Research on contemplative practices (e.g., mindfulness or compassion training) is growing rapidly in the clinical, health and neuro-sciences, but almost none of this research takes an explicitly developmental life span perspective. At present, we know rather little about the naturalistic development of mindfulness or compassion in children and…

In this chapter, we argue that deeper insight into the social nature of self-development can be gained by adopting a dual focus on social relationships and meaning making. A key challenge for future scholarship will be to investigate the role of semiotic mediation in self-construction during the early years of life.