Learning This Simple Skill in Preschool Could Improve Your Life 20 Years Later, New Study Finds - VICE

Elder millennials learned the alphabet from Sesame Street and stranger danger from school assemblies. What most of us didn’t get was instruction on what to do when we were angry, overwhelmed, or about to completely lose our sh*t.

A group of Pennsylvania preschoolers had a different experience in the early 2000s, thanks to a program that involved pretending to be a turtle. When they got upset, they learned to stop, take a breath, and figure out what was bothering them. Teachers also used puppets and role-playing to teach kids how to make friends and settle arguments without resorting to biting. Parents were given handouts so they could practice at home, too.

Nearly 20 years later, those lessons were still making a difference. Penn State researchers followed up with the children, now 21 and 22, and found that those who participated in the program, called REDI, reported less depression, less loneliness, and fewer behavioral problems than people who attended regular Head Start classrooms. According to the study published in American Psychologist, they also reported more empathy and greater satisfaction with their lives.

There was a physical health connection, as well. Participants reported nearly two extra healthy days per month, according to Penn State. Nearly two extra healthy days a month sounds modest, but having a few more days when you feel good physically and mentally is something most adults would happily take.

The researchers also found that children who’d experienced more hardship growing up, including unstable home lives or exposure to violence, saw greater benefits in empathy and sociability. These were kids who had more to deal with than most, and learning how to handle their feelings seemed to help them years down the road.

And there’s other research pointing in the same direction. A separate Penn State study followed about 750 children from kindergarten to age 25. For every one-point increase in their social skills score at age five, they were twice as likely to earn a college degree and 46% more likely to have a full-time job.

There are some limitations here. The REDI researchers relied on young adults describing their own experiences, and everyone came from three Pennsylvania counties. Plus, the program taught language and reading skills alongside emotional ones, so we can’t give all the credit to the turtle.

For those of us who grew up being told to “walk it off” every time something went wrong, the idea of teaching four-year-olds how to handle their feelings is almost foreign. We got a Band-Aid and told to go back outside.