Some of the teachers and parents on our forums are already successfully putting EFT into young people's hands as a self help tool. Some of the practioners in that discussion forum are also advocates of teaching young people to use and understand how EFT can help them with their everyday issues. I wonder how many current members and those who will find these forums over time are also interested in exploring this aspect of eft4Kids further? How many of you would be prepared to give kids in your care the gift most of us here know EFT to be? I'd also be glad to hear discenting opinions.

So, is it practical to put EFT into a young person's own hands? With what provisions and support? Or, if you feel not, why not?

Eric 

I continually teach my students in my tumbling/dance classes to do EFT for themselves on their own, as well as with me.  I like starting at the grass roots and have them grow up with EFT with no inhibitions.  I have children ages 5-18 that clear their own headaches, asthma, menstrual cramps,anger issues, fear of math flash cards, etc etc etc. Now I have a 7 year old that has kept her allergies cleared for the past allergy season.  YEA  EFT and the acceptance that children bring to the plate !

 Judy Whitcraft   EFT-ADV  Kansas City

 Hi All,

some of my young clients use the karate chop quite frequently. I point out to them during tapping, that they can use that in school also.

An important aspect is, they can do it 'under the table' and nobody will see it. It's often the girls who adapt it, as a means of

selfcare, when they are nervous, don't get a math problem or for recentering. Maybe I teach them the simplified setup by

Steve Wells (SET, it's on emofree, do a search). Yet the kids who need it the most are often reluctant to use it and need

an experienced practitioner to lead them. The trick about EFT and the artistry is not so much to do the tapping rather than

to pinpoint the right issues. So I dont' expect to run out of work.  That said, given the opportunity I would teach it

to any kid. An undesired sideeffect may be, that it will deepen the gap between highly emotionaly competent

kids who pick it up faster and challenged kids who refuse to use it. My guess is, we have to watch out for

the boys and the whole malehood issue.

Thanks for Eric to getting this discussion started.

Greetings

Dirk 

Dear Eric

As I've already discussed in another thread on this forum, my son Ben (12) makes use of and asks for EFT when he feels the need to.  Only recently I tapped with him on the phone after a particularly nasty fall with his bike whilst I was at work.  We first tapped for the pain and then he phoned back later in relation to not wanting to go to drum lessons as his arm was hurting 'too much'. We tapped for this issue and he went happily to drum lessons.  Ben will clearly indicate when he thinks he could do with some tapping.  He is also very clear when he doesn't want it - right from the first moment I started with EFT, approx. 4 years ago, I have included Ben with tapping and so he is quite au fait with the whole procedure.  I've asked him if he ever uses it with other children (i.e. at school) and he hasn't (they would think I'm weird) as he has had a bullying problem at this school, I'm not surprised at his reaction.  My elder daughter (18) knows all about EFT and I have used it on her but she does not actively use it for herself or others as far as I'm aware.  I think it's a great tool and would love to see EFT-Kids courses (set totally with Kids in mind, making it a 'fun' experience) and introducing them to the basic steps when they are still quite young and open-minded about how you can help yourself feel better, both mentally and physically.  (Particularly the mental part, the pressure to perform in schools for instance is quite big and for children to help themselves feel better about themselves in class is not to be underestimated.)

I am really curious to see and hear other opinions on this matter - particularly if ayone can see a downside (which I cannot) .

Thanks for posing this question!

Kind regards

Herma

Herma,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with your two young people. Yes, introducing EFT to kids is one thing, indentifying and helping them overcome their reluctance to do anything offered as 'good for them' by adults and particularly in front of their peers that might single them out as odd is quite another. These forums can be instrumental in sharing the process for doing that.

My own belief is that the technique, case studies and support must be provided so that the majority of kids, adolescents and teens who might otherwise balk at trying or using EFT will feel invited into a community of their own peers through language and examples that speak to them. We all tend to gravitate to groups in liked minded, or at least not critical peers; therefore, establishing that support community and providing a high profile web site and awareness materials in kid-friendly terms will be another phase in my own efforts to offer EFT to kids.

Out of the suggestions, testimonials and debate we conduct here will come materials to offer young people to take and make their own.

Be well,

Eric 

Dear Eric,

 This is an excellent topic, considering which forum we're in!

I can see no downside in teaching kids how to do this on their own. I've taught the two of my three who are willing. As the other posts have pointed out, it's a great form of self-care for anyone. I'll never forget the morning I went to wak my then 13-year-old for school, and he told me that he'd woken in the night feeling really nauseous. However, he tapped for it and it subsided and he went back to sleep. He said to me, "Mom, isn't it neat that when I felt sick my first instinct was to tap?"

Now, here are some of my other thoughts about introducing EFT to kids. I think we have to be realistic in our expectations about how kids are going to use these skills. I see serious parallels between EFT and forms of prayer or meditation. People, even children, understand the benefits of tapping, but tend to tap privately or in those groups of like-minded people, just as they might pray. Kids who pray along with their congregations, or who follow a prayer being led in a religion-based school are not so likely to be seen praying on their own at their desks or by their lockers. And there are very few who are going to try to lead the kids standing by the vending machine in prayer. I think there are a lot of kids who are happy to practice EFT on their own, but that doesn't mean that they want to initiate teaching others.

My second thought in understanding why kids would not want to pass it on to their friends is a form of humiliation, particularly in the pre-adolescent and adolescent years. Once other kids understand how EFT is usually used, then they're more likely to single out a child who is seen tapping as someone who has fears or other problems. Of course that's an unkind and unloving response, but it's something that's likely to happen with some frequency. I think this is something we should really keep in the backs of our minds as we figure out how to introduce EFT to the larger society and when we're encouraging kids to tap.

For these reasons, I can envision that we can help kids to "save face" by introducing EFT in a classroom situation (or to sports teams, etc.). The majority of kids would be much less reluctant to tap if a teacher or other person were leading the class. This way they could roll their eyes or agree with their friends that this is really pointless, but they would still be getting all the benefits of tapping. (Anyone who has spent any time with teens can imagine that sort of scene vividly!) And of course, once they've been taught how to do it, and once they start to experience the benefits, then we know they're going to start using it at home when no one's watching.

I hope this doesn't come across as negative, because I am 100% behind EFT! I just wanted to raise this stumbling block that came to mind when I was reading the posts.

I really hope this opens up another angle in the dialogue. Thanks for this!

Deb

Deb,

Your points are very valid and I thank you for raising these important perspectives. Certainly, until there is a larger level of awareness among young people EFT will be seen as strange and 'humiliating' to be caught tapping on a 'problem.'

This is where community and the shared experience become so important to spreading the word and building acceptance of EFT. We all look for support in anything we are challenged by in life. When young people are presented with positive examples of EFT's success in the form of role models and mentors from among their own peer groups and eventually those they admire and look up to in the form of athletes and performers using EFT, I believe a lot of the reluctance kids might have being identified as having a problem or weakness will be reduced. I don't expect many kids to go public with their tapping until we offer them a different model for what EFT can achieve. These forums will help to identify and encourage those opportunities and from those inputs the materials and languaging for kids will emerge.

Just as EFT in the adult world is branching out beyond healing 'dis-ease' and into abundance and performance-based themes; EFT in  its youth-friendly forms can first and foremost be publicly presented as a self help and group help tool for achieving what is important to kids. School grades, athletic and other competitive performance goals, social acumen and a host of everyday personal improvement gains can readily be presented to young people as achievable and within the scope of EFT. Privately and through the support system of online communities just like this one for adults, kids will then realize that EFT can also be used to target feelings and physical issues that they would not want to reveal publicly to their peers, parents, or teachers and coaches.

Like Gary Craig's metaphor of 'peeling away the layers of the onion' to get to the core issues of any problem, EFT for kids must present a variety of simple entrance points that are attractive to them and easily incorporated into their everyday interests and needs before getting to the core of what is more personal to a young person's feelings and their desire to heal. If eft4Kids did little more than remove blocks to self improvement and performance it would become the  most sought after and practiced technique among all young people and we know that EFT can go far beyond those goals.

Hopefully others here will join in the exploration of if and how we can make EFT more available and attractive to kids.

Your feedback is a wonderful start.

Be well,

Eric 

.  

 Dear All,

two ideas related to this discussion:

1. Performance improvements as convincers

 Giving kids direct and immediate experieces with perfomance issues is a powerful convincer and also a good

point to hand it over. Small academic tasks like doing some number crunching or spelling are a good starting

point. For example I worked with a sixth grader the other week. I gave him some arithmetic problems like 15 times 15.

First I made shure he had a strategy for such problems, then we went into some tapping. We did some rounds and

check the results against more number problems. After that I let him figure out 19 times 19. He came up with the right answer

much faster and was very impressed by his results. It felt like doing some of the cool golf coaching stuff. Next time

I will include the handing-over part like "You can use this with yourself also" or "I wonder what improvements you can make, by using

this on your self" or "If this made you curious, i'll show you how to use it on your self"

2. Building a community 

Kids and especially teens want to belong to a cool tribe. How about a cool tribe of young eft users who support each other

and are connected over the internet. It will be hard to ridicule somebody who belongs to a cool tribe and outperforms

you in multiple areas. EFT should be like an ipod, fancy looking, easy to use, you could bring it everywhere and everyone

wants to have it. Yet it's better than an ipod, it's for free. It's an opensource ipod, plus you can belong to a cool tribe.

Reminds me of what Garry does with emofree and what eft4kids is for me...

Be well,

Dirk 

Dirk,

Your examples and observations are wonderful to see coming from the practical perspective that you have working with young people and offering them EFT on a regular basis. 

Yes, a strong support community of kids, is certainly going help to make eft4Kids an "in" thing to borrow from an earlier vernacular. My plans for the kids web site and support materials will aim for exactly what you call the 'cool tribe' appeal. I believe that with real life testimonials from kids themselves, along with videos, animations and songs showing EFT as as a truly cool tool and performance improver on many issues important to them, a significant number of young people will  use it, help to promote it and thus take mainstream. When that happens we will see  an equivalent  to Gary's "Palace of Possibilities." Perhaps with eft4Kids we're on the brink of witnessing a "Club House of Possibilities."

Thank you for your contributions and always positive suggestions. All of us here are better for your examples and spirit. 

Be well,

Eric 

You'd need the website to have two distinct areas for the two main age groups. It mightn't be so 'cool' to be seen hanging around on a younger child's idea of a good site!! Maybe one portal and two 'rooms'? Then any reports from kids of their successes would be addressing the kind of material that matters to that particular age group.

Martha

Dear All,

I am thoroughly enjoying this discussion. I'll add a few more thoughts.

I see another advantage to the idea of introducing EFT to kids as a performance enhancer first. If a group of kids gets used to using EFT to improve their test scores or steady their hand to shoot hoops, then it becomes much easier to say, hey, did you know that EFT might also help your asthma? Also, if we can get EFT introduced to classrooms, then it be easier for teachers or counselors to suggest to parents that this same technique that their child uses with his class to prepare for a big test could also be helpful for the problems that he's having on the playground at recess.

I can see that we're not only on the ground floor of the healing highrise, but where kids are concerned, the ground floor of the marketing highrise as well. So I think that while we're in the discussion about our "target market" (kids), it would be a good idea to recognize just how diverse that market is.

There are the kids who will do anything they need to just to be considered part of the cool crowd; there are the kids who will want to insist that there's only one "best" way to do it; there are the kids who are completely jaded by marketing, and who will reject anything that looks too "slick"; and there are the kids who are learning about the world through "open source" programs, and they will insist on taking it apart, changing it, and making it their own. Of course, there are a whole bunch of kids who don't fit into any of these general categories.

My point in all of this is that we don't want to accidentally get into a "one size fits all" mentality around presenting EFT to kids. In my opinion, a multi-faceted approach is far more likely to reach more of the kids who would want to be reached, if only they understood what kind of freedom this can lead them to!

Warm regards,

Deb

Deb,

All of your points make great sense when considering how to attract and hold the attention and interest of kids - particularly kids in need of constructive advice and support. As with any adult community there will be a variety of needs and a variety of appetites for EFT among young people, but one universal appeal and a great ice breaker is performance improvement. I think showcasing testimonials and offering up role models for the use of EFT to improve a range of the most popular and often most worrisome activity and social-based issues important to kids will find many followers. 

For kids with health or emotional issues, a community space, mentors, role models and a range of positive results shared by their peers will help to attract, welcome and overcome the natural hesitancy and fears associated with going public with more serious health or emotional questions for new comers to a kids brand of EFT.  The web will offer up not only case study examples just as Gary Craig provides adult visitors to emofree.com, but we can provide forums for kids with similar needs, issues, questions to come together to build their own healing and self improvement models. That is the web's true gift - both anonymity and community sharing can and do coexist. The web will be eft4Kids greatest ally in taking this technique forward to young people wherein both the serious and the lighter sides of personal performance and health related issues can and will coexist. Young people will be able to witness, learn from and create self help tools in their own words and formats, but the biggest benefit I think we can provide will simply be the space for kids to come together to help and support each other in a healing environment that offers a sound and proven approach to freedom from non beneficial feelings and fears.   .

Creative thinkers like yourself are helping to shape these tools and we all benefit from your input. Thank you.

Be well,

Eric 

Martha, you raise a critical point that every commercial marketer to young people faces and even benevolent projects like eft4Kids must address this important issue too or risk being ignored, laughed at or worse. Eventually communities will establish themselves into not only appropriate age, but issue groupings. To address and maintain the "cool" factor a youth advisory panel will guide the creative and represent the interests of kids, adolescents and teens in whatever is launched.  This review and critique step has proven very successful in keeping online media and messages targeted to specific age and interest levels. A team of young EFT enthusiasts is being organized for this purpose.

Be well, 

Eric

I definitely come down in favour of giving EFT to kids and have just posted about being able to teach it to kids in schools.  I have taught EFT to both my kids and they use it at school and personally if they are nervous, want to improve their skill in something, are feeling upset or angry.  In my case, when its bigger than that they come to me.  I ask all the children to show their parents the information and get them to check out the website.  The key is to educate the parents AND the children.

Gill