Is EFT a suitable treatment for children who are fearful, have emotional challenges or who are exhibiting behaviour difficulties?
Yes. Children usually respond very quickly to this method of treatment. Not only is this technique highly effective in releasing negative emotions and upset, but it is also fun and rewarding. Furthermore the results are often quick and easy to recognize.
Once the basic tapping protocol has been learned it is easy to apply and parents can easily help their children to tap away fears and upset as it arises. Children usually learn very quickly how to tap and focus on the particular worry or physical sensation that they feel in their body.
For example:
•That horrible boy that pushed me in the playground.
•Those butterflies in my tummy.
•I was scared hearing Mummy and Daddy shouting last night.
•I’m frightened that barking dog is going to jump over the fence and get me.
•I don’t like the dark; I can see faces in the curtains.
•I’m missing my Dad.
The benefits of treating children and teenagers with EFT
Our whole belief system starts forming in utero. Babies have a consciousness and are fully aware of being in the womb, being born and being a newborn. From our first preconscious and conscious thoughts we slowly start to make sense of our world and our place in it. Our sense of self worth, confidence and value is shaped by our childhood experiences.
If a mother has experienced a traumatic time whilst her child was in utero, if there was a difficult birth or if a child for whatever reason feels unloved, unwanted, rejected, criticised, unsupported and scared, it is possible to form negative self beliefs and fears based around these experiences.
By the time we get to adulthood we can often be carrying substantial emotional baggage which can negatively impact upon our future life, happiness and wellbeing.
Using EFT to help with Children's Issues
There is a direct correlation between the age of the child and the concentration span or the amount of time they can usefully apply the tapping and focusing procedure. For younger children, just a few minutes tapping can often bring anxiety levels down to zero. Usually, children make it quite apparent when they have had the benefit they need and are ready to move on. On the whole children seem to clear their worries and fears more quickly than adults.
Often children find it easier to draw how they feel rather than try to explain how they feel. I therefore use an EFT Picture Tapping Technique devised by Christine Sutton and Philip Davis which is excellent for helping children clear emotional upset.
For whatever reason, parenting that can't or doesn’t properly fulfil a child’s needs or unhappy experiences at nursery or school can have long term consequences on a child's physical health and emotional wellbeing.
By teaching children how to tap and release their negative feelings whenever they feel anxious, unhappy, upset and unfairly treated, we can positively impact family life and help prevent many of these negative feelings and self beliefs from persisting into adulthood.
EFT can be a very valuable tool when a child or teenager is having problems such as:
•finding it difficult to make friends
•is reluctant or refusing to go to school
•finding it difficult to complete homework
•exhibiting behaviour problems
•is behaving in an anti social way
If the mother or principle carer is having major problems, feeling unsupported, overwhelmed, is a victim of domestic violence or abuse, this will impact upon the child. By using EFT to help the principle carer(s), the child or teenager can often be helped in a profound but indirect way.
