Abstract
Programs and books to teach children and adults mindfulness have become popular. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and to not overly react or be overwhelmed by what is going on around us. There is an emerging body of research that indicates mindfulness can help children improve their abilities to pay attention, to calm down when they are upset, and to make better decisions. In short, it helps with emotional regulation and cognitive focus. Mindfulness training enhances attention and executive function (EF) by bringing awareness to an attentional object, whether it is one’s breathing, and external stimuli, thoughts, or emotions. It includes noticing when one’s mind has wandered from its object of attention and returning attention back to the chosen object (shifting/cognitive flexibility).
Staff at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison developed the Kindness Curriculum (KC) using creative activities, books, songs, and movement to communicate mindfulness concepts in a way that is understandable to 4- to 6-year-olds. The curriculum can be downloaded free from the Center for Healthy Minds website. The curriculum has 24 lessons, intended to be taught in 30-min sessions twice a week for 12 weeks. The units address seven themes:
Attention: Students learn that what they focus on is a choice. Through focusing attention on a variety of external sensations (the sound of a bell, the look of a stone) and internal sensations (feeling happy or sad), children learn they can direct their attention and maintain focus.
Breath and body: Students learn to use their breath to cultivate some peace and quiet while resting with a stuffed animal and listening to a song. They learn to attend to how they feel on the inside when they are listening, moving, and resting.
Caring: Children learn to think about how others are feeling and cultivate kindness through stories. They learn a mantra that is said and signed in lessons (May all I think, say, and do not hurt anyone and help everyone).
Depending on other people: Children learn that everyone supports and is supported by others. Students learn to see themselves as helpers and begin to develop gratitude for the kindness of others. Kids were encouraged to think about people who are helpful to them—sometimes those they may not know well, like the bus driver—and to reflect on the role these people play in their lives.
Emotions: Children learn to identify what emotions feel like and look like, and they identify how they feel. The teacher and students take turns pretending to be angry, sad, happy, or surprised; guessing which emotion was expressed; and talking about what that emotion feels like in the body. They also learn to work with emotions in conflicts by using Peace Wands, one with a heart and one with a star. The child with the heart wand speaks (“from the heart”); the other child (the “star listener”) listens and then repeats back what was said. Children use the wands to support the process of paying attention, expressing their feelings and building empathy. Children also learn that it is OK to be angry and how to calm down. They make Mind Jars (with glycerin, water, and glitter). Children can shake the Mind Jar when they are feeling upset or overexcited and watch those feelings and thoughts settle down just like the glitter in the Mind Jar.
Forgiveness: The children are taught that everyone makes mistakes. They learn how to forgive themselves and others.
Gratitude: Stories, songs, and activities help children recognize the kind acts that other people do for them. For example, they pretend to be various community workers like bus drivers and firefighters. Then, they talk about being thankful to those people for how they help us. They also learn how to show caring behaviors to animals and other people.
Most lessons include stories from children’s books, and many include songs. The lesson pages include links to Amazon, YouTube, or other websites where you can purchase the materials. To implement the curriculum, one will need the recommended books and music. In pursuing all the links, I discovered that a few of the books had become expensive or difficult to find. But I also discovered that many of the books could be watched/listened to on YouTube videos, and most of the songs were also available on YouTube.
The authors of the Kindness Curriculum have teamed with Sesame Street to produce several videos that address kindness. The videos can be found on YouTube under these titles:
Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo: Empathy Sesame Street: Romeo Santos and Elmo sing “Quiero Ser Tu Amigo” Sesame Street: K is for Kindness with Chris Jackson Sesame Street: Try a Little Kindness (with Tori Kelly) Sesame Street: “Elmo’s the Kindest Superhero” Song
Sesame Street conducted an informal survey, “K for Kindness,” examining the state of kindness in America. Seventy percent of parents surveyed often worry “the world is an unkind place for my child” and nearly 80% agreed with the statement that “it’s more important that my children are kind to others” than “academically successful.”
At the end of the KC program, children make alphabet bracelets to wear, to help them remember their KC ABCs. They string beads with the letters A through G to remind them of each component of the curriculum, then beads with a heart and a star to remind them of the peace wands, and then beads with their initials or letters of their names.
A Randomized Controlled Study of the Kindness Curriculum
Self-regulatory abilities are robust predictors of important outcomes across the lifespan, yet they are rarely taught explicitly in school. Using a randomized controlled design, researchers investigated the effects of the 12-week mindfulness-based KC delivered in a public school setting on executive function, self-regulation, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 68 preschool children in seven classrooms. Participants were randomly assigned by classroom to either the mindfulness-based “Kindness Curriculum” (KC) intervention or a wait-list control group. Participants were assessed in individual testing sessions before and after the training period. The intervention group received the 12-week KC. The curriculum was taught by experienced mindfulness instructors and was provided to children as part of their standard classroom instruction during regular school hours. Student training in the KC consisted of two 20- to 30-min lessons each week over a 12-week period, totaling approximately 10 hr of training.
Measures
Teacher-rated social competence (TSC)
Teacher’s ratings of their student’s social competence were obtained using items from the Teacher Social Competence Scale (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1995). The measure was comprised of two subscales: a Prosocial Behavior subscale (e.g., showing empathy and compassion for others’ feelings) and an Emotion Regulation subscale (e.g., stopping and calming down when excited or upset). Items were rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale with higher scores indicating greater social competence.
Sharing task
This task consisted of four separate trials in which children distributed stickers between themselves and a target recipient. The four target recipients included a most and least liked peer (identified by the participant) from their class, an unfamiliar child, and a child who was sick. In each of the four trials, children were presented with an envelope for themselves labeled “me” and an envelope with a picture of the designated target recipient. Children were given 10 stickers at the beginning of each trial and told they could keep as many as they would like for themselves and give as many as they would like to the other person. Scores were computed for each trial along with a total score average score that reflected the number of stickers put in the “me” envelope across all four trials.
Delay of gratification
The task included nine test trials requiring a choice between having a smaller reward “now” (one item) or a larger reward “later” (two, three, or five items). In the present study, rewards included food, crayons, and tokens (which could be exchanged for a variety of small toys). Scores were computed for all trials and each contingency representing the mean number of times the child chose the delay condition.
Dimensional change card sort task (DCCS)
A computerized version of the DCCS task was used to assess cognitive flexibility, a core aspect of executive function. The task requires participants to sort test cards first by one dimension (e.g., shape) and then sort the same cards by a second dimension (e.g., color).
Flanker task
A computerized flanker task was used to measure inhibitory control. In this task, participants were presented with a row of five stimuli (either fish or arrows) and pressed one of two buttons indicating the direction the middle stimulus (either a fish or arrow) is pointing. During congruent trials, all the stimuli are pointing the same direction, while in the incongruent trials, the flanking stimuli are pointing the opposite direction from the middle stimulus. The Flanker task included three blocks: practice (four trials), fish (20 trials), and arrows (20 trials). Scoring includes the computation of a composite score that reflects equal contributions of accuracy and reaction time.
School grades
Children’s grades reflecting performance for the second half of the academic year were obtained from school records. Teachers assigned grades in five different domains using a 4-point scale with higher scores indicating the child met or exceeded expectations: Approaches to Learning, Cognition and General Knowledge, Health and Physical Development, Language Development and Communication, Social and Emotional Development.
Results
TSC: A significant (but small effect size) difference was found favoring the KC group for TSC total score, as well as for the Prosocial Behavior and Emotion Regulation subscales.
Sharing task: The control group kept significantly more of the stickers for themselves over time relative to the KC group.
Delay of gratification and DCCS task: A very small effect size favored the KC group on these tasks.
School grades: The KC group earned higher grades than the control group in Approaches to Learning, Health and Physical Development, and Social and Emotional Development. There were no differences between groups on Cognition and General Knowledge or Language Development and Communication. These differences were based on report card grades assigned 3 months after the end of the intervention.
Moderators of treatment effect: Children in the KC group with lower levels of social competence and executive functioning at baseline showed larger improvements in social competence relative to the control group.
To some degree, mindfulness is innate, but it can be cultivated. Greater mindfulness is associated with improved executive functions. The KC resulted in improved social skills and EF in typical children, particularly for those children who began with the lowest social and EF skills. Considering this, the program potentially may be beneficial to children with social communication deficits and language impairments who are known to have EF deficits.