Mindfulness Camp testimonial
Today was a really special day at mindfulness camp for so many reasons. One of the special moments was at the end of the day. One of the youngest kids, who was 3 years old, started a discussion with me about feelings. She has been coming to The Mindful Toolbox since before she was 2. She told me that sometimes her mom gets frustrated when she spills her coffee and she takes a deep breath to calm down. We talked about anger. She told me it’s not okay to hit people and when we feel angry we can take a deep breath and calm down. She said when you’re angry it doesn’t feel good in your head.
Some of the older kids chimed in. One girl said that it was hard to feel angry and the other kids agreed. This girl (who was in the very first The Mindful Toolbox preschool cohort 4.5 years ago) said that she sees the value of taking a time out so that adults can take a deep breath to calm down and so can the kid. Another girls said that she feels sad in time out. We discussed how we all are different and have different emotions that effect us differently.
A few minutes after this discussion one of the parents of the older girl who was in the first The Mindful Toolbox preschool cohort showed up. We talked about the talk that was just had with the kids about emotions. She shared that she believes her daughter is emotionally aware because she learned from The Mindful Toolbox before her toddler years that “she is not her emotions'“. She told me her daughter has always known tools to navigate life’s stressors because she has been practicing balloon breath since she was a baby. She has emotional intelligence.
That’s my mission. I want children to learn to find space from the emotion and the action. I want them to learn to feel without judgement and make supportive choices. I want them to find tools that help them process life’s stressors from a young age so they can make choices from a calm and centered place. I believe if kids learn this from a young age, we can one day have a world that knows peace.
