My elder daughter had many sensory issues. With eating, clothing and so on. She would start fretting over the uniform in the last minute after the bus came or she would remove her shoes and socks. She would feel the clothes for softness before buying them! She was a poor eater, anaemic and underweight. She had attention issues at school.
She also had severe asthma. She would have coughing spells in the middle of the night and we would have to rush to the hospital. But now it’s all changed.
I’d like to share what worked for me. I’m sharing so that others may benefit from my experience.
When she was 10 years old and her younger sister was just born, I met Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner.
This is a holistic philosophy that takes into consideration all aspects of a human being. Physical, Etheric, astral and spiritual.
I understood that many aspects were contributing to my daughter’s problems.
I understood that some children need a pure environment to thrive.
These were the mistakes I was making:
– Giving her packaged junk food like chips, chocolates and cookies.
– Allowing her to watch hours of TV
– Pumping her with unnecessary information and knowledge through CDs and books and ignoring physical activities
– Letting her stay up late (11-11.30 PM) and watch TV with us and complaining that she troubled us to wake up in the morning!!
– Not being aware of healthy Rhythms and routines
– not doing enough work with hands and obsession with intellectual knowledge (on my part), just to name a few. To sum it up, I was an unconscious parent.
But all this changed when I went to the Anthroposophic conference. She was already 10 and I thought it was too late to change. However, my increasing conviction gave me the inner strength I needed to bring about healthy changes in our family.
I learnt that children need to be fed with natural, fresh, home made food, have healthy routines and regular Rhythms of the day,
Avoid TV and technology, especially iPads and mobile phones. They are not toys.
Encourage outdoor activities, encourage natural sensory stimulation (but not artificial overstimulation), avoid malls, arcades and other loud environments.
Eat and sleep at around the same time everyday, avoid too much focus on intellectual stimulation, adopt alternative medical practice like homeopathy, naturopathy and ayurveda.
As parents, let the children watch us doing real work, engage our hands; do inner work ourselves to gain control over our own anxieties and emotions and regulate ourselves.
These were a few changes I could bring about.
My daughter has now blossoned into a healthy teenager, studying in one of the best colleges. She is as healthy as she can be, given her erratic college and hostel life/style. But she’s free of sensory issues and asthma. That is a lot for me!
Once children leave home, we have no control over their food, lifestyle or environment. But if we are able to lay a healthy foundation in childhood, they are equipped to handle irregularities in a better way.
Probably her sensory issues were not so severe, but I do hope this sharing about a holistic approach helps other parents and children with similar issues.
Love to all,
Nirupama
Inner voice 