Completing the Circle: Supporting Child Emotion Regulation Through a Parent Mindfulness Program In Arizona's First "Mindful School District"

This mixed methods study explores the impact of parents learning to practicemindfulness on their emotion regulation, their interactions with children, and their children’s emotion regulation. The study was situated within the Balsz School District, where children often have difficulty regulating their emotions, leading to emotional, behavioral, relational, and learning challenges. Whether by exposure to community or domestic violence, refugee or homeless status, many families within the district have been exposed to multiple forms of trauma, often associated with emotional dysregulation. Parent and child emotion regulation are interdependent and interconnected. Relationships and interactions between parents and children begin in utero lay and neurobiological pathways that are the basis for the child’s emotions, behaviors, beliefs about themselves, relationships, and the world. Working with parents is often an entry point in helping children. Mindfulness promotes emotion regulation through changes to the structures and functions of the brain. One way these changes become visible is through alterations in behavior and communication in relationships with others. The mixed methods approach of this study utilized surveys, auto-ethnographic observation, and interviews. Results demonstrate that parents who learned to practice mindfulness strengthened their emotion regulation and feelings of connectedness to others. They became more aware of their feelings when interacting with their children, particularly in moments that required discipline. When children needed to be disciplined, parents were able to pause, reflect, and communicate with their children to promote internalized learning. This learning was carried forward in children and evidenced through positive changes in children’s emotion regulation. Overall, children were less worried, easier to soothe, and happier.