Thirty years ago the internet was in its infancy—only available to those with high-security clearance. We relied on newspapers, television, and word of mouth to consume media. While the internet has given us a measure of comfortability and convenience, there is something to be said about information being too readily available—we have the world in our pocket, after all. Therefore, it’s important to take a moment to breathe and to connect with those who mean the most to us. At Peck, we do this through Kairos, a homework-free night set aside purposely three times a year. It provides us with an opportunity to move away from our screens and move towards connection with our friends and families.
“We are constantly being inundated by all of these different stimuli,” said Lower School Psychologist Ashley Tabor. “There have been countless studies on how bright, vivid, and fast-moving stimuli affect early childhood development. It affects mood stabilization and attention span.” Creating your sanctuary away from the noise gives you the room to take a breath.
It’s important for us to take a moment and reflect. To breathe. Our worlds are moving so quickly and as a result, it’s easy for little things to get lost. With work, school, homework, extracurriculars, and all other types of responsibilities,—we can forget that moments of peace, silence, and reflection are crucial to maintaining and bolstering one's mental health.
“Kairos is an opportunity to slow down,” Tabor notes. “Unfortunately, I think we live in a world that is so fast-paced, that we don’t have the opportunity to sit down as a family and take a breath.”
Let’s take a moment to think about this concept. Here are three ways you can reflect and reconnect in the spirit of Kairos the other 362 days of the year: