Wilsons Creek Public School has joined the Kindness On Purpose movement, which aims to teach children and teenagers how to be kind to themselves and kind to others.
Founder Katrina Cavanough says, ‘Children and teenagers are experiencing higher rates of anxiety than ever before. Worries about school, friendships, being bullied and dealing with life events (parents fighting, separation/divorce, death and illness to name a few) are having a greater impact’.
Ms Cavanough says the movement is based on the latest neuroscience.
‘Children and teenagers are less able to “talk about their feelings and take steps to reach out and get help” when they are distressed, because they are operating from the primitive part of their brain.
‘They are in a state of fight, flight, freeze or submit.
‘To reach out and get help, to be able to use words to talk about their feelings, they need to be operating from the rational, thinking part of their brain. We need to help them get to that part of their brain, so they can talk about what is going on or take action (e.g. to call Kids HelpLine and tell someone they are not okay.)
Empathy benefits
‘Research tells us that students who have higher rates of empathy get better grades, have healthier relationships and have less anxiety. They just do better at life’.
Wilsons Creek Public School principal Kylie Martin added, ‘We are all excited and committed to Kindness On Purpose, and are looking forward to this practice becoming instinctive among us all’.
