Speaking of Stress…

In a recent TogetherFamily.ca article, Kristin van Ogden pointed out that one of the main differences between this generation and previous ones is our children’s awareness of stress – both in their own lives and in their parents’. Stress is one of the main reasons a Vancouver school, Renfrew Elementary, starts their kindergarteners’ days off with a few moments of “mindful breathing.” This helps them get calm, teaches them about managing stress and anxiety and is intertwined with some simple lessons about brain activity and how stress is caused. This is just one example of how emotional education and social development are being worked into early childhood education and elementary programs.

Children are also being taught about mediation (being given opportunities to find solutions to playground disputes), strength of character (being taught about self-motivation and cooperation) and about social responsibility (having opportunities to get involved in eco clubs and composting programs in higher grades).

These skills are taught indirectly in most early childhood education programs, through play and informal programming (usually) but once these children get to elementary school character and emotional education generally take a back seat.

I think it’s great to see character development taking a greater priority in elementary school programming – all that stuff they learn in daycare will continue to get reinforced not just sidetracked by academics. The problem is that these character-based programs are not mandatory and though they’re available, they require a teacher to head them up. Teachers are busy as it is so this is why you might not see a similar program being run at your school. Perhaps it’s time to make character development mandatory? Anyone involved in a character development program that has a different opinion?

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