When I first started using EFT privately, I used it exclusively on myself for about 1 year and a half on various issues (physical and emotional). But soon I introduced EFT to my own children.
When my six year old would fall and hurt his knees, I would gently tap under his collarbone to calm him down. I also got great results with EFT and earaches at night, when I would tap on my children in order to help them go to sleep despite a sore ear.
I then taught the tapping routine to my eldest son (8) and started working with him on other issues maybe a bit more demanding or tricky to deal with than a simple physical pain. Each night I would try and help with any of the day's events that might have negatively affected my children's day.
Sometimes I would tap on them directly; sometimes they would do it themselves.
Originally I used to tap the full basic recipe, but nowadays I use a shortcut which I call the "Monkey Procedure".
This procedure, derived from EFT, is just another of my Holistic Emotional Healing Techniques (HEHT).
Children tend to find it very funny and enjoy the tapping as if it were a game.
Sometimes, they would mention a particular problem themselves. They might feel unjustly treated compare to their siblings, or upset at the loss of a toy or of the family cat, etc.
I would also try and find out if they had any fear for the next day and try and fill their heads with some positive thoughts before they close their eyes.
Here are a few examples of the issues I have tapped with my own children.
Fear of the competition
The most recent success was with my 8 year old son. He had won the first price for drawing of his category at school and qualified to take part in a drawing competition at county level. I was obviously very proud of him. My eldest is mostly self-assured and is not really afraid of much. I asked him how he felt about going to the competition the next day. He said he was ok with no special worries. However, he then come back to me saying he wanted to tap about it as he was worried that we would not find the venue where the competition was to take place as "you don't even know how to get there" he said to me. So I started on that subject of not being able to find the place but soon I turned the tapping session in to a great "monkey" game and touched also on other aspects such as "not knowing what to draw about", "not being able to colour properly" and "not knowing what to expect", "what the other children will be like". I finished with a few positive affirmations: "doing his best and really enjoying drawing", "having great fun drawing about what he really likes" (Football), "really enjoying the competition no matter what happens and no matter what the result is" (he did not win).
The day of the competition, he looked quite relaxed, enthusiastic and confident. He never looked anxious at all, he was very glad and satisfied with his drawing, and I truly believe he thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the competition even though... he did not win anything. He had a great day!
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Teething problems with a 9 month old
When my youngest son was teething, he had terrible trouble with it, mostly at night....
I would gently tap on his face and hands while he would lie in the bed. I would only tap on the points the most accessible at the time and with the least disturbance to him, and he would then relax and have a great night sleep. While tapping, I would softly talk to him about his painful teeth and gums and try and reassure him. He would always then relax and have a great night simply ;-)
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Stopping my 7 year-old from sucking his thumb
Recently my husband grew increasingly annoyed at the fact that my 2nd child, who is now 7 years old, was still sucking his thumb. Personally, it did not bother me so much as I still see him as "my baby", but what started to irritate me (and my child) was my husband's reaction to this habit.
So I decided to sort out the problem once and for all. It took me a whole of 10 minutes of tapping one night when I was putting the lads in the bed. My son and I tapped on the following:
Although I don't want to give up sucking my thumb because I like it too much and it tastes lovely, I am a great kid anyway.
Although I love sucking my thumb and I just don't want to give it up because it is a great comfort to me, I know I am a cool dude anyway.
Although I will be lost if I cannot suck my thumb any more, I choose to relax and let it be easy to go without it no matter what.
We did about 3 full rounds of tapping on the above affirmations using the choice procedure.
And that was it... he never sucked his thumb again. At the time of this writing, this event was about 6 months ago and my son has not gone back to it (even when asleep). And my husband has stopped nagging him and the whole house is much happier! ;-)
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After 5 minutes tapping, my 7 year-old is no longer afraid of the dark
All my children have been or are, to some degree, afraid of the dark. It does not really bother me as I simply leave the light on when they go to bed till they are fast asleep and switch it off when I myself go to bed. However, it is sometimes problematic when one of them wakes up during the night and insists on keeping the light on as I myself cannot go back to sleep while the light is on... This happened twice one week with my second child. The second night I got annoyed and decided to sort it out with some tapping. So we tapped on:
Although I am afraid of the dark at night as there are monsters hiding in the dark and I cannot go to sleep, it's ok as I am a cool dude.
Although I cannot go to sleep when the light is off as I get afraid the monsters will attack me and eat me, it's ok as I am a great boy anyway.
Although I have to have the light on as I need to see during the night, I choose to relax and feel safe and have a great night sleep, with or without the light on.
We did about 3 full rounds of tapping on the above affirmations using the choice procedure.
I asked my son if it was ok to switch off the light and he said that was ok. So I did, and he went back to sleep without any further problem.
He has been able to fall asleep without the light ever since ;-) And it is no longer a problem if he wakes up in the dark during the night.
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