Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/relaxation-stress-and-self-efficacy-in-the-lives-of-young-children/5025414/
Relaxation is often discussed within the context of health and as an antidote to stress. This pairing of relaxation and stress tends to be an adult view, and may not be consistent with how children view relaxation. The adult stress-centric view reflects a medicalization of relaxation—that is, using relaxation as a treatment for stress. When this approach is applied to our work with young children, children become the passive recipients of the treatment. The adult assumes the role of expert in helping children combat stress. While this may be most noticeable in the enforcement of such routines and practices as quiet time and nap time, it can also take the form of yoga and mindfulness training. While none of these practices are necessarily wrong or inappropriate with young children, we may wish to re-think how we use these practices after learning more about children’s views and experiences of relaxation.
Related Research
A recent study (Cooke et al., 2020) investigated how young children attending an early child care program experience relaxation. Forty-six children (age 3-5) from six child care programs in Brisbane, Australia, participated in group interviews, during which they were asked about what it means to relax and what they did to relax. ...