie Wooten, who heads up not-for-profit group Smiling Mind, said it was encouraging to see support for younger children as they were often "left out" of national funding.

"More than 50 per cent of mental health conditions actually have their onset before the age of 12, so if we can get in early and support young children ... we can make a real difference to those stats," she said.

Ms Wooten said tens of thousands of teachers were already using the Smiling Mind program across Australia, but that a national approach would be beneficial.

"We're seeing an increasing rate of mental illness ... we're also seeing a rise in behavioural issues like bullying and disruptive behaviour in the classroom, so I think that's leading to teachers exploring how they can better support their students.

"Mindfulness being incorporated into the curriculum would be an amazing step forward in terms of endorsing an approach that is very positive and proactive."

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Should meditation be compulsory in our schools?

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It might be a far cry from maths and science, but teaching children to de-stress has become such a valuable tool for some Australian teachers that they are arguing meditation, or mindfulness, should be part of the national curriculum.

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Interview with Georgina Manning on ABC Lateline

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MATT WORDSWORTH, PRESENTER: So how important are parenting classes?

Margaret Bell is CEO of the Chain Reaction Foundation and part of that Learning Ground program at Mount Druitt. Dr David Hawes is associate professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Sydney and the co-founder of Parentworks, a new online program designed for fathers.

And Georgina Manning is a Melbourne-based counsellor, psychotherapist and director of Wellbeing for Kids, which aims to build confidence in children and their parents. They all joined me earlier.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Margaret Bell, can I start with you? Are we a nation in desperate need of a parenting class?

MARGARET BELL, CEO, CHAIN REACTION FOUNDATION: I wouldn't say that we're in desperate need, but I would say that we are in need of advice to families in a way that's different, perhaps, from past years.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Well, this is something that people would naturally think, wouldn't they: "We've been raising kids for thousands of years. Why all of a sudden do we have to be taught how to do it?"

MARGARET BELL: I don't think we have to be taught all of a sudden, but I do think that parenting is the hardest job we'll ever have to do - and we get no training for it at all.

So consequently I think, particularly in the digital age that we're living in, it's really quite important to offer all the support and skills that we possibly can to parents to be able to parent in a way that's satisfactory to them and very productive for their children.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Georgina Manning, can I ask you: is the age we live in now different to the ages that have come before; and thus, we need parenting classes?

GEORGINA MANNING, DIRECTOR, WELLBEING FOR KIDS: I think that's a really interesting question, because I know that in the last 10 years there's been a lot more difficulty, I suppose for parents.

We live more complex lives. There are more complex issues with the digital age. And I think that parents are really in need of getting support and, in particular, comfort from other parents to know they're on the right track.

I don't think we have to necessarily teach parents how to be a parent, but I think it's more in the area of support and giving that support to, I suppose, normalise difficulties. And I know that with a lot of the parents that I work with, they're silently suffering and they really like to know, talking with other parents, that it's OK to not be a perfect parent and it's OK to make mistakes and it's OK to seek support as well.

And just having that comfort from other parents and being around other parents in an avenue like a parenting group is really supportive and valuable.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Dr David Hawes, you're running a national program: you're just starting one up. But is this something the Government should be getting involved in?

DAVID HAWES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Well, I think the more that it can be supported and made sustainable, the better. So we have funding from the Movember Foundation that's allowed us to set up the Parentworks, which is Australia's first nationally available...

MATT WORDSWORTH: Yeah, you target dads, don't you?

DAVID HAWES: Well, we've made a program that's father-friendly. So our focus is really on getting both mothers and fathers involved, because that's really the way that we see the best results from parenting interventions.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Have you found that fathers have been more reluctant to do this than mothers?

DAVID HAWES: What we've found is that there can be different challenges and different barriers, OK.

So we've spent some time doing research: meeting with fathers, talking about their experiences and their concerns and also what they'd like to get out of parenting programs. And some of the barriers have been things like difficulty finding time, concerns about cost, concerns about effectiveness.

So we've really tried to build that into the Parentworks website.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Margaret, I know your daughter is in the UK, isn't she, doing this very kind of thing; where David Cameron when he was prime minister earlier this year recommended national parenting classes. He was accused of trying to run a nanny state. What would you say to that?

MARGARET BELL: Yes, he was. I would say that's rubbish. My daughter Melissa has been working that program for 20 years and it's nothing like a nanny state.

In fact, I think David Cameron had a very good idea, as he apparently got to know something of the program and felt that the aspects of the program that were addressing social and emotional literacy were very important.

MATT WORDSWORTH: So is this a matter of almost preventative health? Is that the way you're looking at it? So the Government may save something down the line through less family breakdown: that sort of thing? Is that what you're looking at?

MARGARET BELL: I think there's every question that that would be the case. Our organisation wants to cultivate and encourage social cohesion. And we think that social cohesion begins in the family; and that if partners can relate to each other: I mean, very often parenting skills are divided by one parent thinking one way and the other thinking and behaving in another way.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Yeah, I guess that's a massive problem.

Georgina Manning, I mean, with family breakdowns: how can you run a parenting program if you've got two parents who might be divorced, for instance?

GEORGINA MANNING: Well, I think if we can get in and support in any way that we can: I actually have met with some groups and some families that do actually come together, even though, the family has broken up or the marriage has been dissolved. And it has worked really well; and sort of, I suppose, co-parenting in separate households, which can work very well.

I think that that's something that does need to be addressed and maybe brought into parenting programs as well, because there's no such thing as that normal family any more. So we have to consider all of the different types of families and supporting parents through those difficulties, especially in the first couple of years after a marriage break-up as well, when it's very hard on parents and very hard navigating the co-parenting role from different homes.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Dr Dawes, one thing that occurred to me is: are these programs, if they're available and they're advertised and the Government gets behind them, like the three of you want: are you going to reach the people you need to reach? Or are you just going to reach the conscientious who just reach out to you?

DAVID HAWES: Yeah. I mean, this is a big issue in terms of sharing information from the science of parenting and child behaviour and development. It's all about getting that information out there in a way that people can use it at the times when it's going to be beneficial.

What it comes down to is taking a flexible approach to that: recognising that each family has different needs, needs for different information in different ways. So when we're talking about parenting classes, in a sense that's a little bit of a narrow focus that might miss the big picture here.

In my view, you've just got to think that the science of parenting: it's come a very long way in recent years.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Also, we can prove that these programs work?

DAVID HAWES: Well, there's very good evidence behind it. When we're seeing in research that there are things that parents can do to prevent problems from developing, I think it's our responsibility to share that information with parents.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Margaret, I can see you nodding there about the...?

MARGARET BELL: It seems to me that it's also our responsibility to be sure that the programs that are being offered are psychologically based and are supported by professional and practical experiences.

MATT WORDSWORTH: And have there been peer-reviewed papers on these kind of programs?

MARGARET BELL: There have been. And certainly it seems very important to us that that's the case, because you couldn't just put up a shield and say, "Well, I'm going to offer parenting classes." I think it has to be backed up with the kind of knowledge that's needed to share the kind of skills that are necessary.

MATT WORDSWORTH: So am I assuming all of you wouldn't want to make this compulsory?

GEORGINA MANNING: No. (Laughs)

MARGARET BELL: I certainly would not.

DAVID HAWES: No.

MATT WORDSWORTH: No? None for compulsory. OK. So if it's optional, can I point you to a couple of years ago, when Kevin Andrews was the social services minister. He brought in the $200 vouchers for marriage counselling. One hundred thousand of them were on offer. By the time they axed the program, only 13,000 got taken up.

Georgina Manning, does that tell us that people just aren't going to be interested?

GEORGINA MANNING: I think it's the way that people can access the program.

And one of the ideas that I would have around this, if something was rolled out, is that it could possibly be offered partly through schools: because parents are already at the school. They're connected with the people around them there. They're going to feel more comfortable to be able to attend a parenting program or classes or a skills-based kind of program that's already at a place they already feel familiar with.

I don't think that people will find, I suppose, a parenting program attractive if they don't have any, I suppose, connection to it in a social way.

And I think what's really important with parenting support is that there's ongoing support following a parenting class. So if it's, say, run through a school or via the school in some way, then they're connected and have those relationships ongoing, which I think is a really big piece of the puzzle in parents getting that support.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Yeah, that's one of the things I was wondering. I mean, Margaret, you could perhaps answer me here. If you were going to do six one-hour classes: I mean, how important is the follow-up afterwards; that the lessons are continued to be learnt and followed?

MARGARET BELL: I think it depends in what way you're sharing the information.

But we have seen very successful programs offered over a period of five weeks: 2.5 hours for five weeks, because the kind of skills that can be absorbed during that time are skills that you can practice for life.

So it's not necessary to all the time be talking through every separate issue, because it's really a matter of finding a way of avoiding doing the sort of things that none of us want to do: the shouting, the blaming, the coercing and so on that's almost normal in family life.

If we can exclude that and indeed practice very good listening and communication skills, we can learn that in a five-week period.

DAVID HAWES: Absolutely. Yeah. That's my experience as well. This is one of the few areas in psychology and psychiatry where a brief intervention actually can be the best way to go: can have a very, very powerful effect.
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MARGARET BELL: Absolutely.

MATT WORDSWORTH: So you can have a complete change just with a very, very short intervention?

DAVID HAWES: For many, many families. So there's going to be some families where they do need more intensive ongoing support and they need different kinds of support.

But really, for the majority of families: when we're able to get in early enough - see, that's what it comes down to. That's when these interventions are most cost-effective: in the primary school, pre-school years. They're incredibly powerful.

But we get the best effects when both mothers and fathers are involved and it's a focus on practical skills.

MATT WORDSWORTH: And Georgina, what are your thoughts on that?

GEORGINA MANNING: I think that practical skills are really key and I think they're tangible for parents.

And I think having a chance to sort of role play, I suppose, and talk out the particular skills, such as what Margaret was saying with the reflective listening: so being able to really tune into our child and keep really calm and not overreact when they, say, come home from school with a difficulty.

Just being able to give that emotional support and guidance with being able to empower our children, I suppose, rather than sort of jumping in and problem-solving for our children and disempowering our kids.

So just simple things like the way that we listen to our children and respond to them can make a massive difference in the way, I suppose, that relationships can be in the home; and also to lessen the stress levels in the home, as well.

So really simple strategies like that, definitely. And also that positive reinforcement for behavioural change: so just learning definite ways to respond to different behaviours that are quite easy skills to, I suppose, get your head around can make an enormous difference in a very short amount of time.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Well, it's been a fascinating conversation, but unfortunately we are out of time.

Thank you so much, Georgina Manning, Margaret Bell and Dr David Hawes.

MARGARET BELL: It's a pleasure, Matt. Thanks.

GEORGINA MANNING: Thank you.

DAVID HAWES: Thank you.

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Panel, Margaret Bell, Dr David Hawes and Georgina Manning

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MATT WORDSWORTH, PRESENTER: So how important are parenting classes? Margaret Bell is CEO of the Chain Reaction Foundation and part of that Learning Ground program at Mount Druitt. Dr David Hawes is associate professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Sydney and the co-founder of Parentworks, a new online program designed for fathers.

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New approach to anxiety - working with parents as well children

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New approach to anxiety - working with parents as well children

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Interview with Sydney Morning Herald with Georgina Manning

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This was published 2 years ago

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A new approach to treating childhood anxiety being trialled by Yale Medical School has flipped the standard treatment by focusing on parents rather than children.

The Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) study starts from the premise that over 97 per cent of parents who have an anxious child accommodate their child's anxiety by changing their own behaviours to help their child not feel anxious.

"Even with the best treatments currently available, about half of all children remain highly anxious after treatment," says Dr Eli Lebowitz from Yale Medical School. Credit:Stocksy

"Anxious children naturally rely on parents when they are feeling scared, frightened or stressed ...and parents naturally want to help their children feel better," says Dr Eli Lebowitz who is Director Program for Anxiety Disorders from the Yale Medical School Child Study Center.

"But sometimes the things we do as parents to help our children feel less anxious in the moment can actually make them less likely to overcome the anxiety over time."

My first response to hearing about the study was "Great - now we can add our kid's anxiety to the long list of things modern-day mothers are doing wrong".

Fortunately, Dr Lebowitz is emphatic that his program is not an exercise in blaming parents.

"It is very important to emphasise that parents are not the cause of childhood anxiety disorders," says Dr Lebowitz.

"It is simply that childhood anxiety is a problem of truly staggering proportions and even with the best treatments currently available, about half of all cases remain highly anxious after treatment. So we are always looking for more and different ways of helping anxious children and their families."

Beyond Blue reports seven per cent of children aged 4 to 17 years in Australia suffered from an anxiety disorder in the past 12 months.

The incidence of childhood anxiety is alarming. Beyond Blue reports that seven per cent of children aged 4 to 17 years in Australia suffered from an anxiety disorder in the past 12 months. Further, one in five of all young people aged 11 to 17 years experience high or very high levels of psychological distress.

Melbourne-based child anxiety expert and director of Wellbeing for Kids Georgina Manning agrees that new approaches to treating anxiety in children are needed - and that includes helping parents to understand that accommodating their child's anxiety can also enable it.

"I have coached many parents to support them to make sure their child still goes to camp, even though they feel anxious, to speak at assembly even if they don't want to, to go back to school after a hard day with friends the day before and so on," says Manning who also runs a program for parents to support their anxious children, called Peaceful Parents.

As any parent knows, there is nothing worse than seeing your child in distress. It's hardly surprising that we want to minimise it.

But protecting children from the immediate distress they are feeling may lead to even greater anxiety in the future by inadvertently reinforcing the belief that the problem the child fears really is as bad as they think it is. Our intervention also disempowers them because we are essentially telling our children that they are not skilled or strong enough to deal with the problem on their own.

"The more we encourage avoidance, the more we are saying to our child that the thing they are anxious about should be avoided because firstly they won't be able to cope and secondly, the problem or situation is too hard for a child to manage," says Manning.

Rushing in too soon to protect our children from distress is also unsustainable. Life gets hard some times, we all feel uncomfortable emotions, and our kids need to develop the capacity to deal with these unpleasant feelings and confront their fears.

This doesn't mean that we turn off our empathy and tell our kids that they are effectively on their own now.

"It is vital that parents can tune into their child's emotions, understand how they feel, name the emotion for the child, but not necessarily 'fix' the emotion," says Manning.

If you do have an anxious child, the advice of Yale's Dr Lewbowitz is to start small. Pick one way you might be accommodating your child's anxiety and plan specific changes to your approach.

While it may be painful for both your child and you at first, you may be giving your child the life-long gift of learning to master their anxiety.

Writer, author of '30-Something and Over It'. View more articles from Kasey Edwards.

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New approach to children's anxiety treats parents instead of children

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This was published 2 years ago Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size A new approach to treating childhood anxiety being trialled by Yale Medical School has flipped the standard treatment by focusing on parents rather than children.

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by Karen Young

Knowledge is power. When children understand what's happening in the brain, it can be the first step to having the power to make choices. Knowledge can be equally powerful to parents too. Knowing how the brain works means we can also understand how to respond when our children need our help.

Sometimes our brains can become overwhelmed with feelings of fear, sadness or anger, and when this happens, it's confusing - especially to children. So giving children ways to make sense of what's happening in their brain is important. It's also helpful for children to have a vocabulary for their emotional experiences that others can understand. Think of it like a foreign language; if the other people in your family speak that language too, then it's easier to communicate with them.

So how do you start these conversations with your children, make it playful enough to keep them engaged, and simple enough for them to understand?

Here is how I teach children (and parents) how to understand the brain.

Introducing the brain house: the upstairs and the downstairs

I tell children that their brains are like a house, with an upstairs and a downstairs. This idea comes from Dr Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson's book 'The Whole Brain Child', and it's a really simple way to help kids to think about what's going on inside their head. I've taken this analogy one step further by talking about who lives in the house. I tell them stories about the characters who live upstairs, and the ones who live downstairs. Really, what I'm talking about are the functions of the neocortex (our thinking brain - the upstairs), and the limbic system (our feeling brain - the downstairs).

Who lives upstairs and who lives downstairs.

Typically, the upstairs characters are thinkers, problem solvers, planners, emotion regulators, creatives, flexible and empathic types. I give them names like Calming Carl, Problem Solving Pete, Creative Craig and Flexible Felix

The downstairs folk are the feelers. They are very focused on keeping us safe and making sure our needs are met. Our instinct for survival originates here. These characters look out for danger, sound the alarm and make sure we are ready to fight, run or hide when we are faced with a threat. Downstairs we've got characters like Alerting Allie, Frightened Fred, and Big Boss Bootsy.

It doesn't really matter what you call them, as long as you and your child know who (and what) you are talking about. You could have a go at coming up with your own names: try boys/girls names, animal names, cartoon names or completely make-up names. You might like to find characters from films or books they love, to find your unique shared language for these brain functions.

Flipping our lids: When 'downstairs' takes over.

Our brains work best when the upstairs and the downstairs work together. Imagine that the stairs connecting upstairs and downstairs are very busy with characters carrying messages up and down to each other. This is what helps us make good choices, make friends and get along with other people, come up with exciting games to play, calm ourselves down and get ourselves out of sticky situations.

Sometimes, in the downstairs brain, Alerting Allie spots some danger, Frightened Fred panics and before we know where we are, Big Boss Bootsy has sounded the alarm telling your body to be prepared for danger. Big Boss Bootsy is a bossy fellow, and he shouts 'the downstairs brain is taking over now. Upstairs gang can work properly again when we are out of danger'. The downstairs brain "flips the lid" (to borrow Dan Siegel's phrase) on the upstairs brain. This means that the stairs that normally allow the upstairs and downstairs to work together are no longer connected.

Sometimes, flipping our lids is the safest thing to do.

When everybody in the brain house is making noise, it's hard for anyone to be heard. Bootsy is keeping the upstairs brain quiet so the downstairs folk can get our body ready for the danger. Boots can signal other parts of our body that need to switch on (or off). He can make our heart beat faster so we are ready to run very fast, or our muscles ready to fight as hard as we can. He can also tell parts of our body to stay very very still so we can hide from the danger. Bootsy is doing this to keep us safe.

Try asking your child to imagine when these reactions would be safest. I often try to use examples that wouldn't actually happen (again so that children can imagine these ideas in a playful way without becoming too frightened by them). For example, what would your downstairs brain do if you met a dinosaur in the playground?

Everyone flips their lids.

Think of some examples to share with your child about how we can all flip our lids. Choose examples that aren't too stressful because if you make your kids feel too anxious they may flip their lids then and there!

Here's an example I might use: Remember when Mummy couldn't find the car keys and we were already late for school. Remember how I kept looking in the same place over and over again. That's because the downstairs brain had taken over, I had flipped my lid and the upstairs, thinking part of my brain, wasn't working properly.

When the downstairs brain gets it wrong.

There might be times when we flips our lids but really we still need the upstairs gang like Problem Solving Pete, and Calming Carl to help us.

We all flip our lids, but often children flip their lids more than adults. In children's brains, Big Boss Bootsy can get a bit over excited and press the panic button to trigger meltdowns and tantrums over very small things and that's because the upstairs part of your child's brain is still being built. In fact, it won't be finished being built until the mid twenties. Sometimes, when I want to emphasise this point, I ask kids this question:

Have you ever seen your Dad or Mum lay on the floor in the supermarket screaming that they want chocolate buttons?

They often giggle, and giggling is good because it means it's still playful, so they are still engaged and learning. I tell them parents actually like chocolate just as much as children, but adults have practiced getting Calming Carl and Problem Solving Pete to work with Big Boss Bootsy and can (sometimes) stop him from sounding the danger alarm when he doesn't need to. It does take practice and I remind children that their brains are still building and learning from experience.

From a shared language to emotional regulation

Once you've got all the characters in the brain house, you have a shared language that you can use to help your child learn how to regulate (manage) their emotions. For example, 'it looks like Big Boss Bootsy might be getting ready to sound the alarm, how about seeing if Calming Carl can send a message saying 'take some deep breaths' '' .

The language of the brain house also allows kids to talk more freely about their own mistakes, it's non judgemental, playful and can be talked about as being separate (psychologists also call this 'externalised') from them. Imagine how hard it might be to say 'I hit Jenny today at school' versus 'Big Boss Bootsy really flipped the lid today'. When I say this to parents, some worry that I'm giving children a 'get out clause' - 'can't they just blame Bootsy for their misbehaviour?'. Ultimately what this is about is enabling children to learn functional ways to manage big feelings, and some of that will happen from conversations about the things that went wrong. If children feel able to talk about their mistakes with you, then you have an opportunity to join your upstairs brain folk with theirs, and problem solve together. It doesn't mean they escape consequences or shirk responsibility. It means you can ask questions like 'do you think there is anything you could do to help Bootsy keep the lid on?'.

Knowing about the brain house also helps parents to think about how to respond when their child is flooded with fear, anger or sadness. Have you ever told you child to 'calm down' when they have flipped their lid? I have. Yet what we know about the brain house is Calming Carl lives upstairs and when Bootsy's flipped the lid, Calming Carl can't do much to help until the lid is back on. Your child may have gone beyond the point where they can help themselves to calm down. Sometimes, parents (teachers or carers) have to help kids to get their lids back on, and we can do this with empathy, patience and often taking a great deal of deep breaths ourselves!

Where to go from here?

Don't expect to move all the characters into the brain house and unpack on the same day; moving house takes time, and so does learning about brains. Start the conversation and revisit it. You might want to find creative ways to explore the brain house with your child. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. draw the brain house and all the characters

2. draw a picture of what it looks like in the house when the downstairs flips their lid

3. find a comic, cut out and stick characters into the downstairs and the upstairs

4. write stories about the adventures of the characters in the brain house

5. use a doll's house (or if you don't have a dolls house, two shoe boxes, one on top of the other works just as well) and fill it with the downstairs and upstairs characters.

If you find other creative ways to explore the brain house, I would love to hear about them. Make it fun, make it lively and kids won't even realise they are learning the foundations of emotional intelligence.

About the Author: Dr Hazel Harrison

Dr Hazel Harrison works as a clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom. She founded ThinkAvellana to bring psychology out of the clinic and into everyday life. Her website is www.thinkavellana.com and you can also follow her on Twitter at @thinkavellana and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thinkavellana

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How to Teach Kids About the Brain: Laying Strong Foundations for Emotional Intelligence (by Dr Hazel Harrison) - Hey Sigmund

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When children understand what's happening in the brain, it can be the first step to having the power to make choices and build their emotional intelligence.

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A new anxiety treatment plan focuses on the parent instead of the child to help relieve childhood anxiety.

A study currently underway at Yale hopes to develop new treatment options for children with anxiety that focus on the parents, not the child.

According to the CDC, about 7 percent of kids aged 3-17 have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. That's almost 4.5 million kids in the United States. Traditional therapy includes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been used successfully in adults living with depression and anxiety. In CBT, the goal is a mindful approach to a change in behavior, but training parents in CBT for their children has proved less effective than doctors had hoped.

Now a new training technique is being studied. When faced with an anxious child, most parents will accommodate those fears and rush to provide comfort. Study author, Eli Liebowitz, tells NPR, "These accommodations lead to worse anxiety in their child, rather than less anxiety." Because the child depends on the parent for comfort and soothing, they never learn the coping mechanisms necessary to self-soothe and reinforce that there is something to fear. "When you provide a lot of accommodation, the unspoken message is, 'You can't do this, so I'm going to help you,' he says.

Instead, Dr. Liebowitz, believes training parents to encourage children to face their fears might be the key to helping kids heal from anxiety without ever seeing a therapist themselves.

The treatment, called Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), teaches parents to be supportive and acknowledging of their child's anxiety without providing the accommodations the child may have come to depend on. By acknowledging the fear, but not accommodating it, the child begins to learn to self-soothe, facing their fears and dealing with them on their own. In his NPR interview, Leibowitz stressed the importance of making "children feel heard and loved, while using supportive statements to build their confidence. Parents need to show their child that they understand how terrible it is to feel anxious," he says. "They need to accept that their child is genuinely anxious and not just being attention seeking," he adds.

Training parents to acknowledge their child's fear and explain to children that '"they can tolerate that anxiety and they don't need to be rescued from it," is empowering for children and gives them the confidence to face their fear knowing that their parent is nearby. By utilizing statements like "I understand that you're afraid, but I know you can do this," parents provide acknowledgment of the fear without the accommodation of saying something like "I'll stay right here with you until you fall asleep."

This method can be difficult for parents who were raised with the "just get over it" mindset, which minimizes the child's fear and can lead to feelings of inadequacy. The goal of SPACE is to give the child room to feel the fear while feeling supported enough to deal with it directly. Praising children for accomplishing an anxiety-inducing task despite their fear helps them build the confidence necessary to continue moving forward, facing their fears and overcoming them, instead of bottling those fears up and running the risk of them increasing.

Leibowitz' study is showing promising results. Seventy percent of children enrolled in the study had no symptoms of anxiety by the end of the study and while further research is necessary, the preliminary results may provide hope to families of anxious children who have not had success in easing their children's fears.

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New Study Encourages Parents To Let Anxious Children Face Their Fears

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A new anxiety treatment plan focuses on the parent instead of the child to help relieve childhood anxiety. A study currently underway at Yale hopes to develop new treatment options for children with anxiety that focus on the parents, not the child.

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Daniel Siegal

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Great article

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Boredom teaches us that life isn't a parade of amusements. More important, it spawns creativity and self-sufficiency.

Credit... Leo Espinosa

Ms. Paul is the editor of the Book Review.

"I'm bored." It's a puny little phrase, yet it has the power to fill parents with a cascade of dread, annoyance and guilt. If someone around here is bored, someone else must have failed to enlighten or enrich or divert. And how can anyone - child or adult - claim boredom when there's so much that can and should be done? Immediately.

But boredom is something to experience rather than hastily swipe away. And not as some kind of cruel Victorian conditioning, recommended because it's awful and toughens you up. Despite the lesson most adults learned growing up - boredom is for boring people - boredom is useful. It's good for you.

If kids don't figure this out early on, they're in for a nasty surprise. School, let's face it, can be dull, and it isn't actually the teacher's job to entertain as well as educate. Life isn't meant to be an endless parade of amusements. "That's right," a mother says to her daughter in Maria Semple's 2012 novel, " Where'd You Go, Bernadette." "You are bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be."

People used to accept that much of life was boring. Memoirs of pre-21st-century life are rife with tedium. When not idling in drawing rooms, members of the leisured class took long walks and stared at trees. They went motoring and stared at more trees. Those who had to work had it a lot harder. Agricultural and industrial jobs were often mind-numbing; few people were looking to be fulfilled by paid labor. Children could expect those kinds of futures and they got used to the idea from an early age, left unattended with nothing but bookshelves and tree branches, and later, bad afternoon television.

Only a few short decades ago, during the lost age of underparenting, grown-ups thought a certain amount of boredom was appropriate. And children came to appreciate their empty agendas. In an interview with GQ magazine, Lin-Manuel Miranda credited his unattended afternoons with fostering inspiration. "Because there is nothing better to spur creativity than a blank page or an empty bedroom," he said.

Nowadays, subjecting a child to such inactivity is viewed as a dereliction of parental duty. In a much-read story in The Times, " The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting," Claire Cain Miller cited a recent study that found that regardless of class, income or race, parents believed that "children who were bored after school should be enrolled in extracurricular activities, and that parents who were busy should stop their task and draw with their children if asked."

Every spare moment is to be optimized, maximized, driven toward a goal.

When not being uberparented, kids today are left to their own devices - their own digital devices, that is. Parents preparing for a long car ride or airplane trip are like Army officers plotting a complicated land maneuver. Which movies to load onto the iPad? Should we start a new family-friendly podcast? Is this an O.K. time to let the kids play Fortnite until their brains melt into the back seat? What did parents in the '70s do when kids were bored in the way-back? Nothing! They let them breathe in gas fumes. Torture their siblings. And since it wasn't actually for wearing, play with the broken seatbelt.

If you complained about being bored back then, you were really asking for it. "Go outside," you might get, or worse, "Clean your room." Was this fun? No. Was it helpful? Yes.

Because things happen when you're bored. Some of the most boring jobs I've had were also the most creative. Working at an import factory after school, I pasted photos of ugly Peruvian sweaters onto sales sheets. My hands became encrusted with glue as the sweaters blurred into a clumpy sameness. For some reason, everything smelled like molasses. My mind had no choice but to drift into an elaborate fantasy realm. It's when you are bored that stories set in. Checking out groceries at the supermarket, I invented narratives around people's purchases. The man buying eggplant and a six-pack of Bud at 9 p.m.: Which was the must-get item and which the impulse purchase? How did my former fifth-grade teacher feel about my observing her weekly purchase of Nutter Butters?

Once you've truly settled into the anesthetizing effects of boredom, you find yourself en route to discovery. With monotony, small differences begin to emerge, between those trees, those sweaters. This is why so many useful ideas occur in the shower, when you're held captive to a mundane activity. You let your mind wander and follow it where it goes.

Of course, it's not really the boredom itself that's important; it's what we do with it. When you reach your breaking point, boredom teaches you to respond constructively, to make something happen for yourself. But unless we are faced with a steady diet of stultifying boredom, we never learn how.

The idea isn't that you suffer through crushing tedium indefinitely like Neville ("N is for Neville who died of ennui") of " The Gashlycrumb Tinies." It's that you learn how to vanquish it. This may come in several forms: You might turn inward and use the time to think. You might reach for a book. You might imagine your way to a better job. Boredom leads to flights of fancy. But ultimately, to self-discipline. To resourcefulness.

The ability to handle boredom, not surprisingly, is correlated with the ability to focus and to self-regulate. Research has shown that people with attention disorders are particularly prone to boredom. It makes sense that in a hyperstimulating world, what at first seems captivating now feels less so; what was once mildly diverting may now be flat-out dull.

It's especially important that kids get bored - and be allowed to stay bored - when they're young. That it not be considered "a problem" to be avoided or eradicated by the higher-ups, but instead something kids grapple with on their own.

We've stopped training children to do this. Rather than teach them to absorb material that is slower, duller and decidedly two-dimensional, like a lot of worthwhile information is, schools cave in to what they say children expect: fun. Teachers spend more time concocting ways to "engage" students through visuals and "interactive learning" (read: screens, games) tailored to their Candy Crushed attention spans. Kids won't listen to long lectures, goes the argument, so it's on us to serve up learning in easier-to-swallow portions.

But surely teaching children to endure boredom rather than ratcheting up the entertainment will prepare them for a more realistic future, one that doesn't raise false expectations of what work or life itself actually entails. One day, even in a job they otherwise love, our kids may have to spend an entire day answering Friday's leftover email. They may have to check spreadsheets. Or assist robots at a vast internet-ready warehouse.

This sounds boring, you might conclude. It sounds like work, and it sounds like life. Perhaps we should get used to it again, and use it to our benefit. Perhaps in an incessant, up-the-ante world, we could do with a little less excitement.

Pamela Paul is the editor of the Book Review and a co-author of the forthcoming book "How to Raise a Reader."
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

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Opinion | Let Children Get Bored Again (Published 2019)

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Boredom teaches us that life isn't a parade of amusements. More important, it spawns creativity and self-sufficiency. Ms. Paul is the editor of the Book Review. "I'm bored." It's a puny little phrase, yet it has the power to fill parents with a cascade of dread, annoyance and guilt.

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Jon Kabat Zinn

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"To say that this wise, deep book is helpful to those who face the challenges of human crisis would be a vast understatement. It is essential, unique, and, above all, fundamentally healing."--Donald M. Berwick, M.D., president emeritus and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "One of the great classics of mind/body medicine."--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom "A book for everyone . . . Jon Kabat-Zinn has done more than any other person on the planet to spread the power of mindfulness to the lives of ordinary people and major societal institutions."--Richard J. Davidson, founder and chair, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison "This is the ultimate owner's manual for our lives. What a gift!"--Amy Gross, former editor in chief, O: The Oprah Magazine "I first read Full Catastrophe Living in my early twenties and it changed my life."--Chade-Meng Tan, Jolly Good Fellow of Google and author of Search Inside Yourself "Jon Kabat-Zinn's classic work on the practice of mindfulness to alleviate stress and human suffering stands the test of time, a most useful resource and practical guide. I recommend this new edition enthusiastically to doctors, patients, and anyone interested in learning to use the power of focused awareness to meet life's challenges, whether great or small."--Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Spontaneous Happiness and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health "How wonderful to have a new and updated version of this classic book that invited so many of us down a path that transformed our minds and awakened us to the beauty of each moment, day-by-day, through our lives. This second edition, building on the first, is sure to become a treasured sourcebook and traveling companion for new generations who seek the wisdom to live full and fulfilling lives."--Diana Chapman Walsh, Ph.D., president emerita of Wellesley College "In this brilliant and comprehensive book, Jon Kabat-Zinn shares the depth of his meditation experience and the breadth of its application in the world. Through concise and extremely pragmatic meditation exercises, the wealth of science explaining the benefits, and the many compelling personal stories, Full Catastrophe Living offers the way to a balanced and mindful life."--Joseph Goldstein, author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening and One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism "This book challenges each American to slow down and pay attention to the power of their own mind and the impact it has on our physical and emotional health. By actively participating in your own health and wellness you will, by extension, increase the health and wellness of our country. As Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches us how to heal our body and boost our immune system, we can actively contribute to the healing of our body politic and strengthen our nation's ability to attack the many challenges of our time. Join us in this quiet revolution! It has the potential to transform our country from the inside out, one courageous American at a time."--Congressman Tim Ryan, 13th district, Ohio, author of A Mindful Nation
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Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition) : Jon Kabat-Zinn : 9780345536938

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"To say that this wise, deep book is helpful to those who face the challenges of human crisis would be a vast understatement. It is essential, unique, and, above all, fundamentally healing."--Donald M. Berwick, M.D., president emeritus and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "One of the great classics of mind/body medicine."--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom "A book for everyone .

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Daniel Seigal

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One example of great relaxation activities in Go Noodle

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Learn To Bring Down Stress | Guided Meditiation For Kids | Breathing Exercises | GoNoodle

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Article with Georgina Manning and First Five years

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The pressure to keep children busy

Counsellor and psychotherapist Georgina Manning, Director of Wellbeing For Kids, an allied health centre in Melbourne, says there is an increase in children doing more out of school activities now than ever before.

"Parents are running children around from activity to activity and filling every spare moment with extracurricular activities," she says.

"It seems we have a current parenting culture of filling every hour of every day with interesting things for our children. In my work with families, most parents say they feel a pressure to keep up with other families that provide these extra activities and feel like they are not doing the right thing or giving their child the best opportunities if they don't put them in a range of activities."

Georgina also notes the pressure the extracurricular activities is putting on families.

"The pressure on parents to keep their children 'busy' is enormous and it is not working for the parents and not working for the children.

"All it is doing is putting enormous stress on families and families are left exhausted, stressed, anxious and irritable with little time left to just be in the moment or nourish the things that are important."

Georgina says the decrease in free play can also lead to children losing out on valuable life skills and even potentially affect their mental health.

"It is really important that children learn to problem solve for themselves and if adults are hovering over their children every minute of every day, we are disempowering our children, and this has catastrophic consequences on their mental health.

"Children never learn to direct their own lives or think for themselves which erodes the development of self-efficacy."

What is free play?

Georgina explains that free play is play which is not directed by an adult in any way, but where children choose activities or games that interest them.

"This may include adults setting up the tools so kids can be engaged in their own play such as having art materials, Lego, or building materials around for children to investigate and explore."

Free play, she says, is where "the child directs the play and there is no expected outcome from an adult. Examples of free play are playing in the garden, dress ups, singing, making a bug catcher, creating a cubby house, building with Lego, drawing, playing with toys using imagination, exploring the garden, creating a puppet show, role playing, being silly with friends, blowing bubbles, rolling on the grass, jigsaw puzzles, playing with pets etc."

Georgina notes that screen time is definitely not free play and that screen time actually takes valuable time away from free play.

"Research shows that when children are using their imagination or in the state of wonder of their natural environment, just playing for the sake of playing without any expected outcome from an adult, then their brains are refreshed and rested," she says.

"Children need to rest their brains regularly and by taking children from activity to activity, this only stresses children, leaving little time for this vital play time. Not only is this vital for children's mental health and overall wellbeing, but essential for development of social and emotional skills."

Parents can get involved in the play too, says Georgina, as long as they aren't directing the play, but rather playing with their child and letting their child take the lead.

How much free play should kids have?

Georgina says there is no set amount of time parents should ensure their children are dedicating to free play. Instead, she recommends looking at the child's weekly schedule and seeing how much time they really have to play.

"I often get parents of primary aged children to reflect on their child's week and create a visual of the week, putting in school time, homework, after school activities and screen time. Then parents can see clearly what time is left for free play.

"Parents are often really surprised to learn that there is very little time left in the day for their child to just play and to rest their brain.

"For preschoolers, having a mix of social interactions with peers and adult play, mixed in with some extra activities is a great mix for this age group.

"As preschoolers usually have a lot more free time than primary aged children, then it can be more beneficial for children to have a few extracurricular activities, however, these don't necessarily need to be a class or something that costs money.

"Catching up with other families and meeting in the park for a picnic in nature can be an extracurricular activity or going to the local library and listening to story time or choosing books for the week is also a valuable activity.

"If children are in day care then having time each day when they get home to just play without adult direction is vital as well as the parent/child playtime."

Should we ditch extracurricular activities completely?

Georgina says that extracurricular activities can have their benefits.

"I do believe that team sports are very important for children to participate in and this would be one activity I would recommend for children. However, it is vital the focus is on fun, joy, enjoyment and healthy competition rather than the focus on creating sport stars or to be better than other children.

"This takes away the fun for children and the experience to look after each other and the chance to develop empathy. It can also create unnecessary stress for children if they are pushed to always be 'better' and 'win' - this automatically takes the children out of mindfully being in the moment of the activity."

Georgina says that activities can help to teach children valuable life lessons.

"If children are enrolled in an activity, then they need to see the term or year out in that activity to teach children persistence, grit, commitment and to manage difficult emotions. Particularly if children are in team sports, they have a responsibility to others as well."

For children who struggle to make friends or who have become too comfortable spending hours in front of a screen, Georgina recommends that extracurricular activities and playdates can be beneficial for them.

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The importance and benefits of free play

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Counsellor and psychotherapist Georgina Manning, Director of Wellbeing For Kids, an allied health centre in Melbourne, says there is an increase in children doing more out of school activities now than ever before. "Parents are running children around from activity to activity and filling every spare moment with extracurricular activities," she says.

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Thich Naht Hahn

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We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies.

1. Categories:

2. Religion & Beliefs

3. Mysteries & The Supernatural (Children's/YA)

4. Non-Christian Religions

5. Self-Esteem

Description

Drawn from Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma talks given to young people, A Pebble for Your Pocket presents the basic teachings of the Buddha in accessible and modern language. Combining the stories and mediation practices from the previous edition of A Pebble for your Pocket with those collected in Under the Rose Apple Tree plus several new stories, this completely revised edition is written in a conversational style, and is comprised of Buddhist parables, and stories from the author's own childhood experiences. They elucidate principles of Buddhism and mindfulness practice, and give the young reader and their parents concrete advise on handling difficult emotions such as anger, from which the title - a pebble for your pocket - is taken. Written in a highly accessible style that doesn't rely on lot of jargon or difficult vocabulary requiring breaks for explanation, Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes the importance of the present moment through vivid metaphors, original allegories, and colorful stories. Young readers will learn about handling anger, living in the present moment, and interbeing -- the interconnectedness of all things. Thich Nhat Hanh offers various practices that children can do on their own or with others that will help them to transform anger and unhappiness and reconnect to the wonders of nature and the joy of living in the present moment. This revised edition contains teachings and stories that the whole family can enjoy, as well as practices such as transforming anger in the family, instructions on how to invite the bell, breathing and sitting meditation, touching the Buddha inside, and others. This revised edition of A Pebble for your Pocket remains a unique and classic title in a market with few other substantial offering on this topic. It's teachings on spirituality and awareness are thought provoking on a child's level. This significantly expanded version includes all stories and practices previously published in Under the Rose Apple Tree plus 3 never before published stories. With 10 b/w illustrations by Philippe Ames and Nguyen Thi Hop. Ages 6-13. (Second graders and up)
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Product details

For ages 9-12

Format Paperback | 144 pages

Dimensions 146 x 203 x 8mm | 187g

Publication date 06 Apr 2010

Publisher Parallax Press

Publication City/Country Berkeley, United States

Language English

Edition Statement Revised ed.

Illustrations note 10 Black and White Illustrations

ISBN10 1935209450

ISBN13 9781935209454

Bestsellers rank 37,427

Back cover copy

Children / Buddhism
A Pebble for Your Pocket is a gem from a true spiritual master.
Parenting with Spirit magazine
Using colorful stories and vivid metaphors, Thich Nhat Hanh presents the basic teachings of mindfulness in a way that can be easily understood by young people. Young readers will learn about handling anger, living in the present moment, and interbeing the interconnectedness of all things. This revised edition contains teachings and stories that the whole family can enjoy, as well as practices such as transforming anger in the family, instructions on how to invite the bell, breathing and sitting meditation, and finding the Buddha inside every one of us.
THICH NHAT HANH is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk whose lifelong efforts to generate peace and reconciliation moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He lives in southwest France and travels regularly, leading retreats on the art of mindful living. He is the author of Being Peace, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and many books for children.

"
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About Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most revered Zen teachers in the world today. His best-selling books include Happiness and Peace Is Every Step. He lives in Plum Village in southwest France, where he teaches the art of mindful living. Philippe Ames was born in Berkeley, California. He works in the field of illustration and animation for companies of international reputations such as Colossal Pictures, Curious Pictures, and Wildbrain. He also teaches art to children. His illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, and book covers including two previous Parallax Press children's books. He lives near Lausanne, Switzerland.
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393 ratings

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A Pebble for Your Pocket : Thich Nhat Hanh : 9781935209454

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Categories: Religion & Beliefs Mysteries & The Supernatural (Children's/YA) Non-Christian Religions Self-Esteem Drawn from Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma talks given to young people, A Pebble for Your Pocket presents the basic teachings of the Buddha in accessible and modern language.

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Free Guided Audio Mindfulness Meditations

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Free Guided Audio Mindfulness Meditations

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Welcome to the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Center and The Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion have come together to provide daily streams and recordings of mindfulness and compassion sessions to provide resources and online support to all those affected.

Free Live Practice Sessions

What is Mindfulness?

Dr. Steve Hickman, Founding Director of the Center for Mindfulness, joins William Mobley, MD, PhD, for a discussion of the power of being in the present moment, and how mindfulness can help us stay engaged, focused, and fulfilled.

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Center and The Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion have come together to provide daily streams and recordings of mindfulness and compassion sessions to provide resources and online support to all those affected.

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Interview with Georgina Manning

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By Dilvin Yasa|

Lucy* is only eight years old but she's never been a big sleeper. Lying in bed at night, thoughts of death, failure and world injustice (her words) keep her sweating under her quilt until the early hours of the morning. When sleep does claim her, if only for a couple of hours at a time, she dreams about her family dying, her cats going missing, or her favourite toys being broken. It's been that way since she was a baby, says her exhausted mother Pat*, who reveals they've been to no less than three psychologists, two counsellors, a host of GPs and one incredibly expensive psychiatrist to get to the bottom of what's troubling her daughter.

"They've tried to put her on medication to reduce her anxiety, but I don't want her to be medicated," says Pat.

"I just want her to be happy and untroubled like other kids her own age."

What Pat may not realise is that while she may want her daughter to be 'untroubled' like other kids, the number of Lucy's peers who would be classed as 'carefree' are rapidly decreasing - so much so that studies now show that almost one in seven 4 - 17 year olds are battling or have battled a mental health disorder in the past year (equivalent to approximately 560,000 Australian children).

And while anxiety is largely hereditary (most experts agree inherited anxiety is linked to 30 - 40 per cent of anxiety disorders), counsellor and director of Peaceful Kids , Georgina Manning, says much of it is learned by watching mum and dad.

"Families today are stressed and busy, with no time to slow down and relax together and that frantic pace can set a dangerous undercurrent," she says. "Through our behaviours and reactions to events and situations, kids today are growing up believing the world is a dark place and something to be frightened of." A culture of little-to-no boundaries, a reinforcement of non-resilient behaviour and having too many choices help to create the perfect storm, she adds.

It's worth noting that having a little bit of anxiety - particularly during stressful times such as exams, changing schools or teachers, or having a friend move away - is normal. A survival mechanism evolved over thousands of years to identify possible threats and prepare the body's 'fight or flight' defence, a little bit of anxiety helps keep us safe. It's only when the body's panic response gets stuck and floods the body with adrenaline (panic) even though there's no threat in sight that the anxiety can quickly turn into an anxiety disorder, which can present in one or a few of the following ways:
Generalised anxiety disorder
One of the more common anxiety disorders, children with generalised anxiety will worry excessively about everything, like Lucy. Physical symptoms often play their own role and can include regular headaches, stomach aches, muscle tension or tiredness.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
For kids with OCD, anxiety takes the form of obsessions and compulsions, such as counting, washing hands or rearranging toys in a particular way. They often become upset if their behaviour is interrupted or their routine changed.
Panic attacks
Often occurring for no apparent reason, panic attacks can strike anywhere and at any time, with sudden physical symptoms which can include fainting, a shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness, sweatiness and a pounding heart.
Phobias
Phobias are when your child develops intense fears of something that wouldn't normally be classed as dangerous, such as dogs, gaps in curtains, heights, flying or particular objects such as buttons.
Social anxiety
This is a fear of social situations or speaking and interacting with others - particularly if a parent is not with them. In rare cases, kids with severe anxiety can also suffer from selective mutism which is where kids refuse to speak in situations they find too overwhelming.

Studies show early assessment and professional support is hugely beneficial for children suffering from an anxiety disorder, so keep an eye out for one or more of the following signs:

Excessive worry crossing over all areas of life

Sleep issues, whether it be falling asleep or staying asleep

Restlessness or fatigue throughout the day

Irritability

Trouble concentrating

Withdrawing from people

Avoidance of anything anxiety-provoking

If you notice your child is suffering from one or a few of these, Manning suggests starting an honest dialogue in your household about what anxiety is and what it feels like. "Your child might have noticed that they feel a little differently to other kids he or she plays with so you want to reassure them that a little of bit of worry can actually be normal and helpful," she explains.

"Ask them about the thoughts they have when they're feeling anxious, so that you're both turning towards what's causing the anxiety rather than turning away from it." The idea is to talk with your child in a supportive and non-judgmental way so that they always feel safe and free to share.

Helping your child face their fears rather than becoming an avoidance enabler will also assist them in the long-run, says Manning who explains gradual exposure holds the key in conquering fears and phobias. "If a child is terrified about speaking at a school assembly, for example, many parents will keep them home that day so that they don't have to," she says. "It's short-term relief, but over time you're just teaching them avoidance rather than developing confidence, resilience and strategies on how to cope with the difficulties of life and one thing we know is that children who build resilience tend to have lower anxiety levels in the long-run."

Role modelling confident behaviours yourself is also important as 'an anxious parent is an anxious child', she says.

"If a parent is worried about exams or whether their child is going to get bullied, the child will soon follow suit and even if you're not talking about your thoughts in the company of your child, rest assured they will still pick up on how you're really feeling." For this very reason, first-borns - often the product of much fussing and mollycoddling - tend to be more anxious than their younger brothers and sisters. "Parents are far more easygoing with the subsequent offspring and it shows in their demeanour."

Listen to your kids and ask lots of questions about how they're feeling. If their worries or behaviours continue for a number of weeks, or begin to affect their day-to-day activities, sleep or schooling, contact your GP to get a referral to speak with a children's mental health specialist. "Sometimes your fears may not be warranted and your appointment can merely help reassure you on what is normal and what is not," Manning says. "But if further investigation is needed, you'll know your child is in very safe hands."
If you require assistance with childhood anxiety, please call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
*Names have been changed.

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How to spot anxiety in kids and what to do about it

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By Dilvin Yasa | Lucy* is only eight years old but she's never been a big sleeper. Lying in bed at night, thoughts of death, failure and world injustice (her words) keep her sweating under her quilt until the early hours of the morning.

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Children using Mindfulness in a calm space

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Addiction to technology is ruining lives

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Addiction to Technology is Ruining Lives - Simon Sinek on Inside Quest

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Rick Hanson Video

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Peaceful Parents Training

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'Peaceful Parents' is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based parenting program to increase resilience in both parents and their children. 'Peaceful Parents' is a strength-based parenting workshop that is engaging, practical and supportive for parents. Parents learn strategies to lessen stress, enjoy parenting more as well as learning practical strategies to build resilience in their children.

Peaceful Parents is run by trained Peaceful Parent Facilitators who have experience and training in the Peaceful Kids program

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'Peaceful Parents' is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based parenting program to increase resilience in both parents and their children. 'Peaceful Parents' is a strength-based parenting workshop that is engaging, practical and supportive for parents. Parents learn strategies to lessen stress, enjoy parenting more as well as learning practical strategies to build resilience in their children.

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Mindfulness & Peaceful Kids Training

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Peaceful Kids Mindfulness & Positive Psychology P rogram ​ ​ The 'Peaceful Kids' program is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based program to lessen anxiety and stress and increase...

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Training the Monkey Mind video Headspace

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Training the Monkey Mind video Headspace

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Headspace | Meditation | Training the Monkey Mind

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Headspace | Meditation | Changing Perspective

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Fantastic article on letting our kids be independent

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Walking through the woods alone can be a scary prospect for a kid, but not for 7-year-old Matthew of Portland, Oregon. He doesn't have much of a backyard at his condo, so the woods behind his house essentially serve the same purpose. He spends hours out there: swinging on a tire swing, tromping across the ravine to a friend's house, and using garden shears to cut a path. He lays down sticks to form a bridge across the small stream that flows in the winter.

And he does all of this without any adult supervision.

Matthew's mom, Laura Randall, wants her son to gain the sort of skills and confidence that only come with doing things yourself. But she didn't just toss her 7-year-old out the door with some hiking boots and garden shears one day. They worked up to it gradually with what Randall calls "experiments in independence."

"Just those moments, incrementally bigger moments, where he can choose to be on his own," Randall explains. Randall knows this isn't the norm for today's parenting style, where kids are shuttled from one supervised, structured activity to another. Gone are the days where kids ride their bikes alone until the streetlights come on.

And Randall has encountered people who think she's a bad parent - like the man who identified himself as an off-duty police officer, and started yelling at her when she left Matthew alone in the car for a few minutes while she ran into the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.

Randall knows that parents in several states have been arrested for leaving kids unattended, for letting them walk to the park on their own, or even allowing them walk to school. And so she was worried about what this man might do.

"[H]e ... says, 'Do you know how many kids go missing a year?' And I said 'By coincidence, I think I do know, and it's very small!' "

They talked it out, and the man eventually threw up his hands and walked away. Randall's heart was pounding, but she felt confident defending her parenting - partly because she had connected with a group called Free Range Kids, which promotes childhood independence, and gives families the information they need to push back against a culture of overprotection. Its founder is Lenore Skenazy.

"This very pessimistic, fearful way of looking at childhood isn't based in reality," Skenazy explains. "It is something that we have been taught."

For years, Skenazy sought to correct the misconception of childhood dangers - telling parents that childhood abductions and murders are at record lows, even as perceptions of danger have risen.

But even as she talked about the benefits of giving kids independence, of free time, and of self-directed play, she realized that addressing the individual parents was only half the battle. Because even if they have the facts, parents could still feel uncomfortable if they're the only ones affording their kids these freedoms. Also, it could get lonely being the only kid riding your bike down the street.

"You send your kid outside and there's nobody out there for them to play with - they're gonna come right back in," Skenazy laughs. "Because there is somebody to play with if they're online."

Skenazy set out not just to change parents' minds, but the culture at large. And founded a project called Let Grow.

While its goal is a cultural shift, its methods are almost laughably simple. Let Grow is reaching out to elementary schools across the country to assign kids the Let Grow project as homework. Participating kids decide to do something on their own that they haven't done before - whether it's walking the dog around the block, or making dinner, or walking a few aisles over in the supermarket to get some eggs. The schools also set up "Let Grow play clubs" - mixed ages, no structure, and no adult direction. Just free, child-led play.

Lori Koerner is the principal at Tremont Elementary in Long Island, one of a dozen New York schools piloting the project. She said that they saw a direct effect in the classroom. "The children were just more self-assured, and confident."

Koerner says with Let Grow, kids discover skills and abilities they didn't know they had. And they also discover what it's like to fail. While on the surface might not sound all that appealing, failure is how kids learn how to overcome obstacles, try out new ideas, and become resilient. It's also how adults learn as well - ask any CEO.)

"If we don't offer them these opportunities to communicate, to collaborate, to problem-solve, then how can they be successful in a global society?" Koerner asks.

According to psychologists, that's an important question. Dr. Peter Gray, research professor at Boston College who focuses on child play, says that erring on the side of caution isn't helping children. By trying to give kids a leg up, scheduling every free minute with karate or Little League or music lessons, parents are in fact doing them enormous harm.

Gray says that over the past 50 years, as we've seen a decline in children's freedom, we've seen an increase in responses on standardized questionnaires that indicate both depression and anxiety disorders. Specifically, an eight-fold increase on depression, and five-to-ten-fold increase on generalized anxiety disorder. Gray notes that this is just a correlation, and he's looked at many possible explanations.

"It doesn't correlate with economic cycles, wars, or divorce rates. But it correlates very well with the decline of children's freedom to play."

To Gray, this makes perfect sense. Especially when you consider that not having control of their decisions and life creates an external rather than internal locus of control.

Internal locus of control is "the degree to which you feel that you're in control of your own life, versus the degree you feel you're a victim of fate and circumstance and powerful other people," he says. "Every decade, young people report less internal locus of control, more external locus of control."

Putting kids in control helps them learn to solve problems, and cope better in new environments. Gray says animal studies even indicate that free play can promote pathways in the prefrontal cortex, strengthening control over the emotion-eliciting areas of the limbic system.

For parents, like Laura Randall, it's all part of the goal of parenting.

"There's the short game, where you're sort of doing the best you can in the moment," Randall explains. "But there's the long game. And there's paying attention to allowing a little risk, because it will pay off in the long run."

Randall understands that life has real risks. But so does getting in a car. And most of us still do it every day, because that's how to get where we want to go. For her son Matthew to become a confident, competent adult, Randall wants him to go outside, make his own mistakes, and figure things out. And she hopes he won't be the only kid out there doing it.

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To Raise Confident, Independent Kids, Some Parents Are Trying To 'Let Grow'

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Walking through the woods alone can be a scary prospect for a kid, but not for 7-year-old Matthew of Portland, Oregon. He doesn't have much of a backyard at his condo, so the woods behind his house essentially serve the same purpose.

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Excellent starting point for staff

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1. Categories:

2. Popular Psychology

Description

MINDFULNESS reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that can be incorporated into daily life to help break the cycle of unhappiness, stress, anxiety and mental exhaustion and promote genuine joie de vivre. It's the kind of happiness that gets into your bones. It seeps into everything you do and helps you meet the worst that life can throw at you with new courage. The book is based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). MBCT revolves around a straightforward form of mindfulness meditation which takes just a few minutes a day for the full benefits to be revealed. MBCT has been clinically proven to be at least as effective as drugs for depression and it is recommended by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence - in other words, it works. More importantly it also works for people who are not depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the constant demands of the modern world. MINDFULNESS focuses on promoting joy and peace rather than banishing unhappiness. It's precisely focused to help ordinary people boost their happiness and confidence levels whilst also reducing anxiety, stress and irritability.
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Product details

Format CD-Audio

Dimensions 124 x 140 x 10mm | 100g

Publication date 05 May 2011

Publisher Little, Brown Book Group

Imprint Hachette Audio

Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom

Language English

Edition Abridged

Edition Statement Abridged edition

ISBN10 1405509074

ISBN13 9781405509077

Bestsellers rank 76,337

About Professor Mark Williams

Professor Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Cliniical Psychology at Oxford University. He co-developed mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), is co-author of the international bestseller The Mindful Way Through Depression and author of Cry of Pain: Understanding suicide and the suicidal mind. Dr Danny Penman Ph.D. is the bestselling author of Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world, co-written with Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, and co-author of Mindfulness for Health with Vidyamala Burch. He is a qualified mindfulness teacher who first learned to meditate when he was 16. He is also a feature and comment writer for the Daily Mail, having previously worked for the Independent and the BBC. Danny has hosted mindfulness seminars for directors and senior figures from many leading companies. He is a frequent commentator on mindfulness for the BBC and various national newspapers. Professor Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Cliniical Psychology at Oxford University. He co-developed mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), is co-author of the international bestseller The Mindful Way Through Depression and author of Cry of Pain: Understanding suicide and the suicidal mind.
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Mindfulness : Professor Mark Williams : 9781405509077

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We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Categories: Popular Psychology MINDFULNESS reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that can be incorporated into daily life to help break the cycle of unhappiness, stress, anxiety and mental exhaustion and promote genuine joie de vivre.

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Great book on mindfulness and calming the mind

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beautiful book on emotions

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Fishpond works with suppliers all over the world to bring you a huge selection of products, really great prices, and delivery included on over 25 million products that we sell. We do our best every day to make Fishpond an awesome place for customers to shop and get what they want - all at the best prices online.

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[To save and read later, download here]

In this busy life, we often rush from one thing to another without stopping and appreciating the beauty around us. Commitments, pressures, and worries take over, and staying awake to our present experience become more and more difficult. Mindfulness meditation helps us to stop, breathe, and reconnect with our present experience.

Mindfulness meditation has become more widespread and popular than ever before. This fast-growing phenomenon is being endorsed by celebrities such as Emma Watson, Ruby Wax and Angelina Jolie. Why? Because research is showing time and time again, that if mindfulness is practiced daily for a minimum of 8 weeks, there are huge psychological and physical health benefits such as a reduction in stress and anxiety, and the prevention of depression (Krusche et al, 2013; Baer et al, 2012; Mark et al, 2014; Rycroft-Malone et al, 2014; Williams & Kuyken, 2012; Teasdale et al, 2000)

In 1979 developed an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (In 2004 this MBCT course was recommended for prescription on the NHS for recurring depression. Mindfulness practice is now approved by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence and is available on the Jon Kabat-Zinn MBSR) program to help people with pain management. This course harnessed the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation as taught by the Buddha, but with the Buddhism taken out. In 2002, a psychologist Professor Mark Williams worked with colleagues to combine the US program with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to form an eight-week mindfulness-based CBT course ( MBCT). NHS.
What is Mindfulness? "Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally." Jon Kabat-Zinn
Within mindfulness practice, we are encouraged to focus on the present moment in a deliberate and mindful way, to become more aware of arising thoughts, feelings and sensations in the body. Being aware of our present experience in a non-judgmental and compassionate way helps us to acknowledge and accept these thoughts, feelings, and sensations so that we can assess our response before reacting impulsively. Therefore, the practice of mindfulness teaches the mind a new way of relating to thoughts and feelings, so we can choose how to respond to circumstances rather than react.

Mindfulness is practiced by focusing on the body and breath and can also be practiced in everyday activities, like walking or eating. By focusing on the present experience of our body and breath, we teach ourselves to become aware of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, acknowledge them, and stay with them as they arise and pass.

As adults we often have busy minds which tend to flitter from one thought to another- this is called the "butterfly brain" - our minds jump from one thought to another, making it difficult to maintain focus or concentration. We are normally too busy paying attention to our thoughts and engaging with them, that we neglect to pay attention to our present moment. While we are busy with our thoughts, we may also neglect to notice any arising emotions linked to these thoughts, or may even ignore how these thoughts and emotions may manifest in the body.

In this busy world we live in, we often forget about our bodies, how delicate and precious they are. Psychological and physical illness can sometimes creep up on us because we have learned to ignore our bodies, in favour of the mind. The body sends us signals or flickers, like gentle biological taps on the shoulder, letting us know that something is out of balance. Often in this frantic world, we tend to ignore these flickers or see them as inconvenient irritations hoping that they don't detract us from the things we need to do. However, these physical signs and symptoms are our bodies way to alert us to deeper imbalances and can often be the manifestation of the thoughts and emotions we experience throughout the day.

Signs of Stress: emotions, behaviour, feelings, and thoughts

Stress is our bodies reaction to feeling under threat or attack. When we are stressed, panicked, or anxious, a part of the brain called the amygdala is triggered - this is a primitive part of the brain which activates the flight, fight, freeze, flop or friend response. Frequent and recurring activation of this part of the brain floods our bodies with stress chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol, leading to the symptoms in the diagram on the right.

Within the practice of mindfulness meditation, we can prevent stress, anxiety and long-term health issues, if we pay attention to how we hold emotions with the body by becoming more aware of the relationship between thoughts, feelings, emotions and the body. If we monitor our body and notice all its fluctuating propensities, then we can become connected from the body, and less entangled with our thoughts.

The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: what does the scientific research say?

MRI scans show that after an eight-week mindfulness course, the brain's "flight or fight centre", called the amygdala appears to shrink. As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex (associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration, and decision-making) becomes thicker.

The connection between these 2 regions of the brain also changes, so the connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger. There is also an increased thickness of the hippocampus which governs learning and memory.

An area of the brain called the insula also thickens with mindfulness practice and becomes more strengthened. This part of the brain is integral to our sense of human connectedness as it helps to mediate empathy for ourselves and others.
How do these structural changes of the brain benefit us in our everyday lives?
The physical and psychological benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation are astounding. Mindfulness boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease.

Not only does mindfulness reduce stress and anxiety, it increases focus, performance, and memory. There is an increased sense of calm, and a reduction in worrying, as we learn to stop ruminating about the past and future, and gain greater self-awareness. Empathy and understanding of others also increases, as we become more accepting of ourselves and others.

Going forward with Mindfulness practice

Mindfulness meditation is not an alternative to counselling or psychotherapy. It does not "solve" our difficulties but instead reveals an awareness of the underlying issues we may need to work on. It gives us the opportunity to choose how we respond to these underlying issues, and how we respond to the world.

Mindfulness meditation encourages us to connect to parts of ourselves which we may not like or find too painful to connect with. However, only through true connection with these challenging parts of ourselves can there be real development and growth as individuals

DAILY MINDFULNESS TIPS

Start the day with mindfulness - attention to a few breaths before getting out of bed

Notice your body while standing or walking

Bring awareness to listening or talking

Notice changes in your posture throughout the day

Bring awareness to eating

When you feel tired, frustrated, anxious, angry or any other powerful emotion, bring your attention to your breath

Remember to breathe

Maintain a daily mindfulness practice

Before you go to sleep, bring an awareness to your breath

References
Baer, R.A., Carmody, J., Hunsinger, M. (2012) Weekly Change in Mindfulness and Perceived Stress in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programme, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68(7), 755-765.

Krusche, A., Cyhlarova E., Williams J.M.G. (2013) Mindfulness Online: An Evaluation of The Feasibility of a Web-Based Mindfulness Course For, Stress, Anxiety and Depression, British Medical Journal, October 2013(3), BMJ Open

Mark, J., et al (2014) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Preventing Relapse in Recurrent Depression: A Randomized Dismantling Trial, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Rycroft-Malone, J., et al (2014) Accessibility and Implementation in UK Services of and Effective Depression Relapse Intervention Programme - Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): ASPIRE Study Protocol, Implementation Science

Teasdale et al (2000) Prevention of Relapse/Recurrence in Major Depression by Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Williams, M., Kuyken, W (2012) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: A Promising New Approach to Preventing Depressive Relapse, The British Journal of Psychiatry

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Anyone for Mindfulness? - NZ Counselling and Psychotherapy

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To save and read later, download here] In this busy life, we often rush from one thing to another without stopping and appreciating the beauty around us. Commitments, pressures, and worries take over, and staying awake to our present experience become more and more difficult.

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Beautiful, beautiful video - you have to see this

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Research article on Mindfulness & Parenting

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Research article on Mindfulness & Parenting

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Received 20 November 2015; accepted 11 January 2016; published 14 January 2016

1. Introduction

Childhood stress has become an area of concern for psychologists, teachers and parents alike. In America, 20% of children report that they worry a lot or a great deal (American Psychological Association, 2010) . In Brazil stress prevalence in children is at 18.2% (Sbaraini & Schermann, 2008) . In Australia 31% of students feel "very stressed", 40% feel that they worry too much and 40% report that they have difficulty staying calm (Bernard, Stephanau, & Urbach, 2007) . In Pakistan, 57.6% of female adolescents scored above the midpoint of a stress measure (Parpio, 2013) .

Research also suggests that children are experiencing high rates of psychosomatic stress symptoms. For example, in China, 32% of primary school children report experiencing headaches and 37% report abdominal pain at least once per month (Hesketh et al., 2010) . A nationally representative sample in Sweden found that 21.8% of Swedish children aged 10 - 18 report at least two psychosomatic symptoms (headache, stomach ache, and difficulty falling asleep) per week. Turning to rates of distress more generally across eight European countries, 35% - 56% of children aged 4 to 11.8 years report at least one psychosomatic or emotional symptom of stress weekly (Vanaelst et al., 2012) .

Stress typically arises when a person perceives that they cannot adequately cope with the demands being placed upon them (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Lazarus, 1966) . In other words, stress is caused by a mismatch between demands and resources, rather than the demands of the environment itself (Cox, 1978) . This understanding of stress is pertinent to the mental health of children given that they have not yet fully developed the physical, psychological and social resources that enable them to cope with the demands that are being placed upon them. Indeed, children regularly find themselves in situations where the demands and pressures of their environment exceed their resources and ability to cope, (e.g. conflict with parents, academic pressure, cyber bullying) thus causing stress.

1.1. Mindfulness and Stress

Mindfulness techniques are increasingly being used to manage childhood stress (Waters, Barsky, Ridd, & Allen, 2015) . Mindfulness can be conceptualized as a present-focused, open, and non-judgmental state of attention and awareness (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Kabat-Zinn, 1994; Sedlmeier et al., 2012) . Departing from its Buddhist roots, mindfulness has become a mainstream stress-management technique in Western societies (see Sun, 2014, for a historical perspective on the "mindfulness movement"). Research shows that secular mindfulness meditation programs reduce stress and anxiety while improving physical health and mental health (for reviews, see Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007; Khoury et al., 2013 ). These findings have been demonstrated in clinical and non-clin- ical populations in adults (Baer, 2003; Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004; Slagter, Davidson, & Lutz, 2011) and youth alike (Campion & Rocco, 2009; Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005; Mendelson et al., 2010) .

Mindful attention differs from regular attention along two dimensions: time and breadth (Dane, 2011) . With respect to time, mindful attention has a present moment focus and is characterized by the person giving their full attention to the here and now. This type of attention is distinguished against other types of attention such as rumination or prospection that are focused in either the past or the future (Brown & Ryan, 2003) .

Mindfulness has the potential to beneficially alter a child's appraisal of their resources and demands thus influencing the experience of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) . By clearly observing present-moment reactions, children can become aware of the appraisal they have made of the situation and the thoughts that are causing them to feel distress (Duncan, Coatsworth, & Greenberg, 2009) . By giving greater control over one's attention, mindfulness means that children can look at the situation in a "wide-open" manner. Rather than defaulting to an automatic stress reaction, mindfulness enables children to take into account all of the available information about the situation including about their own thoughts, feelings and sensations (Duncan et al., 2009; Kaiser Greenland, 2010; Napthali, 2003) .

Bishop and colleagues (2004) suggest that the non-judgemental aspect of mindfulness helps individuals to adopt a stance of acceptance toward stressful thoughts and feelings. In turn, changing the meaning of emotionally distressing experiences reduces their unpleasant and aversive qualities. In short, mindfulness could help children to appraise a situation as less demanding and/or to provide the mental space to clearly understand the resources they can bring to the situation.

Mindfulness may therefore be used as a mental resource that helps children to cope with stress more effectively. Indeed, research on the effects of mindfulness programs taught to school students has shown that such programs significantly reduce stress and anxiety (see Waters et al., 2015, for a recent review). Mindfulness has also been found to increase calmness, restful alertness, emotional regulation, and relaxation in children and teenagers (Campion & Rocco, 2009; Broderick & Metz, 2009; Mendelson et al., 2010) . The research above motivates Hypothesis 1.

Hypothesis 1: Mindfulness in children will be significantly, negatively, related to stress.

1.2. Mindful Parenting and Child Wellbeing

Yet, despite this substantial interest, empirical evidence of the effects of parents' mindfulness on child wellbeing is sparse. Only 9 studies have been published on this topic, 7 of which were focused on treatment settings with children who have externalizing disorders such as ADHD, oppositional-defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and/or autism-spectrum disorder (Bögels et al., 2008; de Bruin, 2014; Ferraioli & Harris, 2013; Lilly & Tungol, 2015; Singh et al., 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014) ¹.

Studies in clinical settings have found that mindful parenting helps to reduce child behavior problems, externalizing problems, aggression, and rumination, and is positively related to quality of life (Bögels et al., 2008; de Bruin, 2014; Ferraioli & Harris, 2013; Lilly & Tungol, 2015; Singh et al., 2006, 2007, 2011) . However, while such findings are encouraging, they cannot be generalized to non-clinical samples.

Only two studies on mindful parenting in non-clinical samples were identified, with mixed results. Altmaier and Maloney (2007) explored the effect of mindful parent training in families of preschoolers who had recently become divorced, but found no changes in the quality of parent-child relationship from pre to post test. In a community sample of parents and teens, however, Coatsworth, Duncan, Greenberg, and Nix (2010) found a significant relationship between parent mindfulness with teenager's positive affect/behavior towards their mothers (e.g., acting lovingly and affectionate towards their mother) and quality of the adolescent-parent relationships. Neither of these studies investigated effects on stress in children.

Clearly, more research is needed to examine the effect of mindfulness in parents on child stress. The current study will test the extent to which child mindfulness mediates the relation between parent mindfulness and reduced stress in children (see Figure 1). This mechanism is based on the possibility that mindful parents may role model mindful behaviors, thereby cultivating mindfulness in their children.

1.3. Direct Pathway between Mindfulness in Parents and Stress in Children

Given the finding of a positive relationship between mindfulness, stress and coping in parent samples (Dawe & Harnett, 2007) , one could speculate that higher levels of mindfulness lead to higher levels of coping and lower levels of stress in parents. Bögels, Lehtonen and Restifo (2010) suggest that mindfulness reduces parental

. Mediation model for mindful parenting as a mediator of the rela- tionship between mindfulness and stress in children.

reactivity to stress because it allows for parents to become aware of their automatic emotional patterns and to stop and pause before they react with anger, stress or frustration towards their children. Dumas (2005) states that "Parents and children are most likely to call on overlearned ways of coping when they are stressed or distracted (i.e., when their personal resources allow them to do little more than rely on what they know best because they have repeatedly practiced it in the past)" (p. 781). Mindfulness in parents may therefore help to create a calm family environment, which reduces stress in children.

Along similar lines, mindfulness in parents may directly reduce stress in children by fostering a secure attachment between the parent and the child (Siegel, 2001; Siegel & Hartzell, 2004) . Parents who can remain aware and accepting of their child's emotions through using mindfulness practices may be more child-centered (less self/parent-focused) which allows them to meet the child's needs (Dix, 1991; Dix & Branca, 2003) . The stance of acceptance taken in mindfulness (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002) may assist the parent to be open and receptive to the child's thoughts, feelings, and sensations (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) .

One can also imagine that mindfulness allows a parent to become aware of how their own agenda and projections potentially block them from accepting their children for who they are (and not who the parent wants them to be), thus leading to a richer, more authentic relationship between parent and child. Given that secure attachment is a critical aspect of allowing a child to be feel safe (i.e., not stressed) it is probable that mindfulness in parents reduces stress in children because it assists a secure attachment between the parent and the child.

Hypothesis 2: Levels of mindfulness in parents will be significantly, negatively related to levels of stress in children.

1.4. Indirect Pathway between Mindfulness in Parents and Stress in Children

Hypothesis 3: Levels of mindfulness in parents will be significantly, positively related to levels of mindfulness in children.

Hypothesis 4: Levels of stress in children will be indirectly related to the levels of mindfulness in parents, through the effect of parent mindfulness on child mindfulness.

2. Method

2.1. Participants and Procedure

A community sample of Australian upper primary school-aged children (N = 68; M age = 10.70, SD = 2.6; 52% female, 48% male) and one of their parents (N = 68; M age = 42.70, SD = 9.6; 72% female, 28% male) participated in this study. Participants were recruited through stress-management workshops that were facilitated by the researcher (a registered psychologist).

This study used a cross-sectional, matched-dyad design with self-report surveys from parents and children. At the start of the workshop, parents completed a brief survey that assessed their levels of mindfulness, while children completed a brief survey that assessed their levels of stress and mindfulness. The researcher then facilitated a discussion with the children and parents about their survey responses, before introducing children to a series of stress management activities and mindfulness practices.

2.2. Measures

Mindfulness in parents and children. The Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised was used to measure mindfulness (CAMS-R; Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007 ). The scale consists of 12 items (e.g., it is easy for me to concentrate on what I am doing; I try to notice my thought without judging them) that were answered on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). The scale has been shown to have good reliability and validity (Feldman et al., 2007) . In the current study, Cronbach alpha reliability was 0.78 for parents and 0.76 for children.

Stress in children. The stress subscale of the Depression, Stress and Anxiety Scales (DASS) was used (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) . The stress subscale consists of 14 items such as "I find it hard to calm down after something upsets me" and "I use a lot of nervous energy". The children were asked to rate how well each statement described them on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). This scale has been used in other child and adolescent samples and has shown acceptable psychometric properties (Duffy, Cunningham, & Moore, 2005; Szabó & Lovibond, 2006; Szabó, 2010) . In an Australian sample, Patrick, Dyck, and Bramston (2010) report Cronbach alpha reliability ranging from 0.94 - 0.96 in children of the same age as the current study. Cronbach alpha reliability in the current sample was 0.87.

2.3. Statistical Analysis

The study hypotheses were tested via correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. In particular, the current study tested a mediated model for the direct and indirect effects of a parent's level of mindfulness on their child's levels of stress and mindfulness. The idea in mediation analysis is that some of the effect of the independent variable is transmitted to the dependent variable through a mediator variable. In addition, some of the effect of the independent variable passes directly to the dependent variable. That portion of the effect of the independent variable that passes through the mediator variable is the indirect effect (Aiken & West, 1991; MacKinnon, 2008; MacKinnon & Luecken, 2008) . In this study, it was predicted that mindfulness in parents has a direct, negative relationship with stress and also has an indirect effect on stress through its positive relationship on children's' mindfulness.

3. Results

Correlation analysis found that children's stress levels were significantly, negatively related to their levels of mindfulness (r = −0.43, p < 0.01) and were significantly, negatively related to their parents ratings levels of mindfulness (r = −0.30, p < 0.05). Children's levels of mindfulness and were significantly, positively related to their parent's ratings of mindfulness (r = 0.42, p < 0.01).

The regression analysis followed Baron and Kenny (1986) and Kenny, Kashy, and Bolger's (1998) four-step causal mediation model. First, according to this model, there must be a significant relationship between the independent variable to the dependent variable. In the current study mindfulness in parents was significantly, negatively related to stress in children, β = −0.29, t (67) = −2.56, p < 0.01, and accounted for 8% of the variance.

Second, there must be a significant relationship of the independent variable to the hypothesized mediating variable. This step was supported in the current analysis as mindfulness in parents was significantly, positively related to mindfulness in children, β = 0.42, t (67) = 3.80, p < 0.001, accounting for 15% of the variance in mindfulness in children.

Third, the mediating variable must be significantly related to the dependent variable. In the current study, mindfulness in children was significantly, negatively related to their reported levels of stress, β = −0.43, t (67) = −3.84, p < 0.001, explaining 17% of the variance.

Fourth, when both the independent variable and mediating variable are entered as predictors of the dependent variable, the model requires that the coefficient relating the independent variable to the dependent variable must be smaller than it was in Step 1. This was supported (β Step1 = −0.29; β Step4 = −0.15). However, the mediation model must also show that the coefficient relating the independent variable to the dependent variable must be larger (in absolute value) than the coefficient relating the mediating variable to the dependent variable. This was not supported as mindfulness in parents had a lower Beta coefficient (β = −0.15) than mindfulness in children (β = −0.35). Moreover, when both mindfulness in parents and mindfulness in children were added into the equation, only mindfulness in children remained significant. Thus, although mindfulness in parents has a significant, direct effect on stress levels in their children, there was no support for the hypothesis that mindfulness in parents reduced stress levels in children via its effects on mindfulness in children ( Figure 2).

4. Discussion

Past research has shown that parents contribute a role in either diminishing or increasing stress levels in their children (Power, 2004; Waters, 2015) . Accordingly, the current study tested the degree to which mindfulness in parents was directly and indirectly related to stress through its influence on the child's levels of mindfulness. Results of this study revealed that both parent and child mindfulness were significantly and negatively related to child stress levels. However, mindfulness in children did not mediate the relationship between mindfulness in parents and stress in children.

With regards to hypothesis one, mindfulness in children was significantly and negatively related to their stress levels. This finding is consistent with past research in which mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety as well as increase calmness, restful alertness, emotional regulation, and relaxation in children and teenagers (Campion & Rocco, 2009; Broderick & Metz, 2009; Mendelson et al., 2010) .

Stress is typically brought about by an imbalance in demands and resources arising when a child perceives that they cannot adequately cope with the demands being placed upon them (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Lazarus, 1966) . Successful adaptation to stress involves the ability to 1) accurately understand the current demands and 2) draw on one's resources in order to manage one's emotions, think clearly and regulate one's behavior. Mindfulness keeps a child's attention focused on the present moment which means they can see their current demands clearly, rather than thinking about similar stressors in the past or what the stressor means for them in the future. Mindfulness also cultivates an orientation of acceptance and openness towards present-moment experiences, which reduces the chance of the child responding in a habitual, inflexible, reactive manner and increases their chances of accessing the resources they can draw upon.

In times of stress, one of the resources that children can draw upon is their relationship with their parents (Dumas & LaFreniere, 1993) . Indeed, the second finding of the current study was that children who had more mindful parents reported lower levels of stress. These results suggest that mindful parenting may help children to cope with stress. Such findings are consistent with past research by Bernard et al. (2007) who found that children with higher levels of social and emotional well-being reported that they had parents who were more likely to accept them for who they were, accommodate their interests and make time for them; all features of a mindful parent as defined by Duncan et al. (2009) .

. Results of mediation analysis. The number inside parentheses is the standardized coefficient and represents the coefficient when the dependent varia- ble was regressed on the independent variable together with the mediating varia- ble (mindfulness in children).

Though many parents are likely to understand the importance of providing love and emotional support to their children (Eshel, Daelmans, de Mello, & Martines, 2006) , they may be less aware of the benefits of being able to regulate their attention to be present with and accepting of their children.

The finding that child and parent levels of mindfulness were both inversely related to the child's levels of stress indicates that children would benefit from developing their own mindfulness skills and also from their parents developing mindfulness skills. Although some people are naturally more mindful than others ( Baer, 2011; Brown & Ryan, 2004), all children and parents can learn to become more mindful with practice (Kabat- Zinn, 2005) .

There are books dedicated to helping parents become more mindful including Mindful Parenting (Race, 2014) , Everyday Blessings (Kabat-Zinn & Kabat-Zinn, 1997) , Mindful Parenting (Bogels & Restifo, 2015), Buddhism for Mothers (Napthali, 2003) , Buddhism for Mothers of School Children (Napthali, 2009a) , Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children (Napthali, 2009b) , Parenting From the Inside Out (Siegel & Hartzell, 2004) and Zen and the Path for Mindful Parenting (Danaan, 2015) .

Beyond Apps and books, Russell (2011) encourages parents to bring mindfulness into their daily routine. Daily activities such doing the dishes and making schools lunches can become opportunities for mindfulness.

As well as encouraging parents to bring mindfulness into their daily activities, I also encourage parents to show their children how to bring mindfulness into their daily routines. This includes practicing mindfulness on the bus on the way to school, at the dinner table, or prior to doing their homework, cleaning their teeth, packing their school bag and so on.

4.1. Methodological Considerations and Future Research

This study has a number of factors that might limit the generalizability of the results. First, the sample size was small which results in less precise estimates of the population means. A larger sample would increase the precision of these estimates and increase the representativeness of the population (upper primary school children and their parents).

Second, the study used a cross-sectional design with correlational data that precludes causal inferences. Namely, we cannot conclude whether mindful parents foster mindful children, whether mindful children foster mindful parents, or whether a third factor (e.g., personality) connects these variables. Third, the community sample of children was recruited from a stress management workshop. If parents enrolled their children in this workshop because their children were highly stressed, these results might not generalize to children with lower stress levels. However, the mean scores on the DASS were similar to another community sample of young people collected in another Australian sample (Patrick et al., 2010) , and were at the mid-point on the DASS survey, which suggests that this is not a strong methodological flaw.

In addition, the study may have suffered from sampling bias given that there is likely to be a self-selection effect of the types of parents and children who sign up for a stress management workshop. For example, the workshop may have attracted children and parents who already had a good relationship and were motivated to build further positive aspects. Alternatively, the workshop may have attracted child-parent pairs who were stressed and struggling with their relationship. If so, this would limit generalizability to parents and children whose relationship are not at these two extremes. The sample also had a higher proportion of mothers (72%) which may limit generalizability to fathers. Future researchers could investigate whether parent gender moderates the relations between parent mindfulness, child mindfulness, and childhood stress.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the study also had a number of strengths including the collection of data from multiple sources (i.e., parents and children) which counters the limitation of common source bias. Finally, this study was the first to examine the effects of mindful parenting on stress in a community sample of children. To date, mindful parenting research has predominantly focused on effects in clinical populations. More research is needed to test the effects of mindfulness in families that function within the normal range because children in the general population still experience stress (American Psychological Association, 2010; Bernard et al., 2007) and could benefit from learning stress management techniques (e.g., mindfulness) and by being surrounded by people (e.g., mindful parents) who can help them alleviate their stress.

5. Conclusion

In order to best understand the causes and buffers of childhood stress, researchers need to consider both intrapersonal and interpersonal influences (Bedin & Sarriera, 2015) . Using a dyadic approach, the current study considered the role of a child's own capacity for mindfulness (e.g., an intrapersonal aspect) as well as the role of one parent's levels of mindfulness (e.g., an interpersonal aspect). Children who were more mindful or who had a more mindful parent reported lower levels of stress suggesting that research into how to promote mindfulness in families is a promising area for further exploration.

NOTES

¹Three other studies were found on mindful parenting. But these studies did not measure child outcomes and focused only on the effects of the program for the parents ( Dawe & Harnett, 2007; Vieten, & Astin, 2008; Williams & Wahler, 2010 ).

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The Relationship between Child Stress, Child Mindfulness and Parent Mindfulness

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The current study tested the degree to which mindfulness in parents was directly and indirectly related to stress levels in children. A community sample of 68 parent-child dyads completed self-report surveys (Children: Mage = 10.70, SD = 2.6; 52% female, 48% male; Parents: Mage = 42.70, SD = 9.6; 72% female, 28% male).

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Article by Professional Lea Waters on Mindfulness in the classroom

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Article by Professional Lea Waters on Mindfulness in the classroom

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In our warp-speed world, stillness is a rare experience.

Parents are working longer hours and children's lives are fully timetabled. Being "busy" has become the new social currency. It carries status. People marvel at those who are busy. The greeting "hello" has been replaced with the question "keeping busy?" It seems if you're not busy, you're not important.

Our addiction to being busy is having a detrimental impact on the well-being of children and teenagers. One in four young Australians experience symptoms of mental illness and mental illness accounts for over 50% of ill-health statistics in 15-25 year olds. Children have forgotten how to be still. Their hearts, minds and bodies are always racing. What would happen if we taught stillness in schools and how do we go about doing this?

Meditation education is proving to be an effective way to teach stillness in schools and is having a real and positive impact on student learning and well-being. The act of slowing down provides students with the opportunity to observe and understand how they think and feel. This enriches traditional academic education by showing students how they think and not just what to think.

We need to slow down: Professor Lea Waters. Picture: University of Melbourne

Meditation is on the rise with schools bringing it into classes, sports fields, exam preparation, choir, school drama productions, school camps and academic learning.

Meditation is the deliberate act of regulating our attention through observing our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations.

It can conjure images of a yogi sitting in the lotus position chanting, but there are a wide variety of secular meditation practices that teach students how to focus their attention.

Self-observation exercises can be as simple as sitting, walking, eating, listening and learning with full attention.

Mindfulness-meditation is one for the more popular practices being taught at schools and involves a three-step mental process where students are asked to 1) focus their attention on a particular object (e.g., their own breathing), 2) notice when their attention has wandered away from the object and 3) bring their attention back to the attentional object.

Students engage in this practice with a stance of non-judgment and open curiosity which allows them to identify patterns in their thoughts and feelings, leading to a clearer mind and a more peaceful heart.

Groundbreaking research on meditation in schools is bringing together the three fields of psychology, education and neuroscience.

I led a team of researchers at the University of Melbourne who recently conducted a meta-review of meditation education that included 15 studies combining almost 1800 students from Australia, Canada, India, United Kingdom, United States, and Taiwan.

The results showed that meditation is beneficial in the majority of cases and led to higher optimism, positive emotion, self-concept, self-care and self-acceptance as well as reduced anxiety, stress, and depression in students.

Meditation was also associated with faster information processing, greater attentional focus, working memory, creativity and cognitive flexibility.

The meditation programs that were the most effective were those that encouraged regular practice, those that went for a term or longer and those that were delivered by teachers (as compared to an external meditation instructor).

The meta-review found a strong case for infusing meditating into the culture of schools and making it a core part of teacher training. Schools can investigate the many youth-meditation programs that have been developed in countries such as Australia (Mindcapsules), Canada (Mindful Education), India (The Alice Project), Israel (The Mindfulness Language), United Kingdom (Mindfulness in Schools Project, DotB), and United States of America (Mindful Schools, MindUp, Learning to Breathe).

The idea of learning being supported by stillness and focused attention is an attractive and practical prospect for education and it is no surprise that meditation education is on the rise as a way to care for both the minds and hearts of our students and to provide some much needed down-time in a young person's day.

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Professor Lea WatersGerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology, Director of the Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne

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Imagine if we taught stillness in classrooms

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In our warp-speed world, stillness is a rare experience. Parents are working longer hours and children's lives are fully timetabled. Being "busy" has become the new social currency. It carries status. People marvel at those who are busy. The greeting "hello" has been replaced with the question "keeping busy?"

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Great resources and books for teachers and parents

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Great resources and books for teachers and parents

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Kids book therapy

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Kids Book Therapy was established by Belinda Dan, an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, who is also a qualified teacher, and Mum to two children.

She has worked in both primary and secondary schools as a psychologist for more than 6 years, and now works in private practice with toddlers through to young adults, and their families.

As an avid book reader herself, she loves finding new books and resources, and developing activities to further assist children with their social and emotional skills

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Kids Book Therapy was established by Belinda Dan, an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, who is also a qualified teacher, and Mum to two children. She has worked in both primary and secondary schools as a psychologist for more than 6 years, and now works in private practice with toddlers through to young adults, and their families.

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Mindfulness: How to Call Off the Emotional Attack Dogs | Paul Ekman | Big Think

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When it comes to children’s development, parents should worry less about kids’ screen time—and more about their own.

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CBS Local - For many, smartphones have become more important to their daily lives than their own keys or wallet. A new study on how the cellphone obsession is affecting parents claims that smartphones are preventing mothers and fathers from connecting with their children.
The Details:
READ MORE: Advocates Working To Document Which New York City Glass Buildings Pose Threats To Unsuspecting Birds

A study claims smartphones distract parents from connecting with their kids

Nearly 500 parents were studied to see how smartphones interfered with their ability to pay attention to their children

Parents using smartphones reported feeling less attentive and disconnected in social settings

Kostadin Kushlev from the University of Virginia says her experiments on how smartphone use affects parenting shows a clear disconnect when the adults are preoccupied with their phone. "As enticing and useful as they might be, smartphones can make spending time with your children feel less meaningful than it would otherwise be," the psychology researcher told PsyPost.

Kushlev and Elizabeth Dunn from the University of British Columbia observed 200 parents and their children during a trip to a Canadian museum. Parents who were asked to use their smartphones as much as possible during the trip reported feeling less attentive and socially connected at the museum.

READ MORE: Duracell, American Academy Of Pediatrics Launch Campaign Warning Parents About Danger Of Lithium Batteries

The researchers also studied the daily diaries of 292 parents who were asked to record their smartphone usage for a week. The parents reportedly admitted to feeling less connected with their children while using a mobile device and believed it undermined the attention they gave their kids.

"We found much larger negative effects in the context of a fun experience-spending time with your children at a science museum-than in parents' daily life," Kushlev added.

MORE NEWS: AIDS Walk: Combination Of Drugs Has Turned Deadly Disease Into Treatable, Chronic Condition

The study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, added that there was a connection between how fun a certain activity with their children was and how tempted the parents were to go back to their phones. The more "rewarding" the outside environment was, the more likely parents were to keep their smartphone in their pocket.

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Smartphones Distract Parents From Connecting With Kids, Study Says

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CBS Local - For many, smartphones have become more important to their daily lives than their own keys or wallet. A new study on how the cellphone obsession is affecting parents claims that smartphones are preventing mothers and fathers from connecting with their children.

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Fantastic video on harmful effects on screen time

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Fantastic video on harmful effects on screen time

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Victoria Dunckley, MD talks about RESET YOUR CHILD'S BRAIN

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A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills
by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time

Do you have a child struggling with emotional, learning, sensory, or behavioral issues that are so disruptive you're pulling your hair out? Does the littlest thing set them off? Does your child seem "wired and tired"-that is, agitated but exhausted at the same time? Are you trying different treatments and strategies but nothing's working?
What if one simple and free intervention provided dramatic improvement across a broad range symptoms- regardless of diagnosis? Would you be willing to try it for a month, even if it seemed inconvenient or "too hard" at first glance? (Spoiler alert: parents always say the program was much easier than they imagined it to be!)
This is precisely the scenario I present in my new book, Reset Your Child's Brain: A Four Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time. Increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, Tourette's, autism, depression and bipolar disorder. Other children have no formal diagnosis, yet seem out of control or stuck in terms of development. At the same time, more and more children are being prescribed "psych meds," requiring special education, or receiving speech or occupational therapy. Disability benefits for mental and neurological disorders now dwarf every other disability category. What's going on?
As you may have guessed, I firmly believe all of these trends are linked to the daily barrage of stimulating screen-time on the sensitive nervous system of growing children. But before you let any feelings of doubt or overwhelm deter you, read on. Understanding the scientific rationale first will help you be open to what I propose.

Page Contents:

Why Screen-time Wreaks Havoc on the Nervous System
Benefits of the Reset Program
Too Much Tech in the Classroom
Testimonials and Praise for Reset Your Child's Brain

Why Interactive Screen-time Wreaks Havoc on the Nervous System
Because electronic screen media is unnaturally intense in terms of sensory, cognitive, and psychological input-designed to keep the user engaged-it tends to overstimulate nervous system. The brain interprets all this stimulating input as a form of stress. This in turn triggers fight-or-flight reactions and a high state of arousal, making it difficult to wind down and sleep deeply.
Each time a child picks up a screen device, not one but many changes occur in the brain that lead to overstimulation and hyperarousal. Reward pathways are strongly activated which eventually become desensitized. Large amounts of dopamine are released. Blue-toned light (inherent to screens) desynchonizes the body clock and suppresses melatonin, the sleep signal. Vivid colors and rapid changes in movement or page loads overwhelm the visual system. Enormous amounts of information are taken in and processed, draining mental reserves and fracturing attention. Media multi-tasking and interactivity raise arousal and stress levels. Manmade radiation from both the device and from wireless communications perturb brain waves.

Over time, these changes lead to chronic stress, resulting in blood flow shifting from the more developed part of the brain (frontal lobe) to the more primitive parts of the brain. Because the frontal lobe governs emotional regulation, attention, creativity, and social behavior, any of these areas can become impaired. Chronic stress also raises cortisol levels, which complicates frontal lobe functioning even further. High cortisol impairs the hippocampus (needed for memory), disturbs sleep, and eventually causes atrophy (shrinkage) of the brain. (It also causes weight gain and high blood sugar.)

When the changes become significant enough to impact frontal lobe functioning-or in other words how the child feels, thinks, behaves, or socializes-on a day-to-day basis, this is what I call Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS).

Because of the impact on the frontal lobe and other parts of the brain and body, Electronic Screen Syndrome can mimic or exacerbate virtually any psychiatric disorder. This phenomenon has lead to rampant misdiagnosis, inappropriate use of medication, and misuse of mental health and education resources. Medications, in turn, often have their own host of both short and long term side effects. Children who are aggressive are often medicated, because of safety issues. Children with attention issues are also often medicated, because they're failing in school. You can see how misdiagnosis is not a road you want to go down with your child! Sometimes medications are needed and helpful, but should always be minimized.

Contrary to popular belief, these dysregulating effects are much more potent with interactive screen-time, or the kind inherent to activities like gaming, internet use, texting, social media, iPad use, and so on. As such, even so-called "educational" screen-time causes overstimulation, which is a major reason why so many kids are having problems; parents mistakenly believe that educational video games and apps are harmless. And once the nervous system is "revved up," that state tends to self-perpetuate. Thus, simply moderating screen use often fails.

You can see that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding screen-time. The confusion occurs because various powerful industries have "skin in the game" and constantly reinforce these false beliefs, so we must educate ourselves. To do so, we must look at not just the research (in part because a lot of the research is produced by the industries themselves), but at what we know about how the brain works and what it needs to be healthy, what it needs to develop properly.
Over the past decade, I've prescribed the Reset Program-a strict and extended "electronic fast"-for more than 500 children, teens, and young adults who'd failed to respond to conventional treatment alone. Offered in my free email course and now in much greater detail here in this book, you'll learn the science behind of how electronics use causes the nervous system to malfunction, how that malfunction translates into different symptoms in different children, and why the Reset yields such powerful benefits in terms of mood, focus, behavior, and sleep. The book provides dozens of case studies and is packed with advice about support, school-related screen-time, protective measures, and house rules during and after the fast.
Whether your child has ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, learning difficulties, or no diagnosis at all but is struggling for seemingly no reason, this program can help your child get back on track.
Benefits of the Reset Program:

Physiological benefits:

Resynchronizes the body clock

Normalizes hormones, including stress hormones, growth hormone, and melatonin (the sleep signal)

Redirects blood flow from primitive to more developed areas of the brain (e.g. the frontal lobe)

Enhances deep, restorative sleep

Rebalances brain chemistry, including dopamine

Reduces electrical '"excitability" of brain cells

Relieves overstimulated reward (addiction) and sensory pathways

Symptom and functional benefits:

Strengthens mood regulation and stress tolerance

Improves executive function (focus, organization, following directions)

Establishes baseline for screentime tolerability

Increases capacity for eye contact, reciprocal conversation, and empathy

Allows other treatments to work as they should

Clarifies diagnosis for mental, physical, behavioral, and learning issues

Decreases overall stress, arguing and constant negotiating in the home

These are just some of the benefits. Click the video below to hear more about the impact of screen-time:

Ready to buy or want to read inside the book? Click on your favorite retailer below:

Too Much Tech in the Classroom
Did you know that light-at-night from using the computer for homework is bad for kids' health? That it disrupts the body clock and is associated with depression and even suicidality? That WiFi may disrupt the blood-brain barrier in children with vulnerabilities-particularly those with autism? That introducing computers into schools is associated with lower reading and math scores?
What's more, research suggests that taking notes on paper is superior to laptop notetaking in terms of recall and exam performance, that children take longer to learn something from a screen, and that reading from screens impairs literacy development, comprehension, speed, and "deep reading" (linking material to what's already known). Combine this with the fact that screen-time fractures attention, depletes mental reserves, and is often associated with brain-draining media multi-tasking and less movement, and the argument for restricting screens for children and teens becomes quite robust. These are but a few of the concerns stemming from the growing trend of screen-based learning and homework.

Although Reset Your Child's Brain contains an entire chapter on issues related to school, I want to provide readers with printable Fact Sheets, templates for accommodations request, and research summaries for particular issues (e.g. screen-time and attention). This content is still being created, so please sign up for updates. I also welcome suggestions and feedback for what worked when requesting such accomodations... and what didn't!

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Do you have a child struggling with emotional, learning, sensory, or behavioral issues that are so disruptive you're pulling your hair out? Does the littlest thing set them off? Does your child seem "wired and tired"-that is, agitated but exhausted at the same time? Are you trying different treatments and strategies but nothing's working?