Every day we have the pleasure of taking care of children in our office. Parents bring them in for a number of reasons. We’ll see babies when they have colic and parent’s are pleasantly surprised to see their children sleeping better after an adjustment. They are even more excited to see their children’s attitude change after an adjustment.
Some parents bring their children with ADHD and learning disorders and when we combine chiropractic care with some sensory exercises, children are performing better at home and at school.
Since this happens every day one would think that I, the children’s chiropractor, would be able to apply this knowledge in my own home. However, I think when the situation is close to home, it’s easy to forget the tools you have. And on a very specific moment 1 day ago I realized I needed to practice what I preached. Here’s how it went:
My 6 year old woke up in the morning deciding that she hated everything. Screaming at the top of her lungs about how she hated her shorts, her shirt, her bed, her breakfast, the bathtub, her hair. Everything was awful and she was not afraid to tell (or YELL) to the whole world about it.
My blood pressure was rising a little bit and as I was trying to figure out how to handle this situation without blowing my top. My wife said “Why don’t you adjust her?” Since I am the chiropractor, you’d think that I would have thought of that myself. My patients do well after adjustments. My kids get adjusted about every 1 to 2 weeks so I didn’t think that maybe that would be the issue. But If adjustments could help the kids in my office, then they should be able to help my own.
So I sat my beloved but screaming six-year-old
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in front of me and gave her an adjustment in her atlas (first vertebrae in the neck). She immediately closed her mouth, looked at me and with a quiet kind voice, she said “that spot hurt a little”. Where was the screaming? Where was the yelling? Where were the crazy behaviors that I was seeing earlier? They all changed drastically. At first I could not believe it. Why? I’m not sure. Did I think my first grader was immune to a great Chiropractic Adjustment? No but it took a really drastic experience to remind me that my kids need as much love and care and adjustments as my patients.
I now know that I’d better practice what I preach.
Have a great day!!
Dr. Emil Tompkins
