EFT with babies and children
The more work I work with clients and the more work I do on myself, the more I understand that much about what we believe about ourselves and how react to situations often can come from events way back in our childhood. We can subconciously be reliving the pain of past incidents, reacting to certain people or situations with no real idea why and it becomes clear that what other people have said to us can be the basis for our own beliefs now and what can be holding us back from acheiving our goals.
Parents want what is best for there child and often feel helpless in the face of their childs fear, pain, distress, embarrasment etc. If there was a way to ensure that our children grew up healthy, happy, confident, educated and capable and that there was a way that we could help them cope with hurts and disappointments of todays world wouldn't that be something worth knowing about.
We can't protect our children from everything, even should we want to, but teaching them EFT is a gift that can help them through those tough times. And used as a parenting aid, it can help you guide your child towards being a strong adults.
Babies
When a baby is distressed, it's sometimes hard to figure out what's wrong. If you try all the obvious things like feeding and changing, or rocking the baby in your arms, and nothing seems to work, think of EFT.
First use it on yourself, if you're at your wits end: "Even though I don't know what my baby needs, I fully and deeply accept myself." or "Even though I'm feeling very frustrated that my baby won't stop crying....."
You can also try EFT directly for the baby. Tapping itself might be a bit rough for a young baby, so try Touch and Breathe instead. (Lightly touch the points while taking a deep breathe in and out.)
If your baby is sick and you have a reasonable idea what they're feeling, the words are easier to think of "Even though, I (baby's name) have a sore foot, I'm a good baby and Mummy loves me" otherwise use something more general "Even though, I (baby's name) am feeling distressed, I'm ...." Touch and hold each tapping point on the baby while you breathe in and out.
Toddlers
As your child gets older, you can tap directly on him or her, and make it into a game. Use age appropriate language for your self acceptance phrase (eg. I'm a good girl), or just tap repeatedly through the points with no setup, while he tells you the story of what happened, or she explains what she's feeling. (Complain and Tap)
School Age
Once a child spends part of the time at school or nursery, there will be things that happened during the day that you don't know about. A helpful after school or bedtime routine is for your child to tell you all about their day while you tap through the points. Even tapping during good stories is helpful, as there can be hidden downsides that you're clearing away. "I got 10/10 in the maths test" (the unspoken and maybe unaware thought is "My friend only got 2 and might get mad at me.")
As your child gets older, he or she will want to start tapping for themselves (all going well!) or may not want to tap at all. Guide them with appropriate language - "I'm a cool dude" might be a more comfortable self acceptance phrase - and give them space to decide for themselves when to tap.
You may also have children who are already older that you want to teach to tap. Here's an excellent article by Ann Adams who works with disturbed children.
Teenagers
These years are when children become themselves, and start to rebel no matter how good your relationship has been. But if they're comfortable with using EFT, it's an option that is always there for them. This is a time when you may need to use EFT a lot yourself, and hope that they remember EFT when it would be helpful.
This is a general overview on how to use EFT with children. As well as the articles linked to above, there are many more detailed articles on Gary Craigs website on a wide variety of children's topics. This section is a must-read for all parents.