Awe and Wonder in Children's Mental Health
“Oh my goodness, ohhhhh, it’s so beautiful. Wow!”
“Look over there, the leaves, the colours are so red. Look this leave is so little and so red. Can I keep it?”
Ahhh, stop! look! The sun is going down over the trees, it’s so shiny. Everything looks so shiny. It’s so beautiful…”
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, the mud is squishy, listen….look! Over there, I think there’s a pond, wow….”
“When will we get there? This walk is long.”
I walked at the back, I was what we call the ‘sweeper’ of the group, trailing at the end to ensure our whole group, including the slower walkers and younger ones got out to Rocky and Mossy Place. I walked with one six-year-old, the rest of the group up ahead, as she pointed out, collected, and truly saw the wonders and beauty around her. I listened, (actively listened), as we walked, and responded at times:
“Wow, that is a very bright red colour on that leaf. I wonder why all the other leaves are now yellow and that one is still so red?”
“I think it’s very beautiful. yes.”
“I wonder what the others will think about the mud and pond, do you think they’ll want to play there, too?”
“Yes, I bet this walk feels long. Do you remember last week when we timed how long it actually took?”
What I was witnessing in this child, a child who had been through despairing losses in her short life, and who was in the thick of her grieving, was the feeling of awe and wonder in the natural world. Within the literature, awe is described as a distinct feeling in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world and our current frame of reference. Wonder is the sense of curiosity that stems from this state of awe, a feeling of being humbled and driven to experience and learn more. Why is awe and wonder so important, particularly for children’s mental health? Put simply, awe and wonder are good for us, necessary feelings and states of being that help us transcend our current state, an antidote to a hard world.
According to researchers Monroy & Keltner (2023), “Awe engages five processes—shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning—that benefit well-being.” In other words, awe is good for your brain and soothes an activated nervous system, helps us to connect to something greater than ourselves and our daily circumstances, connects us to others and the natural world around us, and gives us greater meaning in our lives. For children who are grieving, or struggling with mental health challenges, awe and wonder can be a balm, carrying us toward a future that feels different from the hardships and reality we are facing today.
When we got to Rocky and Mossy Place with our friends, I noticed that this child’s sense of awe and wonder continued to grow, expanded in her play, and started to infect the entire group. Today we brought materials to practice fire-building on small metal trays. As per usual, the group dispersed with a few children heading to their favourite areas: one child checked on her heart-shaped rock she found the last time we were there and wanted to share this rock with me; another child headed back towards the forts; and, another large group of children decided they were ready to get into fire-building, learning how to use the striker and small bits of tinder to start a fire, instead of a match. All session long, I watched and listened as the children gasped at the beauty around them, savoured the moments they were in, and tapped into the magic.
As the sun lowered through the trees and set on the horizon line where the cliff dropped to the farmer's field, we started to pack up, needing to get back before dark. Our final hurrah for the session was to hang our rope swing from a low, fallen, (but still strong), tree trunk and everyone had the chance to swing, shouting our gratitude to the forest as our session came to an end. It was an enchanting evening, that started with so many felt expressions of awe and wonder for the natural world around us. These feelings started with one child, but then extended to everyone, myself included, and helped to deepen our play and experiences on the land. A noteworthy fact, I've been carrying the remnants of awe and wonder in my pocket, all week long, and I wonder...if the children did too?
Reference:
Monroy, M., & Keltner, D. (2023). Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 18(2), 309–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221094856
0 comments