Emotional First Aid For Children- EFT To The Rescue!

“Stick and stones can break my bones but words can REALLY hurt me.” Words do stick, as do children’s impressions and interpretations of these words and actions (or lack thereof). Children who are equipped with EFT, have at their disposal an emotional first aid kit for repairing and healing their emotional wounds when they occur. Sometimes in the acquisition of a “physical wound” is an underlying story or emotional trauma that can be repaired with EFT. Listening to and tapping on the event that caused the child’s physical wound can reveal and heal the emotional wounds gained in the process.

Aisha is an 8 year who scraped her knee at school after falling over. I was visiting with her and her mother when she started complaining about the pain in her knee. I asked her if she wanted to tap for her scraped knee to help it get better quicker. We started with

Even though I fell over and scraped my knee, I’m still a great kid

Then I asked her what had happened to get the scraped knee. This is when she launched into a story about how her and her best friend were racing to get to a teacher on the playground first. In the process Aisha fell over, while the other girl kept running, reaching the teacher first. I then asked her, how that made her feel and we consequently tapped on..

Even though it hurt that she didn’t stop to help me when I fell over….

Event though she doesn’t care about me because she kept running….

Even though she should’ve looked back to see if I was ok…

At the beginning of the tapping the hurt and disappointment she felt were at a 10. She was clearly upset about it and the image of the incident was vivid in her mind. The emotional trauma - the hurt and disappointed was much greater than the fact that she’d hurt her knee. After several rounds of tapping on all the aspects that upset her about the incident, she no longer felt the hurt and realized that her friend does care and maybe she hadn’t seen her fall over. This is a wonderful cognitive shift that occured spontaneously as happens often when EFT is applied to an emotional issue.

Was this a major incident? Perhaps not in the eyes of an adult but to Aisha this was a big deal that not only affected her friendship but dampened her otherwise high spirits. These incidences happen every day in our homes, in the schoolyard and at play. Who knows if she would have gone on to forget about it in time, but by tapping on it now while it was fresh, she had the chance to patch up and close this otherwise gaping emotional wound, which may have remained open and vulnerable for who knows how long. Instead she was able to genuinely, quickly and easily move on from the incident, restoring a balanced picture of the incident, herself and her friend.

I suggested to her that she use tapping as “First Aid” anytime she gets hurt by tapping on the event that caused the injury. She thought that was a great idea!!

In my opinion EFT is a life skill that no child should be without! "Tapping For Kids" is my first book and is inspired by a strong desire to put EFT into the hands of young people as a tool to help them overcome their fears, worries and everyday traumas as well as build their self-esteem. This book is an essential resource for any parent, educator, counselor or anyone interested in teaching children how to use EFT to manage their emotions and release everyday traumas.

Angie Muccillo BA EFT-ADV
Advanced EFT Practitioner
Melbourne, Australia

"Tapping For Kids" is published by DragonRising and will be available on their website from December 1st 2008.