Many of us look towards mindfulness – a mediation technique – to help us deal with everyday stresses, often teaching our kids how to use it to benefit themselves.
However, a headmaster at one of the UK’s top fee-paying schools has said that it doesn’t help kids cope with the pressures of the real world, and David Lambon wants schools to equip pupils with values that will help them in life.
While many schools have rushed to embrace the technique to help pupils deal with things like being bullied or even get good grades, with evidence showing that it can help teens resist peer pressure, Mr Lambon doesn't agree.
“Mindfulness has its place and young people do have a lot of stress these days. They need to be very resilient,” Mr Lambon told the Sunday Telegraph.
“But we need to give our children a framework, a compass for life, something they have with them their entire life with helps them not to cope only with the pressures of being a teenager but that gives them a faith that will deeply rooted and will last them through their entire lives.”
Adding that mindfulness doesn’t help people find their personality or guide them through life, the headmaster said that kids need to be given coping strategies that they can rely on no matter what life throws at them.
“Gospel values will be with you for every situation in life whereas mindfulness is only when you have a difficulty as a teenager. Life isn’t just about being a teenager.”
Instead he believes bring kids to disadvantaged areas or doing voluntary work will give them a new perspective and help them cope with their anxieties differently.
“Sometimes it is only a matter of putting children in a slightly different context and then they can see that maybe their own situation is not as bad as they thought it was. This helps them engage in dialogue and conversation with people as well. This way they can develop more empathy with others as well.”
“I am not sure mindfulness is the only answer. There are alternatives.”
