Chamomile tea helps calm and ease stress and tension. Give your child one dose of tea as needed.

Oat straw is nourishing and calming to the nervous system. This herb is helpful for a child who is dealing with stressful emotions over an extended period of time. Give your child one dose of oat straw tea, twice a day, as needed.

Skullcap is helpful for nervousness and anxiety and the headaches that often follow. Give your child one dose daily for up to two weeks.
Note: This herb should not be given to a child less than six years old.

Homeopathy
When your child is distressed, the appropriate symptom-specific homeopathic remedy will likely be very helpful. Choose the remedy that matches your child's symptoms from the list that follows. Unless otherwise indicated, give your child one dose, three times a day, for up to five days.

Give Aconite to a child who is fearful and anxious, especially if the feeling came on suddenly. This child may be very restless and sensitive to noise, smell, and touch. He feels better outdoors and worse in a warm, closed room. Give one dose of Aconite 200x when needed.

Arsenicum album 30x or 9c will ease a child who acts restless and fussy and is afraid of being alone. This child may obsessively organize his room when feeling insecure.

Chamomilla 30x or 9c is good for an angry child who is upset, who insists on being held, and whose temper flares when you put him down.

Cina is for the angry, contrary, and ill-tempered child who does not want to be touched or hugged. This is the type of child who will ask for a toy and then toss it away in front of your nose. (He may pick his own nose constantly as well.)

Colocynthis 30x or 9c is helpful for a child who complains of a stomachache after being angry.

Ignatia 30x or 9c is especially helpful after a loss, emotional trauma, or disappointment. Grief associated with the death of a parent or grandparent, breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or moving to a new town will be eased by Ignatia. It is helpful for a child who is quiet and tearful. This is a child who sighs a lot.

Lycopodium 30x or 9c is for a child who gets angry as a result of his insecurity. This is helpful for the angry child living in a home filled with feelings of uncertainty. Lycopodium is also useful for a child who experiences fear and anxiety in any new situation. It is good for situations involving a performance, such as getting up in front of the class or trying a new sport or game.

Give Natrum muriaticum 30x or 9c to a sad child who dwells on morbid ideas in the home or in the news, rejects sympathy, is sensitive, and does not like being fussed over.

If a child is critical, has feelings of superiority, experiences outbursts of anger, and is short-tempered, give him Nux vomica 30x or 9c.

Phosphorus 30x or 9c is for the fearful, extremely sensitive child who develops feelings of anxiety over what others may be thinking or feeling about him.

Pulsatilla 30x or 9c is good for a child who is timid, sensitive, and easily frightened, and who cries easily. Pulsatilla is homeopathic windflower, and it is beneficial for the child whose moods change like the wind.

If your child voices a particular recurrent or outstanding fear, an appropriate homeopathic remedy may be very helpful. Try giving your child one dose of a remedy (use a 30x or 15c potency), three times a day, for three days. Discontinue for one week and repeat. If this seems to have a beneficial effect, wait one month and repeat the entire cycle.

The following are some remedies that may be useful to investigate for this purpose:

• For fear of aliens, try Phosphorus or Arsenicum album.
• For fear of the dark, try Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium, or Stramonium.
• For fear of death, try Calcarea carbonica, Arsenicum album, Lycopodium, or Phosphorus.
• For fear of being eaten by animals, try Stramonium.
• For fear of insects, try Calcarea carbonica.
• For fear upon closing one's eyes, try Causticum.
• For fear of crowds, try Lycopodium, Argentum nitricum, or Aconite.
• For fear of going to church, try Argentum nitricum.
• For fear of knives, try Arsenicum album, Alumina, or China.
• For fear of cockroaches, try Phosphorus.
• For fear of doctors, try Ignatia or Phosphorus.
• For fear of dogs, try Calcarea carbonica, Belladonna, China, or Tuberculinum.
• For fear of high places, try Argentumnitricum, Natrummuriaticum, Phosphorus, or Pulsatilla.
• For fear of water, try Lyssin.
• For fear of everything, try Calcarea carbonica or Pulsatilla.

Bach Flower Remedies
Bach Flower Rescue Remedy helps to calm a child, restore his balance and confidence, and relieve apprehension. It will help a child who is upset, whether angry, crying, afraid, or tense. It is useful in many crisis situations, such as after hearing bad news, before a test, before going to the dentist, after falling and getting hurt, or upon waking up from a nightmare. Rescue Remedy is particularly good in acute situations in which the cause of the distress is not always clear-times when a child begins screaming and crying and feeling intensely and inconsolably frustrated for no apparent reason. Place a drop of the mother tincture into a small glass of noncarbonated water and have your child sip it. Ask him to swish the mixture around in his mouth before swallowing. Or mix 3 drops of the mother tincture with 2 ounces of water and give your child 2 droppersful, or 1 teaspoon, three times a day.

There are two Bach Flower remedies that are standards for the fearful child. If your child has fears but cannot name what they are about, give him Aspen. If he can name the source of his fear, use Mimulus.

Other individual Bach Flower Remedies are helpful for easing specific emotional upsets or balancing certain temperaments. To select the remedy that is most appropriate for your child's situation, see BACH FLOWER REMEDIES.

Acupressure
For the locations of acupressure points on a child's body, see ADMINISTERING AN ACUPRESSURE TREATMENT.

Four Gates is calming and soothing to a child who is upset.

Neck and Shoulder Release helps release tension centered in the head, neck, and shoulder area, and will help relax your child.

General Recommendations
Make your family's emotional and physical well-being a priority. Part of that commitment is to realize that you have physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of your own that must be nurtured and cared for.

When you notice yourself having a strong response to your child's sadness, anger, or fear, try to explore what this can teach you about your own emotions. In The Tao of Motherhood (Nucleus Publishers, 1991), Vimala McClure, founder of the International Association of Infant Massage Instructors, writes, "Parenting is a spiritual path which can bring you great pain and great joy and which can have a tremendous positive impact on your personality and behavior. I believe our children, unknowingly and with innocent trickery, teach us the deeper knowledge of how to be a true human being."

Help your child acknowledge and name feelings. For instance, you might say, "You sound angry that your sister took your favorite toy without asking," or, "I hear your frustration about losing that game."

Help your child name his deeper emotional needs, and offer suggestions about how he might be able to get what he wants. What your child expresses as anger may actually be a need for your attention, for example. Once you are able to determine this, you may be able to meet that need by spending an afternoon together or having breakfast together each morning. A child who is unwilling to go to bed on time may really be afraid of the dark, something that might be relieved by a night-light or a bedtime story.

Put yourself in the child's place. Try to "get inside" his mind and inner world. Feel how big and scary the adult world must be at times. Imagine how hard it must be to try to explain feelings you don't have the words for or perhaps don't even understand yet. Situations that we take for granted as adults may be overwhelming and difficult for a child. Imagine the guidance and support he needs. Putting yourself in your child's place can help you to understand and guide him in a way that is supportive.

Help your child develop constructive ways of handling strong feelings, and, if possible, to express his feelings and wants to the specific person involved. Or, if the person is not available and the frustration is unbearable, teach your child to punch a pillow or yell at a doll and take out his anger in a way that is safe and healthy. Teach children to be respectful of themselves and of those around them. Acting out and yelling at a person or hitting a person are not acceptable behaviors.

Be clear and, above all, consistent in establishing guidelines and agreements.

Be a role model for your child. Handle your own feelings by being truthful about them and constructive and safe in how you deal with them. It is far better to say, "I am angry about my friend missing our appointment," than it is to say you feel fine while your behavior and the tone of your voice say something else. Children are confused by mixed messages. They are likely to assume that you are angry at them, as well as to learn that it is not okay to express feelings.

Supporting a child's emotional well-being is a responsibility parents face over many years. It requires a lot of attention. There are parent support groups, parent training opportunities, and workshops for children that help develop healthy self-esteem and healthy family dynamics. Whether or not you are facing a specific stress or emotional problem in your family, these workshops and groups can help promote emotional health for the whole family.