Category: Parenting

Your Words – and your Child’s Brain

2014-10-19 12.59.02When we enter this world our mind is like a sponge. It is ready to absorb and learn from every single thing in our surroundings.  From birth to age six, our brain stays in the low frequency activity range labeled as Delta and Theta wavelength (0.5-8 Hz). This is similar to when a hypnotherapist drops the brain activity to a state that is below conscious awareness.

This scientific measurement clues us into the importance parents play in shaping and creating a child’s world. Often parents think their children’s genes will be in charge of the way the child develops, but we are learning that is just not the truth. The study of how environmental input, or epigenetics, shapes a child’s health and behavior is a newly emerging area of research that has a lot to say about the way we raise our families.

Epigenetics says the sponge that is our developing brain will soak up the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that we observe in our parents. We essentially download the environment onto our hard drive and compare every event in our life to this reference point. This means that as I grow up and I watch my parents fight about money, I will develop an attitude about money that reflects what I have stored on my hard drive. This is most obvious to any parent whose child has repeated a curse word with almost the same tone, inflection and meaning behind it as the parent did.

This precise and detailed behavior-recording system will cement into the circuitry of the brain whatever signals it receives. Whether they are of praise and joy or statements such as “you will never amount to anything,” “You are so stupid,” or “Grow up.”  At such a young age a child’s brain has not evolved enough to question these statements and once programmed into the subconscious will shape the behavior and life of a child’s development.

So as a parent you must identify what fears you are reinforcing in your own life and therefore passing onto your next generation. You must do the work on yourself and determine what unnecessary investment of your own focus is limiting you. And you must take care not to pass those limiting beliefs on. Know that your choices, actions and presence helps to shape their world and that you have an amazing responsibility to help them reach their soul purpose, aA duty to teach them of the greatness inside of them.  And above all else, JUST BE LOVE!


Kids & Sports Injuries

Children are playing sports more than ever and younger than ever and their little bodies are put through enormous strain. For them, Chiropractic care is essential. Maintaining spinal and joint alignment helps prevent injuries as well as promoting general health.

Sports can be fantastic opportunities for kids to have fun, learn teambuilding skills and exercise, but there is a downside.

With more and more kids playing organized sports, studies have shown that one quarter of kids in sports develop injuries in areas like the knee, shoulder, ankle and elbow.

The real culprit in these injuries is repetitive actions. The San Francisco Gate reports “About half of sports injuries in children are from overuse – think Little League pitchers or high school swimmers who make the same motions over and over. Adult bodies can often take the strain of constant use, but younger bodies, especially pre-adolescents who haven’t finished growing, are more vulnerable to injury.”

Along with moderation in kids’ sports, a key in staying healthy and in the game is maintaining proper alignment of the joints with Chiropractic care. When the joints are aligned properly, this nervous system (the connection between your brain and body) works more efficiently. Therefore your body operates more efficiently. Your weight distribution and the strain on muscle attachments, ligaments and cartilage is balanced, reducing the chance of injury.

Adult sport superstars like Lance Armstrong, Joe Montana, Evander Holyfield, Barry Bonds and Emmitt Smith all retain personal Chiropractors and credit regular adjustments with helping them succeed.

Smith told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that “Playing in a football game is like being in 30-40 car accidents.”

Dan O’Brien, gold medalist in the Decathalon said, “You obviously can’t compete at your fullest if you’re not in alignment. And your body can’t heal if your back is not in alignment. It was the holistic idea that I liked about chiropractic…”