As a teacher, I found one thing that made a huge impact on my stress and the well-being of my students. Fidgets have been around for a while and, especially within the last decade, have seen an increase in mainstream popularity.
For some people, using a fidget seems like just another way for entire generations to goof off or take it easy. People will often challenge the use of fidgets with the reasoning that if a child uses a fidget, 'won't they want to just play with it all of the time"? There is so much more to the need and use of fidgets than kids having a toy or being spoiled.
So let's dive deeper into what a brain that requires a fidget is experiencing. When a brain is unfocused or disorganized due to stress, overwhelming sensory experiences, or dysregulated feelings, it starts trying ways to help it recenter. When our brain and body have unmet needs the more complex parts of the brain - where processing, planning, remembering, etc. occur - tend to shut down and the brain signals the more basic survival parts to prioritize feeling safe and secure.
One great way to feel safe and secure is to channel our feelings into an activity. This works for feelings of worry, helplessness, boredom, and more! These feelings often preoccupy a brain so much it has more difficulty with focus and becomes much more easily distracted. Once a brain has an outlet for feelings and input for recentering, it starts to feel more grounded and secure. A grounded and secure brain is much more available for a dive into thinking, reasoning, understanding, and many other thinking tasks that are required in school or work.
For a lot of people, using a fidget to keep their hands or body busy provides the input needed to get the more complex thinking tasks back as the primary focus.
Still unsure about this? Think about a time that you were bored, hungry, frustrated, or nervous. What was your body doing at the time? Perhaps you were tapping a foot; clicking a pen; looking around to find the food or something to keep your attention; or even suddenly aware of how fast you were breathing. These are all basic actions that occur in the more foundational parts of the brain. Imagine if you had a tool that was able to direct those actions so that your brain grounded itself quicker and more successfully. This would be a game-changer for moving past difficult-to-manage emotions so that more often, the brain is able to focus on more complex tasks like memory, organization, planning, flexibility, and any of the other Executive Functioning skills we use every day.
But what about kids who don’t need it, are they going to start depending on using a fidget or calming tool? People typically don’t use fidgets if they don’t need them. However, Kids, Teens, and Adults can really benefit from having a tool to focus or cope instead of behaving in a way that previously isolated them and worried others. When people have an outlet and tool for their emotions and thoughts, they are more likely to engage with others, focus on the tasks in front of them, and learn and use skills to achieve goals.
Here's my favorite part - as a Clergy, Staff, or Volunteer in your Church or Private School, you can channel your inner teacher and get creative about fidget options for the Children, Teens, or Adults you serve. There are some low-cost, low-effort ways to have fidgets available. Check out these ideas to get you started:
Identify items that you already use and invite people to use them as fidgets. For example, the song pamphlet, an outreach brochure, or a prayer card. Or even better prayer beads you use for praying, like a Rosary.
Provide everyday items for use as fidgets. These can be office supplies, such as pens in your ministry space that twist to open and close or even binder clips! A bracelet can be a fidget so maybe your school hands out spirit gear like those stretchy bracelets that have your school virtues listed.
Use up those extra craft supplies! Have too many pipe-cleaners and random beads that don't match? Put together a looped pipe-cleaner with beads inside. Put rubber bands around a pencil or inside of a keychain loop. Extra soft velcro with no match - attach it to something that someone can take with them to fidget in the chapel or the classroom.
Through experience, as well as lots of research, we've seen tools for focus and calming - like fidgets - make a huge impact on the overall mental wellness of people, especially people who find it difficult to focus on anything related to thinking, learning, or routines without them. As you add more intentional routines for using fidgets in your Church or School, hopefully you will see that impact, too. Let us know which are the favorite fidgets of people in your community or share ideas for fidgets you have made!