Mindfulness

There is lots of research to show that mindfulness can have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing and reduce stress. Lots of our schools use mindfulness to help pupils develop healthy habits of mind. It is the technique of noticing the present moment without judging anything, and helps to train your mind not to worry as much or allow negative thoughts to affect you. Mindfulness is something that anyone can learn and you don’t have to be spiritual or have any particular beliefs to do it.

Mind has some useful information about mindfulness here.

You can find out more about the mindfulness in schools here.

A tip for mindful thinking at home

A simple way of getting your child to focus on positive moments is to ask them each day:

– What was the BEST thing about today?
– What is the BEST thing you saw today?
– What is the KINDEST thing you did or said today?

Asking your child for details about their positive experiences, and how they felt at these moments, can be really helpful in getting them to fully reflect on these experiences. If they want to share the negative moments, let them know that you will listen to those too but first you want to focus on the positives. You can then refer back to these positive experiences before bedtime to end the day.