To Whom Much is Given Much is Expected

A friend recently voiced the concern that those who advocate teaching mindfulness to children are creating a market for something that does not yet exist. Despite good intentions, the implication was that we are jumping the gun. Why? because there is research on mindfulness with adults and teens but no one has yet looked at mindfulness and kids. It reminded me of advice my mother gave me when she was alive: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

So in summing up this year, I would like to articulate why we do what we do.

Scientists have laboratories with Petri dishes and magnetic imaging machines. Our laboratories are classrooms, family programs, clinics and shelters. With the intention first voiced by Hippocrates, "to help, or at least to do no harm" we roll up our sleeves, get down on the floor and work/play with children to adapt traditional mindfulness practices so that they are fun, secular and developmentally appropriate. Without a grassroots effort in these laboratories, scientists will be limited in what they can study in research laboratories.

InnerKids is hardly alone in this endeavor. There are thousands of teachers, health care professionals and parents who implement mindfulness practices with children every day. This year we and others will continue to build a forum for kids and adults from all over the world to talk about mindfulness and share their resources - not just via blogs & wikis - but via in­-person, live interactive audio/video conversations over the Internet.

I have been vocal in my belief that we are not ready to roll mindfulness curricula into school systems nationally. But in no way does this contradict my conviction that those whose lives have been informed by living mindfully can further enhance the meaning of that experience by passing it along to the next generation.

To whom much is given much is expected.

Susan Kaiser Greenland is Co-Founder of InnerKids a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. An evaluation of InnerKids programs was conducted last spring and found the classes to benefit children. In January, a team from UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), led by Dr. Sue Smalley, will conduct a pilot study to evaluate the work.