Blog

In my last post , I wrote about why I started teaching my kids to meditate. In this post, I’ll share how I taught them, and what I did when they lost interest. I want to start out by saying that I don’t think formal meditation is the best way to teach mindfulness to young children. Kids often do better with concrete, fun activities, especially when they can move their bodies. (I’ve shared over 100 different ways to teach mindfulness to children in my book, Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing...

Listening to a FREE Mindfulness and Meditation Summit presented by Sounds True and heard about a FREE curriculum from Richie Davidson, PHD at the Center for HealthyMinds at University of Wisconsin - Madison. Here is a description of the currilum: Various mindfulness programs have been developed for adults, but we and our colleagues at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison wanted to develop a curriculum for kids. Every school teaches math and reading, but what...

Here is an excellent 6 minute video about TEACHER WELL-BEING! This is a critical issue.

Creating Trauma-Informed Early Learning Environments Wednesday, February 21, 10 am to 11:30 am - FREE Lori Chelius and Regan Overholt will discuss a caregiver’s role in a trauma-informed strategy. They will address the harmful effects of exclusionary discipline practices on racial, ethnic, and gender disparities, and other children with high ACE scores. They will offer strategies on how to create a resilience building/trauma-informed early learning environment. Intended Audience : childcare...

The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...

I wanted to share an outline of my Yoga Lesson Plan that I do with my preschool class. It is easy and fun to do with any age group, especially on a rainy or cold day. If you are not familiar with yoga or yoga poses, there are millions of videos, tutorials, and charts that are available online. Preparation Move all furniture out of the way to create a large open space Implement some type of yoga mat or defined space for each child (carpet squares as yoga mats) Turn off or dim the lights Play...

Preschools have a single, all-important mission: getting kids ready to learn. Students should emerge knowing their letters, numbers, and shapes, as well as a certain level of emotional awareness. A new study identifies a uniquely effective way to impart this foundational knowledge: immersion in the arts. It reports low-income children who attended a Head Start program experienced a more robust rise in readiness if their program included daily music, dance, and visual arts classes. [For more...

This simple grounding exercise helps children feel stable, calm, and focused. Trees provide the perfect example of the importance of staying grounded to be strong. Grounding does for us what roots do for trees. When we are grounded, we feel strong and able to handle anything that comes our way, just like the roots of the trees hold them steady when the strong winds blow. Often times, simply being out in Nature, hugging a tree , or barefoot on the grass is enough to stabilize and calm our...

In The Emotional Life of the Toddler , the child-psychology and psychotherapy expert Alicia F. Lieberman details the dramatic triumphs and tribulations of kids ages 1 to 3. Some of her anecdotes make the most commonplace of experiences feel like they should be backed by a cinematic instrumental track. Take Lieberman’s example of what a toddler feels while walking across the living room: “If adults experienced and enacted the full range of feelings available to an average toddler in the...

This story is part of a series that looks at what makes the 2-year-old year so critical and what could be done to better support toddlers in America. The series was produced by The Hechinger Report and Columbia Journalism School’s Teacher Project , nonprofit news organizations focused on education coverage, in partnership with Slate Magazine . Sign up for our newsletter . Or view the whole series . In Wichita, Kansas, single mother Tiffany McNitt sometimes cries after dropping her kids, aged...

Did you know that yoga can reduce stress and heal the mind, body, and soul? Let me explain how yoga can prevent, treat, and heal Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) and toxic stress. In my personal experience as a Sonoma County preschool teacher, I noticed many children, parents, and teachers in our program had very high levels of stress and anxiety. We all live busy lives and tend to focus on the next activity instead of the one at hand. So I decided to try yoga. I started doing yoga with...

"It's really not survival of the fittest - it's survival of the nurtured." Donna Jackson Nakazawa Date: Tuesday, November 14th, 2017 Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Where: Here / Chats ( featured chat ) Hosted by: @Jane Stevens Topics to be Covered: Parenting with ACEs. What parents need to know. Affordable self-care for stressed and busy parents. Healing from ACEs & family wellness. How to Attend Online Chats: M embers of ACEs Connection : Go to Chats (top of page). Find...