The Decision to Replace Detention with Meditation in One School Proved to Be a Huge Success

Most people surely remember when they were acting up in school. We all did that. The teachers couldn’t work, and they would give us suspension or detention. What did we do then? Were we thinking about what we have done wrong?

Probably not. Most likely we were doing what all kids in suspension and detention do. Detention usually involves being bored, staring at walls, trying to talk with some other classmates, or doing something else.

We must agree that if the detention is made in order to make you think about your actions, it doesn’t work. But, it seems that schools nowadays have a different method which really works.

New, Innovative Method

One such school is Robert W. Coleman Elementary School. When students in this school act out, they don’t get detention they are offered mediation.

Are you confused? Yes, as a matter of fact, instead of sending kids to the principal’s office or punishing them, this school has a different solution. This solution is known by the name the Mindful Moment Room.

This room is different from the standard detention room. In fact, it is filled with decorations, plush purple pillows, and lamps.

Kids who misbehave are actually encouraged to go into this room, sit and go through different practices such as meditation and breathing, in order to help them re-center and calm down.

In addition, the kids are asked to discuss what happened. Scientifically, mindfulness and meditation are really interesting. Read on, to find out more.

What Is Mindful Meditation?

This meditation has been around for thousands of years. Now science has shown interest in its impacts on our bodies and minds.

But what is meditation? Meditation is not about becoming a new person, a better person, or a different person. Meditation is about training in awareness and obtaining a healthy sense of perspective.

In meditation, you aren’t trying to turn off your feelings or thoughts. What you are learning here is to observe your feelings and thoughts without any judgment.

Eventually, you will understand them and yourself. According to one study, mindful meditation might offer practicing soldiers a type of mental armor when it comes to disruptive emotions, and it can help improve memory as well.

Also, it is said that a mindful meditation might improve your attention and focus.

The Meditation Room in the School

The meditation room in the school was made as a partnership with Holistic Life Foundation. This is a local nonprofit which runs other programs too. This foundation for more than ten years has been offering the program Holistic Me.

In this program, children from pre-K through 5-grade practice mindfulness yoga and exercises. According to the coordinator at this school, Kirk Philips it is amazing to see little kids meditate in silence.

You wouldn’t think that they would do it, but they do.

More Ways to Encourage Kids

The meditation room known by the name Mindful Moment Room isn’t the only way this school encourages kids. As a matter of fact, this program also helps tutor and mentor children and last but not least, teaches kids about the environment.

Kids help build gardens, visit the nearby farms and clean up local parks. One great thing is that they teach the children to be co-teachers, and they let them run the yoga sessions.

Lots of Schools Are Part of This Revolution

You should know that this isn’t happening at one school. Many schools are actually trying this new method, and the great thing about it is that has positive results.

For instance, in the United Kindom, the Mindfulness in Schools Project is teaching how to create these programs.

Mindful School is is another nonprofit organization that is helping make similar programs in the US. In fact, the schools also have a benefit from these programs.

At the school above mentioned, there have been 0 suspensions last year and this year so far. At Patterson Park High School, attendance increased, and suspension rates dropped.

Are these remarkable numbers, thanks to the mindfulness practices? What do you think about this? Do you believe that meditation can help kids or do you believe in detention?

Source
Upworthy | David Wolfe