I am not as familiar with the benefits of meditation and mindfulness on child development compared to exercise, so I took great interest in Mr. Fontana’s book, and it certainly did not disappoint. In fact, when I was done reading, I have gone over my notes a number of times to totally comprehend the main talking points.

Right off the bat, we learn that meditation is NOT to stop thinking. Just the contrary, it is recognizing thoughts that stray us, and to attempt to reposition our thinking to a more relaxed and free state. The most helpful definition David mentions is meditation is the training of attention. He continues to mention how Buddhist monks view thought as the enemy. That’s pretty wild when you take a moment to step back and think about it, but certainly makes sense. Getting too ingrained about outside noise and worrying about things out of your control are the antithesis of happiness.

When Mr. Fontana talks about why meditation/mindfulness is so key in children, he makes a point to explain that children often are not able to express their feelings, they sit in silence. Coupled with how children experience pain, difficulty, job, and shame at a far greater degree than in adulthood, we should be open to considering solutions to help children handle and express these emotions, and meditation is certainly a wise investment. He then presents a number of extremely helpful tools for parents to consider if they want to introduce meditation at home, or potentially have a trained expert lead a classroom full of children interested.

In my professional experience working with adults, meditation has a stigma, often by men, which is hard to overcome. It’s easy to understand why women are twice as likely to meditate as men. Mr. Fontana talks about boundaries that need to be set, sessions must be judgment-free, and we have to realize that it will work for some children and not others, but that’s expected and natural! Finally, I really appreciated how he broke down the protocols and theories about meditating with different aged children, and how to best proceed.

Overall, certainly a fantastic read for anyone considering getting a child to start meditating, or just wants to learn more about the art.