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Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

nytimes.com

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Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#81

Post by mapcars »

weavie wrote: post #6

My daughters homework for each day this week is : 1. Talk about your feelings. 2. Do something you are good at. 3. Keep yourself hydrated. 4. Eat well. 5. Keep active in mind and body. 6. Take a break. 7. Stay connected to those you care about. 8. Ask for help. 9. Be proud of your very being. 10. Actively care for others. She has a chart she needs to tick once she has achieved each item. I get that they are all good…

I would argue that most of those things should come naturally, they should not be homework. Maybe on one day, you need less food, maybe another day your body needs rest. Being proud is beyond everything :D

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#82

Post by rsynnott »

FrankyHollywood wrote: post #27

I'm always puzzled with the fact that people search for surrogate solutions instead of pursuing the real issue. If you don't feel well there is so much you can do. Make serious effort in making friends, join a sports club or something else you like, solve long running conflicts with other people, don't over- or under achieve on a level which doesn't fit you (school/work), be proud with the things you accomplish inste…

There's a lot of evidence that mindfulness based stress reduction works, with somewhat weaker evidence for other applications of mindfulness. There's little evidence for self-help books or your 'just feel better' approach, though.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#83

Post by andyjohnson0 »

baybal2 wrote: post #57
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Children have no problems with happiness or well-being. This seems rather naive to me. Unhappiness is far from absent from the lives of many children and young people, and social media is making it worse. See yesterday's yougov survey results that indicate that "18% of young people in UK do not think life is worth living" [1]. This new curriculum subject is about helping children to understand and navigate their ow…

I spent most of my early childhood in a grimiest, gloomiest, dying city on Russian/Chinese border. From the age of 12 or so, I lived with one goal - get out of there. I had no time for stupid psychologising, nor could've imagined anybody living in glitzy cities of the West to be so dumb to waste time on that. There were times I almost worshipped that imaginary version of Western culture I had with it being all about…

> West had idleness as its second nature...

I'm sorry that you had to deal with those things as a child, but I'm not sure what you're saying here. That children in the west are soft due to insufficient adversity?

Mental health is not something that's "so dumb to waste time on". Maybe you are tough enough to take what life throws at you, or maybe you just think you are. But I've been around long enough to know that people can be broken-down by events in even an ordinary life - and children need kindness and support just as much as they need challenge and the opportunity to learn from mistakes.

If I've misunderstood then please feel free to explain more.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#84

Post by rsynnott »

fdggdfsvscvsd wrote: post #76
DanBC wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mental ill health is a leading cause of death worldwide. It leads to more years lost to disabiity than anything else. It's a significant cause of absence from work. If the cure was so fucking simple don't you think people would have tried it? The worst thing about HN is people who do not know what they're talking about chipping in with their facile half-witted suggestions for what they reckon.

But "practicing mindfulness" is suggesting the cure is easy (pretty sure the science is shaky, at least positive thinking isn't proven to work?). Actually working on issues might work better, and might also not be easy.

There's a good bit of evidence that MBSR works.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#85

Post by rsynnott »

mapcars wrote: post #2

>“Children will start to be introduced gradually to issues around mental health, well-being and happiness right from the start of primary school,” he added. Why wouldn't adults just solve their mental problems instead of introducing them to children? Children have no problems with happiness or well-being. It's us who should learn from them. big facepalm

> Children have no problems with happiness or well-being.

Either you had a fairly idyllic life as a child of (more likely) you are looking at the past through rose tinted glasses (many people do this). Kids have problems.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#86

Post by asimovfan »

bencollier49 wrote: post #33

My five year-old son now talks about his mind in the third person as a result of this. I'm having to retrain him with responsibility for his own actions. Lovely idea and all but having untrained people teaching psychological practices to reception-grade children seems rather foolhardy to me.

That's because you also talk about your mind in the third person and not aware of it. You are consistently talking to yourself in your mind throughout the entire day. (Try to stop it if you don't believe this is true and exactly this is what you are trying to stop with mindfulness)

Your child clearly understands the situation better. I recommend you take up mindfulness meditation as well.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#87

Post by rsynnott »

mapcars wrote: post #11
hvidgaard wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have it ever occurred to you that adults have mental problems because they didn't learn to manage it as children and young adults? Besides, depression and anxiety is surprisingly common among children.

>Besides, depression and anxiety is surprisingly common among children. Whom do you think they learned this from? Trees or cats?

Other kids? Childhood bullying is very, very common, and is a big driver of this sort of thing. Social media may have made this even worse, but it's always been a thing.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#88

Post by mapcars »

kitd wrote: post #20
mapcars wrote: post #2

>“Children will start to be introduced gradually to issues around mental health, well-being and happiness right from the start of primary school,” he added. Why wouldn't adults just solve their mental problems instead of introducing them to children? Children have no problems with happiness or well-being. It's us who should learn from them. big facepalm

I suggest you RTFA before facepalming. It is as much about being literate in the issues as it is about solving them.

By being literate I will only learn from other people's experience. But I can only truly rely on my own experience.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#89

Post by icebraining »

austincheney wrote: post #70
icebraining wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My teenage brother just lost his father to cancer. But that's surely just a first-world problem.

That is a tragic event. Healthy people bounce back from trauma after a healing period. Healthy people aren't the ones in need of institutional self-awareness. Conversely, do you have chronic income insecurity? Are you dodging bullets and bombs daily as some people do? Were you ever a victim of child slavery in a third-world nation? I suspect if you have internet access you probably have reliable shelter and don't str…

Yes, I was forced to leave my home and sleep on friend's houses multiple times during my childhood; once, we were forced to leave by threat of force in the evening, and spend three months living on a floor mattress in another city. For a couple of years, I often struggled to fall asleep due to fear, not just for me but also for my younger brother - my chest would compress at every loud noise. Randomly crying when alone (particularly in the shower) was common during that time.

But no, I was never dodging bullets. I lived in a Western country and the assailant used other weapons and wasn't part of a paramilitarized group, so I guess it doesn't count.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#90

Post by newsgremlin »

FrankyHollywood wrote: post #27

I'm always puzzled with the fact that people search for surrogate solutions instead of pursuing the real issue. If you don't feel well there is so much you can do. Make serious effort in making friends, join a sports club or something else you like, solve long running conflicts with other people, don't over- or under achieve on a level which doesn't fit you (school/work), be proud with the things you accomplish inste…

But those solutions are often the barrier that people are trying to overcome. Due to things like anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism etc. that may be mild forms which are undiagnosed which hinder your interactions with others and the way you perceive your very identity and inability to perceive how others see you. These are not always overt feelings that you feel per se, they can be subtle, in the background of your mind like a gnawing feeling that convinces you don't deserve those things you listed or the ideal scenario someone has in their head is unattainable. And ofcourse severe cases are much worse.

Mindfulness, and Meditation by association, are the ways to identify the reoccurring thoughts and feelings, learning how to live with (not deal with or cure) them is key.

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