What If Schools Taught Kids to Love Themselves First?

Evelyn Reed · 2026-09-09

What if the most important class your kid takes isn't math or science — but learning how to simply be with themselves? That's the radical idea behind Peace in Schools, a nonprofit bringing mindfulness training into regular school curriculum. I sat down with Executive Director Janice Martellucci to talk about why this matters more than ever, and what happens when you give kids the tools to meet themselves with kindness. ### It's Not About Fixing Kids Here's the thing that struck me most: this work isn't about fixing broken students. It's about uncovering something that's already there. "We're not trying to make kids into something they're not," Janice told me. "We're helping them remember their inherent wholeness." That reframe matters. Most school interventions start from a deficit mindset — what's wrong, what needs correcting. Mindfulness flips that. It assumes kids are already whole. They just need space to notice it. ### What Mindfulness in Schools Actually Looks Like This isn't about lighting candles or chanting. Peace in Schools uses intentional, evidence-based practices woven into the regular school day. Think: - A few minutes of breath awareness before a test - Short body scans to help students notice stress before it spirals - Simple practices for navigating conflict without shutting down - Tools teachers can use too, because they're stressed as well The goal isn't calm for calm's sake. It's giving kids a way to meet difficult emotions without being overwhelmed by them. That's a life skill. Arguably the life skill. ### The Ripple Effect Goes Further Than You'd Think When kids learn to pause before reacting, everything shifts. Classrooms get quieter. Conflicts defuse faster. Teachers report fewer blowups and more actual learning time. But Janice pointed to something deeper. "When a young person learns to love themselves," she said, "that doesn't stay in the classroom. It goes home. It goes into their relationships. It goes into how they move through the world for the rest of their lives." That's the far-reaching value here. You're not just teaching a coping skill. You're shaping how someone relates to their own humanity. ### Why This Feels Urgent Right Now Kids today are navigating more pressure, more comparison, and more uncertainty than any generation before them. Anxiety and depression rates among teens have climbed steadily. The old playbook — just push through — isn't working. Mindfulness offers something different. Not escape. Not toxic positivity. Just a way to be present with what's real, without falling apart. "We're equipping kids to meet and love themselves," Janice said. "That's it. That's the whole thing." ### The Question Worth Sitting With If we truly believed every child was already whole, how would we teach them differently? What would we stop doing? What would we start? Peace in Schools is answering that question one classroom at a time. And honestly? It makes me wonder what my own education might have looked like if someone had taught me to breathe before teaching me to perform. Maybe wholeness isn't something we achieve. Maybe it's something we remember. And maybe the best time to remember is when we're young enough to build a life around it.