by CJ Puotinen

Five-year-olds are full of questions. "What if?" is a favorite. Patiently answering one question only seems to spawn another, and the cycle never ends.

This phase is a natural part of childhood, but when the questions are spawned by worry rather than idle curiosity, the result can be serious anxiety.

Like most of us, kids feel confident when things are stable and predictable and they know what to expect, so new experiences loom large in their imaginations, especially big events like starting school.

Richard Mankinen, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist who works with adults and children. He is also a practitioner of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). EFT is a type of do-it-yourself acupressure in which gentle fingertip tapping on key acupuncture points combined with focused thought relieves stress, anxiety, and a host of physical symptoms. 

It often does in minutes what conventional psychotherapy may take months or years to accomplish.

When a 5-year-old neighbor began to fret about his first day at preschool, the boy asked one worried "What if?" question after another.

"He was obviously very concerned and troubled," says Dr. Mankinen.

There are seven main EFT points on the face and torso, but, to keep things simple, Dr. Mankinen introduced only one. "I asked him to tap under his eye without further explanation, and he did," he reports. "The questions continued but were of the typical little boy type that can drive us to distraction, the kind that are powered by enthusiasm, interest, and excitement.

"He seemed oblivious to the tapping he had done, but several weeks later when I was visiting again, he came up to me and said while demonstrating, 'I'm still tapping.'"

The sequence of EFT points is easy for kids of all ages to learn, and parents can help infants as well as any child who needs support by tapping directly on the child. Nearly 100 reports about the effective use of EFT with children have been posted on the EFT Web site illustrating how versatile the technique can be.

In addition to eliminating "What if?" fears and worries, EFT has been a consistently effective healing tool for hundreds of other physical, mental and emotional ailments. For more information, explore the EFT Web site and its numerous success stories regarding anxiety, phobias, emotional traumas and physical ailments.

While a complete description of EFT is beyond the scope of this article, you can learn all the basics from the free EFT Get Started Package on the EFT Web site. This includes a free download of the 79-page EFT Manual. Those wishing to save time and dive right in can get the affordable five-star training DVDs.

Please consult qualified health professionals before putting EFT into practice for yourself or others.