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More PsychNotes: Mindfulness and Relaxation Methods
How We Might Stop Bullying: Kindness Curriculum for Preschoolers
by Monica A. Frank, PhD
When young children are specifically taught mindfulness and kindness, numerous benefits occur. A twelve-week mindfulness-based program with 24 lessons covering eight themes showed increased social competence and more sharing among preschoolers. Those with greater initial deficits had even more significant changes. Three months after the training, the children in the mindfulness group were rated higher in learning, social-emotional development, and overall health (Flook et al., 2015).
Many of the incidents of school or workplace violence have been perpetrated by those who were bullied and marginalized early in life. If we are able to stop bullying and increase kindness in early childhood, we may be able to reduce violence later in life.
The following themes were taught to the pre-schoolers using mindfulness training:
Theme One: Mindful Bodies and Planting Seeds of Kindness
Theme Two: I Feel Emotions on the Inside
Theme Three: How I Feel on the Inside Shows on the Outside
Theme Four: Taking Care of Strong Emotions on the Inside and Outside
Theme Five: Calming and Working Out Problems
Theme Six: Gratitude
Theme Seven: All People Depend Upon Each Other and the Earth
Theme Eight: Gratitude and Caring for Our World and Wrap Up
Flook, L., Goldberg, S.B., Pinger, L. and Davidson, R.J. (2015). Promoting Prosocial Behavior and Self-Regulatory Skills in Preschool Children Through a Mindfulness-Based Kindness Curriculum. Developmental Psychology, 51, 44–51. DOI: 10.1037/a0038256
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