Eckhart Tolle argues that teaching children around four or five to observe their emotions rather than be consumed by them is crucial. Without this awareness, emotional patterns can intensify in adolescence into destructive hostility and self-hatred. Some teachers already bring this into classrooms through mindfulness practices.
The most vital thing that a child at an age of four or five needs to begin to be taught to observe his or her emotional field, rather than being always taken over by it. I have met quite a few teachers over the years who are already bringing that into their classrooms, but so far it's mostly on an individual basis. It's rare for it to become a part of the official curriculum, although there are some schools now also that teach mindfulness. I don't use that term because it implies implies that your mind is full, but they teach mindfulness. It requires teachers to help the children to become aware of their emotions, because the emotions can wreak havoc with a child's life, and sometimes they get amplified. In the teenage years, when many adolescents become very hostile, they are consumed by negative emotions, by self hatred, by hatred of others, by hatred of everything. Very destructive emotions.
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