Have you ever been working intensely on something and you reach your breaking point? You feel like your head’s going to explode or you’re in total overwhelm. That’s a good thing gone too far. We need frequent breaks to release the pressure building up inside of us, like we do with a pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
Our kids are no different. When they focus intently, the front of their brains is on overdrive, trying to make sense and encode what’s in front of them. After that kind of pressure, they need to release. I think of it like my homemade kombucha. During my first few months of making kombucha, I would second-ferment the bubbly drink in a tightly closed glass bottle for a few days to make it extra bubbly and delicious with flavored fruit. The first time I tried it, the glass bottle exploded all over my kitchen…and then… it happened again. I finally figured out that I needed to burp my bottles at least once a day. If I didn’t let the pressure out, it would literally explode. Our kids are the same way, they need to release the intensity of focus and that’s done through a brain break. A brain break is a 5-15 minute break to replenish the resources we’ve expended while focusing.
I’ve talked with you, recently, about the struggle phase of learning. It’s the part where our kids are trying to learn new things. It’s a lot of work, so they need to relax and let go before an inadvertent explosion. Release allows our kids to get their conscious mind off of their work and turn on the unconscious mind to take over information processing. The brain likes patterns and it’s often very happy to sort and analyze behind the scenes while our kids’ brains do something else. Help your child learn to watch for signals that a brain break is needed. Kids sometimes get antsy or fidgety, brains start to swim or ache or eyes start to cloud over. Help kids recognize these physical and mental signals and catch them before they meander on.
It seems that something mildly physical works the best for this kind of break. You don’t want your child to jump on a video game or the television because those activities keep the brain in active-mode. If we stay in active-mode, there’s no release and kids often feel more anxious and wound up.
Here are some ideas for brain breaks to get you started:
Drawing or doodling.
Playing a musical instrument, if you have some proficiency already. You don’t want your brain actively involved.
Going for a walk or kicking around a soccer ball
Taking a shower, swim or stretch
Building something with Lego or other modeling
A brain break isn’t meant to be exhausting in any way, but instead it’s meant to replenish spent resources.
