Children are born with a natural propensity for empathy, cooperation and altruism. Education should support and facilitate the development of this predisposition.
If school teaches thinking skills, the ability to adapt to the environment, time management and discipline, it is equally important to teach children the means to become better human beings by giving them the ability to find self-confidence, fulfillment, kindness, love, balance and a meaningful life.
Childhood is the ideal time to introduce our children, the next generation, to the tools needed to move towards a more altruistic world.
Whatever angle one looks at meditation from – that of personal transformation, the development of altruistic love, or physical health – it emerges as an essential factor if one is to lead a balanced and meaningful life.
Matthieu Ricard
Tales to train the mind and develop altruism
In the children’s book Yupsi, the little dragon, Marie-Christine Champeaux-Cunin and Dominique Butet put the theoretical learning into practice through stories and propose short meditations adapted to the child’s daily life.
These short stories allow us to work on emotions or an attitude towards others. The little ones are invited to open their hearts and develop their benevolence. Thanks to the CD enclosed with the book, the child can choose which story he or she wishes to listen to.
“Through the stories, the child will be led to identify the emotions of the characters and then little by little he or she will be able to do this in his or her daily life, to tame his or her emotions and to read his or her “ inner weather”.
Dominique Butet
In the preface, written by Matthieu Ricard, you will find a look at the benefits of meditation through recent scientific studies.
An extract from the book
Examples of practices for young and old
In 2021, the Actions for Karuna movement brought together more than 80 solidarity project leaders to support an early childhood development program in Nepal. Everyone can organize their own solidarity initiative, as members of the association Émergence Éducation,demonstrate. Each day, from 24 to 30 May, Isabelle, Jennifer, Maîté, Malorie, Pascale, Valérie and Dominique guided a mindfulness practice for the little ones.
Autres ressources sur ce thème
- sitting still like a frog, Eline Snel (book)
