[yoz-y]

I don't think that children who have problems with happiness or well-being will be helped by teaching them mindfulness.

I was a lucky kid, but those around me who had problems had them because they were excluded from groups, got parents divorced, were bullied or were simply spoiled by their parents and were unhappy if anything didn't go their way. Telling them to be mindful is straight out of Voltaire's Candide.

[rsynnott]

The major application of mindfulness for which there is actually evidence is stress/anxiety reduction. This would obviously be useful for kids who are bullied and/or have bad home environments.

[icebraining]

News articles don't stop at the title. The classes involve more than just "telling them to be mindful".

[fiala__]

I'm no mental health expert but isn't mindfulness a proven method for improving one's mental health?

Schools can't fix dysfunctional families. All they can do is give kids some tools to cope with such challenges. Even if it doesn't help a particular child, why would it be wrong to at least try?