Relaxation in primary school

Abstract or Introduction

Adults often associate their childhood with serenity, freedom and looseness. But unfortunately, some children are already stressed at primary school age. Even very young children often feel strong tension because they sense that high expectations are placed on them and come under pressure. Many children have to deal with stress in their early childhood, caused for example by the divorce of their parents or by the situation of single parenthood. Another point could be the occupation of both parents. On the one hand, the parents have less time for their child and on the other hand, the child is often home alone for hours which causes stress. In addition, the worries of adults which can be conveyed by parents or the media are easily transferred to children, which leads to the fact that even young children are often preoccupied with war, murder, etc. in their thoughts. Kolb further claims that there is a growing impression, that children in the modern world are exposed to a constant stream of mass media images and consumer temptations, a confusion of stimuli that they can hardly understand. A growing number of children show great inner and outer restlessness up to permanent fidgetiness, nervousness and even open aggression. On top, school itself is becoming a growing burden for some children.

Most parents are not even aware of how their behavior can affect their own child but even abdominal pain, bedwetting or headaches can be manifestations of stress in children. Other symptoms might be insomnia, nausea and vomiting, or emotional reactions such as anger, resentment, fear, or anxiety.

Consequently, there is an increasing demand to create space for calming compensatory phases between the exhausting learning sections within the framework of school lessons. Kolb says, that a regular alternation between activity and rest, between effort and recovery, is a vital principle of all organismic systems. Therefore, it is a good idea to perform relaxation exercises as early as possible to do something good for the body as well as the mind. In this respect, the question arises whether and how relaxation can be used in primary school.