
Christopherus
Homeschool Resources
PO Box 231
Viroqua, WI 54665, USA
Tel: (608) 637-8031
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This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, May 2005
Here are a few things for parents to consider when their children are ill. It is based, in part, on what we do in our family, as well as on my study of anthroposophical ideas around health. The fact that my husband is a practicing homeopath has something to do with it too!
Rest, rest, rest - rest and sleep are the most important parts of the healing process. Too many parents say things like “I can’t get him to stay in bed” - well, you need to figure out how you can! Being up and about, even if it’s “only in the house” is no substitute for bed rest, especially if the child has or has had a fever. After the fever goes, the child should still be kept quiet for a day or two. Quiet, peace and bed rest are essential for the body to heal.
Have a box or a bag of interesting playthings put away for sick days. Fill it with Playdoh, buttons, wooden beads to string, an etch-a-sketch, pipe cleaners, beeswax, travel activity books, picture books... things that don’t get played with at other times.
Help being in bed be pleasant - perhaps make up a bed on the couch so the child doesn’t feel lonely. If your household is very busy it might be wiser to leave the child in her bedroom. Maybe one of the younger children can act as messenger, fetching drinks of water and books and requests for attention. Put some lavender essential oil on the pillow, keep lights dim and spend time reading aloud to the ill child.
Make sure the ill child drinks a lot, although some have a real aversion to this. See if there’s a preference for cold or hot drinks. Some children who refuse water or tea will drink lemonade or some sort of broth. Flush out the child’s system by ensuring he drinks enough.
No baths or showers for a sick child, especially if there’s an ear infection, sore throat or chest complaint. Get over this American obsession (those of you who are American!) with daily bathing - getting wet when you’re ill is not a good idea!
No TV, computer or videos for ill children. This may seem harsh because it may be “the only way” you can keep her still, but you’ll have to figure out something else. The nervous energy produced by children watching electronic media is not conducive to healing.
Here are a few homeopathic remedies for you to try. I suggest you use a 30c potency. Give one, wait 15 minutes and if there’s no change, either for better or worse, give another up to 4 doses in one hour. If nothing happens after that wait another hour and try something else. It’s an especially good sign if the child falls asleep after the remedy.
A fabulous remedy to have on hand is Oscillococcinum (made by Boiron): take it at the first signs of fluishness (once the illness takes hold it doesn’t usually work).
Don’t take Tiger’s balm or anything with camphor or tea-tree in it when using homeopathy. Such substances can make the remedies inert. Store your homeopathic remedies well away from these things.
Many children like herb teas with a bit of honey when they’re ill. Chamomile is good for sleeplessness though, if one drinks too much of it, it can produce the opposite effect; peppermint or fennel for sore tummies; valerian for headache (though I have yet to meet a child who will touch it!); echinacea for fever and sore throat; lemon balm (Melissa) is very soothing and has a pleasant taste.
If you can get it, Weleda, and possibly other anthroposophical pharmaceutical companies, make a wonderful preparation of Avena Sativa (oats). Put a few drops in water and give to anybody who is nervous, cranky or overexcited.
I could go on and on... I’ll stop here and just say that there are so many wonderful books available on herbalism, homeopathy and natural health it’s impossible to make any recommendations. I will say, though, that books on homeopathy by either Miranda Castro or Dana Ullman are very good.
Please remember, folks, that the above recommendations are just suggestions and are not a substitute for the care of a licensed medical practitioner!
Posted on July 03, 2005 at 06:00 PM in Health | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, May 2004
How do we regard illness in our families? Do we respond with an arsenal of medicines and potions, moving quickly to get rid of whatever it is that is making our child ill, or do we view illness as a time to take stock, to slow down and to trust the healing process?
I’m not saying don’t do anything when your child’s ill. What I am suggesting is that we each take a moment to scrutinize our attitude toward ill health and to ascertain whether we regard it as basically a negative thing or a positive thing. Is illness a failure of wellness, or is an opportunity for wellness to be enhanced, strengthened?
Once upon a time, children were expected to have a range of illnesses in the course of growing up and time was allowed for the healing process. One spoke of bed rest, of convalescence, of slowly regaining health. Of course, in days past, many children died during their early years - but let’s recognize that the majority of those deaths were in families stricken by poverty, overcrowding, poor nutrition and hygiene. And, of course, there were those children with conditions easily addressed nowadays, whether by conventional or alternative medicine, who were considered ‘incurable’ in earlier times.
My point is: that illness was regarded as a basic part of childhood and that there was a recognition that once health was regained, the child was stronger and healthier than he had been before he was ill. It is this point that I wish to focus on because I feel that it has been largely lost in our society.
Now, whether one thinks that vaccinations are all bad, all good, somewhere in between; and whether one stands on one side or the other on a similar spectrum with regard to antibiotics, the fact is that there is a tendency in modern pediatric medicine toward more vaccinations and increased use of antibiotics. Only in very, very recent years has mainstream medicine begun to reluctantly acknowledge the dangers of overuse of antibiotics. But no such disquiet regarding the every-increasing cocktail of vaccinations or the unknown result of vaccines plus antibiotics plus environmental toxins exists.
What is the empirical data? What can we laypeople observe in terms of the general health of children in countries such as the United States? Do the legions of overweight, attention-disordered, allergy-ridden children assure us that we’re generally on the right track? I don’t think so.
We live in a quick fix society. We want our children healthy and we want it NOW! Got a sore throat? Take some antibiotics - zip!! It’s gone. Parents don’t have time to deal with chicken pox? Here’s a new shot - zip!! No chicken pox. Child’s restless, having problems at school? Here have a bottle of pills.
But what if repeated use of antibiotics causes other problems? What if doctors don’t know yet all there is to know about the effects of chicken pox vaccines? (and what if some do? ) What if Ritalin and other drugs - Prozac seems to be getting pretty popular amongst schoolchildren (supplied by the legit drug pushers, not necessarily the illegal ones) - cause addictions and severe problems such as an increased risk of suicide.
Raising a child takes time. There are no shortcuts. Children need time to be children and, in order to be children, they need uninterrupted time to play, create, explore, daydream - to just be. They also need time to sleep and they need time to heal when they are ill. When parents are stressed, overworked and rushed these ‘child needs’ are, at best, an inconvenience. At worst, they are problems that need fixing.
Important things happen to a child when she is ill. One way of understanding this is appreciating that the child’s immune system gets a workout. If fevers and infections, for instance, are always suppressed, then the immune system doesn’t get a chance to go into action, to be strengthened.
This doesn’t mean don’t do anything! It means don’t suppress illness. It means find gentle ways to support the child’s healing process and to help strengthen him. And, above all, it means to make time for children to be ill and to heal.
One of the greatest gifts that Waldorf education gives to us parents is an understanding of children which is, in essence, a health-enhancing one. Waldorf education is concerned with the child’s health, whether it be physical, emotional or mental. The gentle unfolding of the young child and the insistence that children not be rushed through childhood is or prime importance. Especially in the early years, before the child turns seven, the emphasis is on strengthening and enhancing the child’s growth: this is why early intellectualism is frowned upon. By turning attention to intellectual development, energy which should be going into a healthy physical development is diverted. The result is a weakening of the child, though this may not be apparent until later in adult life.
Having said that, I can appear to slide into a ‘well, it’s too late now’ approach, one which I actually reject. It’s never too late and one can take the time to remediate a child’s early intellectualism in later years. Artistic activity, free creative play, rhythmic body movement (such as traditional children’s games) are all helpful. Key is the phrase taking the time, for it’s all too easy to rush children through their childhoods, gearing them up for the rat race which our society calls normal.
While considering this aspect of time, let us remember the rhythmic quality which is essential to a healthy relationship to time. Breathing in, breathing out, now active, now receptive - a healthy rhythm sustains us. All living things on this Earth have their own rhythms and one of our greatest tasks is to create a rhythm which nourishes our family life. As Rahima Baldwin, in You Are Your Child’s First Teacher, puts it: “One of our main tasks as parents is to bring our children into rhythm”. Patterns of sleep and wakefulness, of outer activity and inner activity, of mealtimes, chore times, and of larger, seasonal and festive rhythms create meaningful and, ultimately, healthy forms for our children.
For those interested in creating healthy rhythms in their families, especially those with younger children, I recommend Rahima Baldwin’s book as well as Shea Darien’s Seven Times the Sun. In addition, Bons Voors and Gudrun Davy have edited a wonderful book called Lifeways: Working with Family Questions. This book has many helpful chapters about creating healthy family lives and the chapters on anthroposophical ways of working with the Christian festivals will be of interest to some people.
Posted on July 03, 2005 at 05:50 PM in Health | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
