It is amazing to me how much I think about what I have done and been through in my life now that I have a child. I cringe at some things and smile at others. How much of those same things will my son experience and when? When I think of how young I was when I did some things in my life I count how many years until my son is that age and I think he will be too young for that. When I hear about children doing things at even younger ages than I was it really makes me shudder.
I once thought that all we can do as parents is guide, teach and share with our children by giving them our best advice, sharing our own stories and teaching them what we have learned. Guiding them on the basis of right and wrong, what works and what doesn’t and being there when they need us, hoping what we are saying is making sense and connecting for them. Like we were once though, our children too will push to learn some of those things on their own — like we did. They won’t believe us like we once didn’t believe it either. The school of hard knocks was developed from this very pattern of living with each of us earning our own degree from it. I now however also believe I can be more than a living example for my son and it starts with how I treat his health.
Starting Different
In the course of introducing natural options to our home I redid our medicine cabinet. We had the typical things in there for headaches, stomachs, some band-aids and so on. I had a special little container that I kept our son’s medicines in alongside the thermometer, ear plunger and baby sized nail clippers. It too had the typical things like fever reducer, stuff to help with stomach things, something for pain and character printed band-aids. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to get sick often but I thought I was clever keeping it all together, high out of his reach for when we would need it. It was my attempt at being a highly organized on-the-ready kind of mom.
I noticed what I had on hand for our son in terms of his medicines and realized they were just small sizes of the adult versions. They tasted like Grape or Cherry to hide the medicine taste and were formulated by weight or age. Beyond that, they were renditions of what my husband or I would take if we were sick. When I looked further at the little paper, the one inside the boxes that I would typically cram to the bottom because I just needed to fix or stop what was occurring when we were using that product, I saw that in fact many of these candy flavored medicines have a ton of side effects. In fact it had so many that I had to wonder how exactly it provided him with any relief when he was sick.
Seriously, do not even look at this link unless you are prepared to never un-see it. This is the full list of known side effects, the common and frequent to rare and scary on the Advil Children’s liquid pain and fever reducer that I had in our medicine cabinet.
When I finished scrolling this list, I did it again because I couldn’t believe how much was on that list. I lost count when I tried estimating how many things were on this list. Realizing most of this was not severe it still made me curious how this seemingly innocent bottle of help could be full of side effects!
I won’t say we have never had to turn to this over the counter medicine again since switching to natural options because that’s not true. However, since switching I notice we use it a lot less, as in it is usually expired and I have to run out for a fresh bottle when we need it.
Our children don’t have the immunity to illnesses like we do as adults. They get sick more frequently but the deal is in how we protect them and what we use when they do get sick is what will influence that frequency. That slight difference in tactic and approach means we are giving our children a lifetime of options that extend beyond the medicine cabinet and could actually result in longer term health. Now when I think about giving my son a smoother life journey than I had this got me excited.
Before We Go There
These days we have several things in our home that directly protect our son from illnesses and create a healthy foundation for him without the chemicals. The bottom line reality is we cannot continue to expose ourselves and our children to chemicals and not expect negative ramifications. It just doesn’t work like that. So I proactively worked to remove anything that was toxic from our home, including soaps, detergents, cleaners and personal care products. I also cleaned out the medicine cabinet.
Now by cleaning out the medicine cabinet, we still have pain relievers and band-aids. We even still have the Advil Children’s medicine. However, when one of us is sick I don’t reach for these immediately and what is in that cabinet is a whole lot less than was there before. I don’t even look at stocking up on those things or clipping the coupons for them anymore because we don’t buy them as often.
For daily support when our son is not sick, he has his own kid’s essential oils to use. These are incredible blends that he can choose from to apply himself. I’ve shown him what each is for and where to put it on his body when he needs it. It’s like a fun little thing he gets to do that makes him feel grown up and “like mom” in using oils every day.
The Stronger oil blend is the daily immunity support. When he is coming down with something I reach for this oil as well as Oregano. When applied to the feet bottoms these oils help the healing process accelerate. I also apply OnGuard and Oregano to my husband and I as a precautionary step to prevent the illness from spreading.
Growing pains are another common child situation that causes incredible pain throughout the body. Our son often gets them in his legs and feet. For those middle of night cries for relief I apply the Rescuer oil blend. It is quick acting and allows him to get back to sleep pain free. That is the equivalent of the adult Deep Blue products that doTERRA offers. If you have never tried Deep Blue let me just say you are seriously missing out on the best inflammation, pain relieving solution I have ever tried.
When fevers come on as they do with children quite a lot, I reach for Lavender essential oil. Applying this to the feet bottoms, along the spine or to a cool bath helps reduce that fever quickly. It too helps eliminate the pain associated with fever and promote the rest that is needed for recovery.
When our children are sick we just want relief quickly for them. I have not personally timed the difference but overall the natural options have worked as quickly as the over-the-counter choices. The difference is the natural options do not have the side effects. They are edible plants. They are free of chemicals and they have been used for centuries to help with these common illnesses.
Interested in more?
If you are really wanting to change the world for your child, teach them about natural options that support their health. Teaching them to live more naturally before reaching for more serious medications can be a big game changer. It also prevents them from being overexposed to chemicals at much younger ages than is necessary so we can allow their bodies to grow naturally without side effects.
If you have questions about the products I describe in this post, please reach out! I’m happy to help. amyk@dragonspitapothecary.com
doTERRA can be purchased commitment free and at wholesale pricing. Click here:
コメント