‘In the moment’: Cummins child care center works on mindfulness

When kids initially returned to the Cummins Child Development Center following a COVID-19 hiatus, something was different, and it wasn’t just the protocols. It was social and emotional development, said Global Director Victoria Baker.

“Just the breakdown and the meltdowns that they were having,” she said. “Children pulling out their hair, bald spots, just not being able to regulate their emotions or just self-regulate period. We knew we needed to do something.”

In response to this need, the center created a “mindfulness studio” to help in areas such as self-regulation and concentration. The daily schedule for all age groups now includes a 30-minute mindfulness class, said Baker. These classes feature a variety of activities, including meditation, concentration, yoga, breathing exercises, reading aloud and calming exercises.

According to Baker, these sessions are “all about being in the moment.”

“We have such diversity, here, at the center,” she said. “Our goal is to make sure that just for 30 minutes every day, we’re in the same place. We’re all the same. No matter what, our thoughts are still. We’re calm. All of that, in one moment, in that 30 minutes of the day. So that’s what we’re trying to promote by creating the mindful studio. Now, we do mindfulness inside the classroom, but then this is extra.”

Baker and Kathy Yeager, who is an outdoor learning specialist at the center, had already been certified in trauma-informed yoga instruction prior to the pandemic and used this training to help create the studio. Their contacts from that training were also helpful.

“It was that networking that really helped us design what was right for children and kept everything in mind in trauma, because the pandemic truly put us in a pandemic state,” said Baker. “Not only them, but with us as well.”

A common area at the center was “completely demolished” to make way for the studio, as were some classrooms, she said.

Kids enjoy the sessions, said staff — so much so that it can be a challenge to get them to return to the classroom once the sessions are completed.

Staff members also have their own mindfulness sessions and have benefited from the program. Assistant Director Alisha McKinley said it has led to self-reflection and help changed their perspective.

“To be able to give the kids something that they can turn to and something that they can even take home with them, as far as the breathing and the mindfulness and really looking at the outdoors and bringing the outdoors in — it changes your mindset as well,” she said. “Because even the kids are teaching us stuff.”

For instance, she said that practicing mindfulness has resulted in the kids having a greater respect for the environment — to the point where they’re careful of insects.

There was even an instance where a snake turned up while kids were writing in journals outside, said Baker. The kids’ response? “Walk away, Miss Vicky.”

“It’s cool to hear a 4-year-old say, ‘It’s OK, it’s their place,” she said. “And spiderwebs, they’re not afraid. They watch and they learn and they do observations. And they know that’s their home.”

Baker feels strongly about the benefits of practicing mindfulness and believes this should be more present in education, especially in early childhood care.

“They’re focusing a lot in the elementary and high school now, but we’re the foundation,” she said. “We’re the foundation for them to learn, so it sticks in their mind early on, and then it becomes a practice. And it’s natural for them, if we get them early.”