Social deficits and lack of group feeling
Social skills were either non-existent or lost during the lockdown, is how club member Conny Seltmann from Jagemann describes the situation at the time. It was noticed that some of the children no longer had this group feeling, the class bond. The meeting managed to counteract this. The children experienced an “intensive time in the Bockscheune, which they also spent together in the afternoons, where they got to know each other, learned hobbies and strengths from each other,” the volunteer, who is a mother herself, remembers with joy.
Seltmann von Jagemann, who works as a manager in a health insurance company, also trained as a resilience trainer. From these experiences, she developed a mindfulness project for the local fourth graders. The club has been offering it for two years now.
At the center of the mindfulness project is the panda bear Paul. The cute plush bear looks unique and unusual with its black and pink eyes. Nevertheless, it is perfect because Paul the panda demonstrates: Everyone is good the way they are. This credo is supported by a lot of mindfulness exercises in the accompanying book.
Creative team guides the boys and girls
The stories in the book conveyed positive beliefs to the children, explains Seltmann von Jagemann. She enriched it with other elements. For example, the club works with a podcaster who works with the children to identify their strengths. This year, the boys and girls painted pictures with an artist – without instructions, entirely according to their own preferences and wishes. And the club also uses the expertise of an author who, together with the fourth graders, has written stories on the topic of bullying.
From year to year, a creative team around the organization’s organizers grows. The overarching goal is to make the children strong and give them back the social skills that were lost due to the corona pandemic.
Collect hearts throughout the day
A very simple exercise from the book to learn gratitude is collecting hearts. “In the morning you put three wooden hearts in your right trouser pocket,” explains Seltmann von Jagemann. Whenever you have a nice moment during the day, put a wooden heart in your other pocket. In the evening you can easily count the beautiful moments and remember them together with your parents.
Leonie, Marie, Elly and Alina were also able to benefit from the mindfulness project, as twelve-year-old Marie beams: “I was less bored and was able to concentrate a little more on the school subjects. It just showed me that I’m great and that I I can do everything and that I can be self-confident.”
Bockscheune as a meeting place for young and old
The mindfulness project for fourth graders starts again in March and runs until June. In addition, the club women around Conny Seltmann from Jagemann support all children and young people from Elterlein. The Bockscheune is the club’s home and the location of the weekly youth meeting. There are play options for young and old, craft tables, lots of books and board games. For its commitment, the “Frohe Kinder Elterlein” association received the “Erzgebürger” citizens’ award from the Erzgebirgskreis at the beginning of the month.