Source: Poliklinika za zaštitu djece i mladih Grada Zagreba
Here you can download a free brochure “Mindfulness – short exercises for children”, which are part of the mindfulness program for children, and can be applied independently. Exercises are especially useful in conditions of anxiety, accompanied by unpleasant feelings such as fear, anger, and sadness, which can occur during stressful situations such as those days we experience in the course of a coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the aftermath of the earthquake in Zagreb.
Children with significant behavioral and emotional changes need the evaluation and professional assistance of a professional.
We hope that these exercises will be useful for children, but also for adults who can help and read the exercises for children.
We wish you good moments and good fun with mindfulness.
The benefits of mindfulness for children
Mindfulness improves attention, concentration, memory, regulation of feelings and behavior, sleep, relationships with others, self-acceptance and self-esteem, and quality of life in children, which has been proven in numerous studies.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a technique aimed at developing attention and concentration, perception, recognition, acceptance, and better control of feelings and behavior, empathy and compassionate relationships. Mindfulness helps calm oneself, gather their thoughts and react more consciously in the stressful and challenging situations of life.
Mindfulness starts with focused attention, but it is more than focused attention … Mindfulness exercises can be directed towards the environment using our senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste) or our internal states (senses in the body, thoughts and feelings in the mind).
Mindfulness is an active process that involves focused attention, noticing, accepting, approaching all experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, at some point around and within.
Mindfulness means to stop, focus, be present and aware.
Mindfulness is the awareness of the current experience as it is.
Mindfulness is not an act of resignation or passivity.
Mindfulness gives you choices.
Mindfulness is wise action based on conscious decision, not automatic reaction.
Brochure prepared by: PhD. Vlatka Boričević Maršanić, MD, Ella Selak Bagarić, MA psych.
