Anxiety Support for children while learning; finding calm through mindfulness.
Anxiety in children is an issue that is tricky to capture accurately. Due to the sensitive nature of any research on children’s mental health, the UK government’s statistical data most likely falls far short of the real picture.
As one-to-one tutors, we know that we support children to find ways to cope with anxiety that haven’t been captured by research or studies. We also know that the pandemic has exacerbated previous problems, such as anxiety in children, alerting educators that children across the world desperately need our help.
Anxiety support can come in many forms, most commonly grounded in holistic approaches to learning.
This blog introduces the use of Mindfulness as part of the tapestry of solutions to unlocking your child’s academic potential while bringing them to a better understanding of who they are and how they learn.
Anxiety support through Mindfulness and the benefits on education and learning
Anxiety support is essential for our children after the years of COVID-19. Lockdown learning, uncertainty with assessment and missed social interaction have had an impact on our children that is difficult to fully comprehend. The importance of stopping and becoming aware of the present moment in order to slow down your thoughts is a perspective on how to take a hold of feelings of anxiety in any life situation. Indeed, Mindfulness for children whilst not a new addition to teaching is, perhaps, now more relevant than ever.
The last two years have seen time fly by whilst also creating the feeling that a day has lasted forever. The normal rhythm of time passing has been uneven and unsettling. Post pandemic, as our young learners try to find this pattern in life and school, they are facing challenges that they are not prepared for due to the disruption.
For example, if you consider the children currently in Reception and Year 1, they haven’t yet experienced a full school year of normality. Our 2022 Primary school leavers have been for SATs through lockdown teaching. Our 2022 GCSE students have been living with uncertainty in how they will be taught and how they will be tested throughout their GCSE studies and will be moving into their next phase of education without this experience to support them. We could make similar points about every year group across from birth to 18 years old. Each year group has particular focus points and challenges both academically, socially and emotionally; All of our children are coming through the unknown, stepping into what has previously been known to be normal – without the usual preparation time, experience or skills.
Anxiety in young people is present in every aspect of their lives and it is important we provide them with tools that they can use in any situation, not just in their learning.
By using Mindfulness, we show how to bring an awareness to the environment, our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations; the learners become able to pause for understanding. As the time and guidance to develop their emotional literacy skills are so vital for adulthood, this then enables them time to consider the context of the situation before deciding on a way forwards with calmness.
How does mindfulness help learning anxiety?
Anxiety support through Mindfulness for children has huge benefits in the learning journey to academic success.
The approach of mindfulness allows the mind to calm as the learner uses the techniques to stop and notice. This moment of connection and awareness of the present means that the learner can reach a more relaxed mindset for optimal learning.
A more relaxed learner means that the tutoring session will be more effective due to the increased retention of information, the ability to access prior learning and the efficient use of working memory.
Limitless Learning tutors work as a team to develop a mindfulness culture in the way we approach our sessions. Mindfulness brings a toolkit of techniques that the children can use to calm their minds and become ready to learn.
Anxious learners: Why do we need Mindfulness in school age children?
The pressures of educational achievement have grown over the decades. The need to perform is now something children of all ages experience in some form during their schooling. While this may seem a political statement, the research is growing to support this.
Traditionally in our society, those receiving top grades and top jobs are labelled as successful. Many educationalists have written and spoken passionately about the harm this causes to the education system and, more importantly, to the children in our care as a nation. Using Mindfulness is a step towards a solution to this huge issue facing generations of children.
Coping with Anxiety and Limitless Learning
The children and young people we work with inspire us with their resilience and adaptability every day.
We know that anxiety in learning is a challenging barrier to overcome however, with the correct coping strategies, this can be lessened over time. The holistic and reflective approach of our tutors takes the children to a place where they understand the process of anxiety in order to overcome it.
We approach our tutoring sessions as a collaborate process in which each child discovers their true potential for academic success. We use our understanding of mindfulness to support children and to develop these approaches in educators too.
To get in touch with Limitless Learning, click the contact page to find out how we can support your child on their learning journey with our engaging approaches to learning and open-minded understanding of each truly unique individual.
If you are looking for Worcester based support, follow the link to Onside for more information. However, our tutoring sessions reach across the UK through our online tutoring, so here are some links for our families beyond Worcestershire: to explore mindfulness and managing anxiety further:
Author Bio: Natasha Willings
Limitless Learning Founder and Educator
Even before I had learned to teach, I have always had a great enthusiasm for working with children.
Over the years, through the support of amazing mentors, I have been able to gain clarity on how to generate engagement of children by hooking them into their learning and bringing each subject to life, by linking with their passions and learning styles.
I believe that every child has the capacity to be able to flourish with the right support. I have also researched profusely to create learning tools packs that could help close the gap for those with SEND needs, inside and outside of the classroom.
By tutoring on a one to one basis, my love for teaching grew as I was able to see how each hour of learning could have an enormous impact on the overall child’s development, educationally and psychologically.
These experiences have had a huge impact in shaping me into the teacher that I am today and have helped to develop the concept of my holistic, unique tutoring business which encourages children to embrace their creative flair and to learn through different concepts, such as gaming, to ensure the movement of learning from the short term to everlasting.
contact us
07554 994 174
limitless_learning@outlook.com