The Brunswick Trust Health & Wellness

Ateddy bear has been enlisted to help teach the messages of Health & Wellness to Pre and Lower School boys.

Those pivotal moments between thought and action were the subject of Wellness Lessons this winter — boys considered how to pause, breathe, and consider their “best selves” before deciding how to respond to any given situation.

Joey Zannino visited classrooms at both schools to talk with the boys about what’s called the Meta Moment, a component of the RULER social-emotional learning approach developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland provided fodder for conversation — the book is about a bear who loves everything in nature, but comes across a man with an ax chopping down the most beautiful tree in the forest. Before attacking the man, the bear pauses and reflects on his best self as a lover of all things and decides to give the man a hug instead.

“Boys spent time thinking about people they admire and look up to,” Zannino said. “We spent time discussing what qualities they possessed that made them good role models — someone who does the right thing, makes good choices, and makes other people feel good. The boys then reflected on what types of words they would want other friends to use to describe them. Each boy then came up with a list of a few words that described his best self.’

A follow-up lesson featured Soda Pop Head by Julia Cook, which further facilitated discussion about making a shift from automatic, unhelpful responses to strategic, helpful responses, particularly when faced with an emotional situation.

“We talked about how you can plan out your behavior before entering a difficult situation, and that there is always time in between an action and your reaction,” Zannino said. “In that time, boys are encouraged to Sense (that something is happening in body, mind, or behavior), Pause (to avoid responding in an unhelpful manner — take a breath, take a walk), See (your “best self” respond to the situation), and Strategize (your solution).”

Sleep as a superpower was the focus of two Care for the Bear lessons at the Pre and Lower School led by Marcie Molloy M.D., health and wellness director, last month.

Boys in Pre-K through first grade learned about all the benefits of a good night’s sleep — like being a good friend and performing better in sports or in school, as well as the stages of sleep, how much sleep we need, how dreams help us process our experiences, and the importance of a nighttime routine and keeping technology out of the bedroom.

“They started to understand sleep as a superpower,” she said. “They took to the fact that their brain is active when they sleep, and it needs to be rested. It needs to be rejuvenated.”

Helping relay these sleepy lessons were Curious George and LeBron James, whose devotion to sleep has been widely recognized.

Care for the Bear is a new initiative that has seen boys receive their very own stuffed bear to help them digest some of the fundamental lessons of self-care. The overall goal is to use the bear to discuss a boy’s physical, emotional/psychological, spiritual, intellectual, and social needs — the five essential elements of health and wellness identified by Brunswick’s new and comprehensive schoolwide initiative, The Center for Wellness, Insight, Courage & Kindness.

Many fifth grade boys have now had lessons in CPR thanks to Middle School Nurse Ginny Martin, who teaches health classes on Wednesdays.

Martin meets with eight boys at a time for eight sessions throughout the year — this is the first year she has tried CPR lessons with some of her classes, as time has permitted.

“It was very well received,” she said. “The boys learned the fundamentals of CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.”

Anxiety as a force for good was the topic of two Upper School talks by celebrated psychologist and neuroscientist Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Ph.D. A Hunter College professor and prolific speaker on the topic of anxiety, Dennis-Tiwary spoke to both students continued on page 5