An introduction of new ways to help settle children's minds at schools, but most importantly to aid their psychological safety. After Covid-19, the world was impacted in many different ways, children were forced to spend 2 school years learning behind computers and miss developmental stages of their youth. Since the pandemic, more non-profit programs with sessions ranging from weeks to a year, focus on teaching children and teens at school on how to give their minds a mental break. There are many advertisements or announcements about help available for adults that need assistance with a mental health drawback such as therapy, yoga, or meditation. Unfortunately, children's state of mind after a world shutdown has not been of great focus. How can parents or educators know how to read a child's pressurized mind? Better yet, how can they help? Programs like Headspace, Worthy Beyond Purpose, and some elementary schools have stepped up to help teach children how to prioritize their mental health and recognize emotions such as stress and anxiety. Not only do they help recognize but introduce ways to control, manage, and release negative thoughts by introducing meditation and mindfulness. Although the meaning of these two can be confused as the same, they actually pivot to different goals. Mindfulness focuses more on allowing your mind to be present with the moment, and meditation focuses on teaching your mind and body how to find serenity. Research has found that children and teens have benefited from spending brief moments at school practicing meditation and mindfulness activities by conducting surveys and self-assessments as well as staff observations, however some research experts believe there needs to be a more scientific approach to help validate its effectiveness.

Connie Clot worthy, founder of Worthy Beyond Purpose, spends time with elementary students in California teaching them mindfulness practices. She asks questions about how they feel and teaches them to familiarize with brain regions such as the amygdala, which processes emotional functions and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating emotions. As she interacts with the children, she uses 2 stuffed animals, a bulldog and an owl to help middle childhood children understand how to apply this information with something familiar such as toys (p.1). Clot worthy helps children learn how to deal with stressors or anxious thoughts by applying meditation, and often thinks about an example the Dalai Lama mentioned on his belief that more violence could potentially be eliminated if every 8-year-old in the world was taught how to meditate. In some of the studies, low income early elementary schools were submitted into practicing these new methods for a couple of minutes and a few days a week. Teachers witnessed students were more at ease and rested by the end of their observation (p.2). At Valor Academy Elementary school in Los Angeles, California, assistant principal Talar Samuel Ian launched a similar program and states staff has noticed a behavioral change from the students. Instead of the anxious, vilified, and socially awkward interactions first viewed after their first post pandemic back to school, students were found to be more relaxed with a sense of belonging (p. 2-3). Although some researchers believe there needs to be a more scientific foundation to back up these new practices at school, Clot worthy is satisfied asking the students themselves what and how they feel from these resources, and to her selfless satisfaction the responses from a couple of 9-year-olds confirming the positive benefits from them are enough to continue with the programs at the schools (p.4).

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