Schools Are Now Teaching Kids — and Their Parents — How to Deal With Stress

By Rachel Pomerance Berl

. . . . .At the McLean School, many classes routinely start with a brief mindfulness practice. On a recent day, a teacher led a handful of sixth-grade boys in a visualization exercise. She asked them to picture a room painted a favorite color, then fill it with people who make them feel safe. One boy said he imagined his dad; another thought about the staff at Chipotle.

“Many of our students have anxiety or challenges focusing,” says Michael Saxenian, who initiated the program at the McLean School when he became head of school two years ago. “Mindfulness allows them to regain that focus.”. . . . .